Essentially, it’s looking at the bigger picture and how everything fits together.

When we look at a problem, we can usually identify its direct causes and effects. But often the problem has in fact come about from a complex, interconnected and dynamic system of social, economic, political and cultural factors that are upstream of these causes.

In this article, Co-Director Kelly Thornber, explains a systems thinking approach to change.

Once pharmaceuticals are in the environment it is very difficult to remove them, so we need to prevent them getting there in the first place.  This means targeting the upstream factors (link to Blog 2) which influence how and where pharmaceuticals enter the environment and become pollutants.

We have mapped out the factors driving pharmaceutical pollution from UK healthcare.  This highlights the complexity of this issue and shows the need for a societal-wide, systems approach, if we want to create large-scale change.

A systems approach recognises that there is no quick fix solution for complex issues like pharmaceutical pollution; instead, large-scale change will require the co-ordination of stakeholders from across the pharmaceutical life cycle, to develop a co-ordinated strategy that allows the whole system to gradually evolve and become more sustainable.

Our aim is to accelerate this transition to sustainability.  We understand that each organisation has its own interests, needs and priorities, so we need to take all of these into account if we want to find effective solutions. 

We are using systems design principles and tools to identify leverage points for change across the system.

Our long-term aims are to develop a Research for Change Programme, that mobilises the academic community to support organisations as they take action.