Professor Ray Ison has been Professor of Systems at The Open University since 1994. He has an established international reputation and is an experienced researcher, teacher, author and consultant. His research specialisms include: development and evaluation of systemic, participatory and process-based environmental decision making in natural resource management; organizational change and sustainable use of water. He has much experience of designing and developing learner centered, experiential and open learning systems and models. Prior to joining The Open University he worked in Australia at the Universities of Sydney and Western Sydney (Hawkesbury). Professor Ray Ison is regular keynote speaker at national and international conferences and is frequently invited to run workshops. As well as publishing numerous journal papers, he has co-authored and co-edited four books: Cow up a Tree. Knowledge and Learning for Change in Agriculture: Case studies from industrial countries; Agricultural Extension and Rural Development: Breaking out of traditions; A Guide to Better Pastures in Temperate Climates; Agronomy of Grassland Systems.
Dr. Lauren A. Rickards, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia In: Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, Volume 14, Issue 4, 2012, pp.481-483 As the 'wicked' and 'messy' nature of contemporary problems becomes increasingly apparent, the need to better understand and appropriately engage with the complex systems we are part of is of growing importance. Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate Change World is rich in insight into the challenges and joys of developing this was of thinking and acting. It is itself a highly valuable but challenging book, in part because of the depth of the problems in modern society it reveals (including, for example, the very concept of 'problems', with its implicit simplistic corollary: 'solutions'). It is also challenging because of the richness of strategies it provides for engaging with these 'problems' and becoming a 'systems practitioner'... Its breadth and depth of thinking is stimulating and the intellectual and emotional challenges it poses reflect the situations we are in rather than weaknesses with the book itself, which is instead carefully and cleverly crafted.