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METAPHORUM CONFERENCE
A 100 Years of Stafford Beer - Celebrating his Legacy and Future Developments
September the 17th to the 19th, 2026
In 2026, Metaphorum is inviting you to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Stafford Beer at its conference, hosted at the University of Manchester Business School (AMBS) on September 17th-19th.
More than fifty years after his invention of the Viable System Model and Team Syntegrity, Beer's work remains urgently relevant as organisations and societies confront escalating complexity, ecological limits, technological disruption and crises of governance.
Join the global cyber-systemic community in celebrating 100 years of Stafford Beer. We are organising the conference in collaboration with the World Organization for Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC) and the Centre for Systems Studies (University of Hull). There will be parallel events throughout this year in other partner organisations (ASC, ISSS).
This landmark conference explores his legacy and the future of organisational cybernetics through themes including pioneered creative artefacts to continue disseminating his legacy; emerging methods and tools; contemporary practice; resilient, just, and ethical organisations; grounded cybernetics, and global governance.
This will be a living, participatory conversation for scholars, practitioners and emerging voices shaping the next chapter of viable, ethical, and regenerative systems.
Registrations are open! Please register at the conference website (https://conference2026.metaphorum.org).
Deadline for abstracts: 17th July, 2026
At the conference we will be:
- Screening of a video documentary celebrating 'the visionary who fused science, art and spirit to reimagine society.
- Launching of the "100 Years of Stafford Beer - Festschrift" an online book - with a summary of Stafford's main contributions and of key developments of his theories in the last decades. Edited by Angela Espinosa, Markus Schwaninger and Jose Perez Rios. Invited authors are expected to participate in the conference, to discuss their work.
We invite scholars, practitioners, consultants and emerging voices to join us in shaping the next chapter of organisational cybernetics.
Those interested in publishing their work will be offered the option of participating in a special issue of one of the systems and cybernetic journals (details to be confirmed).
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