aboutme
I am a theoretical physicist by background and studied at Oxford University and then the University of Cambridge. My field of study was quantum physics. I then moved through various random steps, and through further academic study, into engineering, strategy and organisational consultancy, and hands-on management.
I have been deeply involved in the science and philosophy of complexity since the mid-1990s and the honing of these ideas continues to imbue both my research and my practice.
I teach worldwide in a wide range of institutions offering postgraduate programmes in international development, systemic change, engineering, holistic science, management, sustainability and community engagement.
I am a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a visiting academic with the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath and with Cranfield School of Management. I also had a wonderful few months, in 2019, as a research fellow of Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study.
I am the lead author of Embracing Complexity (2015: Oxford University Press), and author of a number of book chapters and articles. My most recent and most ambitious book, The Dao of Complexity, is now available.
In my work outside academia, I have held executive management positions in large corporates and consulted to global organisations in the private and not-for-profit sectors. I led the strategy and organisation division of an international consultancy firm before setting up my own practice.
I am keenly interested in global futures and transformative change; I engage in local politics and place-based initiatives in my hometown of Frome in the UK, and I have been chair of various organisations working in community health and sustainability.