Metaphorum was initially created by some of Stafford’s closest collaborators when he passed away in 2002, to continue developing his legacy, as a result of the ‘Staffordian Syntegration: A Tribute to Stafford Beer’, at Scarborough Management Centre, Hull University, England, in June the 13th- 14th, 2003. The Syntegration was organised by Angela Espinosa – in collaboration with Allena Leonard, Joe Truss and C Cullen and sponsored by the University of Hull Business School.
One of the infosets suggested creating the Metaphorum to continue developing Stafford’s legacy. Metaphorum was then created as a members’ association aiming to continue developing and disseminating Stafford’s legacy.
What do we do
a. Promote and undertaking original research on organisational cybernetics to continue developing Stafford Beer’s legacy, through our webinar series, research projects, annual conferences, practitioners’ webinars, and publications .
b. Ensure the high quality of VSM, Team Syntegrity education and practice by establishing certification criteria for training and coaching.
c. Develop a global community of training associates (trainers and training companies).
d. Promote the dissemination of quality research and practice by curating knowledge and developing its website & online community
e. Enable the formation of a global community of knowledge and practice in organisational cybernetics
Metaphorum members have organized a series of conferences and workshops over the years, where a growing number of interested people have joined the Metaphorum Community and have presented their research and practice in organizational cybernetics. As a result of the conferences, Metaphorum has produced special issues in systems and cybernetic journals.
The Metaphorum webpage as well as the Metaphorum Listserv were subsequently created to disseminate information and allow the communication and discussion among members. Metaphorum has also collaborated with the Cwarel Isaf Institute at different levels to promote its work.
Since 2020 Metaphorum has been developing a Webinar Series with a webinar offered by its members monthly. The webinars are free to attend, and have counted with a very good attendance over the years. The Metaphorum You Tube channel offers access to the recording of all the webinars.
Metaphorum Leadership
Initially Metaphorum was led by Angela Espinosa, A Moscardini and L Solomons. Alfredo Moscardini was President from 2003 until 2010. Nick Green developed our first webpage. A few years later Allena Leonard, Roger Harnden and Paul Stokes also joined the Steering Committee.
Since 2015, Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker and Allena Leonard have been in the Metaphorum Board, supported by a Steering Committee which have included several volunteers, from those attending each on the yearly conference. Allenna Leonard was the President until we registered as a Cooperative in 2022.
Since June 2023 – 2025 the Council members included Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker, Allena Leonard , Peter Tuddenham, John Waters, Pedro Pablo Cardoso, Juliana Alves, and Camilo Osejo. James Fox and Ian Kendrick also were part of the Council until recently.
At our 1st Annual General Meeting in April 30th 2026, the membership voted for the New Council. Metaphorum Directors for the next year are Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker, Allenna Leonard, Juliana Alves, John Waters, Ayham Fattoum, Iffat Sabir, and Pedro Pablo Cardoso.
Martin Pffifner and Cristopher Mathis, continue leading and developing the Viable System Model Training and Certification process. We have certified five VSM trainers (M Pfiffner, A Espinosa, M Lambertz, C Mathis, P. MIserez, and several more are in the process of certification). In the first few years of operation we have already certified as VSM Coaches more than two hundred practitioners from different countries.
First Peter Tuddenham and now Arseny Krassikov have supported the recording of videos for the conferences and the webinar series and managed our You Tube channel. Initially Mark Lambertz and John Waters and more recently Krishan Mathis, John Waters and Arseny Krassikov have led the development of our website.
Jon Walker is our treasurer and director of communications. With John Waters and Melinda Belog, they are in charge of manging the membership, our newsletter and communications with members.
For the 100 years of Stafford Beer video-documentary, the team includes Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker, Allenna Leonard, Vanilla Beer, Malik Radwan, Bruno Vaz and Pedro Pablo Cardoso, with Garrick Filewood doing the filming and production and Boyan Angelov leading the centenary website and supporting us with Artificial Intelligence.
The Festshcrift Co-editors are Angela Espinosa, Markus Schwaninger and Jose Perez Rios,
The 2026 Conference Steering Committee includes Angela Espinosa, Juliana Alves, Ayham Fattoum, Iffat Sabir, Andrea Catalina Martinez, Camilo Osejo, and Stephen Harwood,
The Metaphorum Community
As a result of the 2022 Conference in Leuven, Belgium, we decided to further develop the Metaphorum, and begun a process of designing the new Metaphorum. This effort concluded when designing and registering Metaphorum Co-operative Inc as trading company, (not for profit). We have redeveloped our webpage, and are now offering VSM training certification for education and coaching on the Viable System Model.
In this website, and now in our centenary project’s website we aim to offer a rich variety of curated resources to learn about Stafford Beer, Organisational Cybernetics in general, and specifically about the Viable System Model and Team Syntegrity, Stafford’s main contributions to Operational Research and Management Sciences.
Contact
Metaphorum Community
3 Laurel Bank Lowestwood Lane
Golcar Huddersfield HD7 4ER
contact@metaphorum.org