Social Complexity Retreat at Nelson Mandela University

On 17 September 2025 we held our second Social Complexity Retreat, this time at Nelson Mandela University – hosted through the Chair in Identities and Social Cohesion, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. Much thanks to Andrea Hurst and Harsheila Riga and colleagues for providing the space to do this work.

 

Building on the first retreat at Durham, we gathered a transdisciplinary mix of scientists, social scientists, artists, and philosophers.

A retreat is not a workshop and is, most certainly, 180 degrees opposite of a conference. It is a space to step back, slow down, and think more creatively—without the pressure of constant presentations or finished work. Organised around The Atlas of Social Complexity, participants brought their own projects, questions, and challenges, working individually and in small groups.

Through discussion, writing, and creative exercises, we built a collective imagination for how complexity might be advanced in both practice and research, making real progress together.

 

HERE IS A LINK to the PowerPoint for the day

CLICK HERE for Cillier’s article on system boundaries

CLICK HERE for the complexity sciences map