Pedaforum 2024

Otto Scharmer, a Senior Lecturer at MIT and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute, has dedicated the past 20 years to helping leaders embrace cross-sector systems transformation.   Through his bestselling books Theory U and Presence (the latter co-authored with Peter Senge and others), Otto introduced the groundbreaking concept of “presencing” — learning from the emerging future. He also co-authored Leading from the Emerging Future, which outlines eight acupuncture points for transforming our economy from egocentric to ecocentric. His most recent book The Essentials of Theory U (2018) summarizes the core principles and applications of awareness-based systems change.   

He co-founded the MITx u-lab, which has activated a vibrant worldwide ecosystem of transformational change involving more than 250,000 users from 186 countries. In collaboration with colleagues, he co-created global Action Learning Labs for UN agencies and SDG Leadership Labs for UN Country Teams in 26 countries, which support cross-sector initiatives for addressing urgent humanitarian crises.    

Otto earned his diploma and his PhD in economics from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. He is a member of the UN Learning Advisory Council for the 2030 Agenda, the Club of Rome and the World Future Council. He has won the Jamieson Prize for Teaching Excellence at MIT and the European Leonardo Corporate Learning Award. In 2021, he received the Elevating Humanity Award from the Organizational Development Network.    
 

Otto Scharmer’s website 

Reimagining Higher Education: Transforming Systems For Human and Planetary Flourishing” explores Dr. C. Otto Scharmer’s innovative approach to transforming higher education through the lens of awareness-based systems change. In this keynote, Dr. Scharmer, renowned for his groundbreaking work on Theory U, will guide educators, administrators, and students through the process of reimagining and reshaping learning environments.  
His keynote aims to shift the educational paradigm from traditional forms, the transfer of knowledge, toward activating agency in terms of co-sensing and co-shaping the emerging future. Participants will delve into a novel systems-thinking based framework for cultivating spaces that encourage deep listening, generative dialogue, co-sensing, and ecosystem leadership practices, aligning educational forms with the urgent challenges facing our planet.  
Join us for an engaging discussion on shaping the future of higher education to develop learners and leaders capable of rising to the occasion. 

Photo: Linda Tammisto

Anne Birgitta Pessi, prof. doc., is fascinated by the themes of human encounter, compassion and meaningfulness. Her mission is to awaken people to reflect on the core of themselves and their communities, on which both well-being and effectiveness are built. What matters most to us? Are people good or bad? How are we compassionate in our everyday lives? How do we best inspire each other? Pessi explores these questions both through provocative reflection and by applying them to the everyday life of a community, such as the world of work. At its heart is the application of international research findings to a specific target group.

Pessi is an international researcher and an inspiring, highly regarded lecturer who is a professor at the University of Helsinki and a regular visiting scholar at Stanford and Boston Universities, among others. She is well known in Finland as a researcher-speaker for numerous companies, as the director of the CoPassion research project and for her book The Transformative Power of Compassion.

More information about Anne Birgitta Pessi

A system-smart, thriving higher education community
This presentation discusses the relationship between individual well-being and a well-being community in higher education. As a working and learning community, institutions are built on respectful interaction and everyday compassion and affection. Community, trust and co-construction already run through the objectives of higher education, but how do we bring these more strongly into everyday life? As a rhetoric, well-being talk can even turn on itself. What can we each do, as individuals and as part of communities, to strengthen the power of humanity?
The presentation will draw on recent research evidence from home and abroad, but also on reflection on everyday issues, alone and together.

Our safety work is based on the idea that everyone has the right to contribute to the safety of our community. We are building a strong, sustainable and genuine sense of safety by working together to strengthen the everyday safety and resilience of our community.  Read more here.

At the event, we will follow the Safer Space Principles to ensure that the event is a positive and rewarding experience for all participants.

We are aware that an event cannot always be completely safe for everyone, and we actively encourage participants to create an atmosphere of safety and well-being. Let’s look after each other.

Our core principles are:

• We respect everyone’s personal physical and mental space and do not cross boundaries without permission.
• We do not make assumptions or generalisations, and we respect everyone’s individuality and identity. 
• We discuss constructively and give everyone the opportunity to contribute to the discussion. We respect each other’s opinions, experiences and different points of view. We are open to new ideas, and we ask questions with the courage to learn.
• We listen to feedback and change our behaviour if someone expresses that our behaviour makes others uncomfortable.
• We take responsibility for our own actions and apologise if we hurt others unintentionally or intentionally.
• We will always address any perceived or observed harassment, inappropriate behaviour or other threats to safety immediately, and offer our support in dealing with the situation.

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If you wish, you can also report any observations after the event by e-mail or by using the anonymous reporting form (see contact details below).

The Hämeenlinna University of Applied Sciences is located at Vankanlähde 9.
There are emergency maps in the campus premises, which show the locations of escape routes and initial fire-fighting equipment, among other things. The campus has several defibrillators, in the event area in the N building on the 1st floor lobby and in the S building on the 3rd floor lobby.

The campus emergency plan is available online here.