The Opportunity

Two decades of global action research has taught us that leaders and changemakers, with the right methods and tools, have the capacity to shift social fields from one quality of relationship and awareness to another.

These social field shifts have been essential in every example of profound change we have studied or participated in. However, the scientific infrastructure to make these shifts visible, measurable, and replicable at scale does not yet exist.

While we now have tools to measure the individual brain in ways unimaginable a generation ago, the "collective brain" remains largely invisible to science.

This is a generational research opportunity, and an invitation to build it together.

Northern Kentucky University | In https://www.nku.edu/academics/artsci/programs/undergraduate/neuroscience.html

1. Methods

New methodologies that integrate in first, second-, third- and fourth-person observation.

2. Activation

Social field research activation in the form of an annual Summer School where emerging scholars and research practitioners connect with senior researchers and thought leaders to co-inspire and innovate.

3. Contributors

Researchers and research institutions who contribute from their unique place and perspective to evolve the science.

4. Partners

Ecosystem innovators who partner with research initiatives to serve as living examples of social field inquiry and systems change.

Applications in practice fields

The value of social field science will lie in its ability to support regeneration and healing. To truly transform a social system, you need tools that help the system sense and see itself. The science of the social field emerges from and is embedded in systems change initiatives across health, education, governance, climate, and community life. A key early application is the Social Field Assessment Tool, helping large ecosystems see, sense, and assess their deeper structures of awareness and wellbeing.

PHASE I

Planning & Partnering

Scope the research landscape and identify methodological innovations most promising for establishing the field. Build a consortium of partners across neuroscience, social science and application fields. Convene the first design workshop for the Annual Summer School.

PHASE II

Grow the Core

Design, launch and establish the Annual Summer School, building iteratively year to year. Refine methodologies and seed 3–5 major projects. Develop the digital infrastructure for quarterly gatherings that create feedback loops, sense-making opportunities and cross-pollination of ideas.

PHASE III

Activate the Wider Ecosystem

Expand into a global ecosystem with cross-institutional research, emerging scholar support, practitioner integration, publication platforms, and experimental labs. Produce a steady stream of evidence, train the next generation of researchers, and mainstream social field methodologies across health, education, governance, climate, and business.

The 2019 Summer School brought together 55 participants from 23 countries and numerous organizations including the World Health Organization, Impact Hub, the Scottish Government, MIT, Stockholm School of Economics, and universities across five continents.

Over the course of the program, participants experimented with emerging methodologies, including the social field resonance process, which uses social art practices as a gateway for exploring the deeper dynamics of collective experience.

The event birthed the Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, seeded research collaborations and built a network of research-practitioners that continues to shape the field today (read more here).

The Opportunity

While we now have tools to measure the individual brain in ways unimaginable a generation ago, the "collective brain" remains largely invisible to science.

This is a generational research opportunity, and an invitation to build it together.

Core Content

About Us

Building Capacity for Transforming Systems & Self

Empowering Oganizational & Ecosystem Transformation

Consciousness-Based Systems Science For Regeneration

How You Can Support Us

Core Content

Social Arts

Facilitated Programs

Self-Paced Programs

Programs by Date

Get Certified

Practitioner

Advanced Practitioner

Creative Commons Methods & Tools

Other Resources

Join Us

Regional Ecosystem

Activating a Global Research Ecosystem

Pioneering the research that bring social field science to life

Building an MRI for the Collective Brain

Over the past two decades, neuroscience took mindfulness from the fringes of public awareness to the mainstream. We aim to do the same for collective awareness and we are looking for research partners and funders to make it happen.

The Opportunity

What Will It Take To Build This Science?

1. Methods

New methodologies that integrate in first, second-, third- and fourth-person observation.

2. Activation

Social field research activation in the form of an annual Summer School where emerging scholars and research practitioners connect with senior researchers and thought leaders to co-inspire and innovate.

3. Contributors

Researchers and research institutions who contribute from their unique place and perspective to evolve the science.

4. Partners

Ecosystem innovators who partner with research initiatives to serve as living examples of social field inquiry and systems change.

Our Vision

Three interconnected activities form our social field research initiative

The Social Field MRI Project

The Social Field Science Summer School

Applications in practice fields

The Path Ahead

Planning & Partnering

Grow the Core

Activate the Wider Ecosystem

A Successful Prototype

Partner With Us

We are seeking research partners and funders who share the conviction that making visible the deeper structures of collective awareness is one of the most consequential, and most underfunded, scientific undertakings of our time.

Take action.

Donate Follow our news Partner with us Join a program Get certified Join our community Contact us

Activating a Global Research Ecosystem

Pioneering the research that bring social field science to life

Building an MRI for the Collective Brain

Over the past two decades, neuroscience took mindfulness from the fringes of public awareness to the mainstream. We aim to do the same for collective awareness and we are looking for research partners and funders to make it happen.

The Opportunity

What Will It Take To Build This Science?

1. Methods

New methodologies that integrate in first, second-, third- and fourth-person observation.

2. Activation

Social field research activation in the form of an annual Summer School where emerging scholars and research practitioners connect with senior researchers and thought leaders to co-inspire and innovate.

3. Contributors

Researchers and research institutions who contribute from their unique place and perspective to evolve the science.

4. Partners

Ecosystem innovators who partner with research initiatives to serve as living examples of social field inquiry and systems change.

Our Vision

Three interconnected activities form our social field research initiative

The Social Field MRI Project

The Social Field Science Summer School

Applications in practice fields

The Path Ahead

Planning & Partnering

Grow the Core

Activate the Wider Ecosystem

A Successful Prototype

Partner With Us

We are seeking research partners and funders who share the conviction that making visible the deeper structures of collective awareness is one of the most consequential, and most underfunded, scientific undertakings of our time.

Take action.

Donate Follow our news Partner with us Join a program Get certified Join our community Contact us

Donate
Follow our news
Partner with us
Join a program
Get certified
Join our community
Contact us

Donate
Follow our news
Partner with us
Join a program
Get certified
Join our community
Contact us