Aims and overview of i2S

In addition to the infographic for the i2S framework 3.0 shown above, three images are used to depict i2S:

1. i2S ‘swirl’
2. i2S ‘word cloud’
3. the sculpture Kulla’s Ripple by Tim Spellman.

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i2S swirl

The i2S swirl is our logo and symbolises the synergies among disparate ways of tackling complex societal and environmental problems.

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i2S word cloud

The i2S word cloud contains the names of various approaches to tackling complex societal and environmental problems. The aim of i2S is to provide a conduit connecting these approaches, as a common underlying discipline which promotes cross-fertilisation. The i2Insights blog and repository draws on resources developed by all of these approaches.

It is also important to note that there are many individual and groups of researchers seeking to improve understanding of, and action on, complex real-world problems who do not identify with any of the approaches listed in the word cloud. They may be known as T-shaped researchers or knowledge brokers. They are an additional, important group that i2S seeks to connect with.

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Kulla’s Ripple by Tim Spellman

The sculpture Kulla’s Ripple by Tim Spellman (2000) provides a useful metaphor for several key dimensions of i2S. The ANU Sculpture Walk brochure (https://hrc.cass.anu.edu.au/files/docs/2025/3/Sculpture-Walk-Brochure_ANU.pdf (PDF 2.1MB)), described the sculpture as follows: “The spherical and concave shapes link the two parts of the installation with their suggestion of symbiotic pairs: positive and negative, solid and void, the mould and the moulded. Spellman describes his work as the attempt to create wholeness from the dualities of past and present, the physical and the spiritual.”

From the perspective of i2S, three symbiotic pairs are important:

• tractable and intactable problems (the latter are often called complex or wicked problems)
• reductionist and systemic research approaches
• knowns and unknowns.

Unlike the sculpture where both elements of the pair are reasonably equal, the symbiotic pairs relevant to i2S are not, with the right-hand element in each pair (intractable problems, systemic research approaches and dealing with unknowns) relatively underdeveloped. Indeed the rationale for i2S is to: a) improve the research community’s ability (and therefore the ability of society in general) to deal with intractable problems; b) strengthen systemic research approaches; and, c) advance understanding and management of the unknown.

Whereas the ability of research to deal with tractable problems using reductionist methods is highly developed and sophisticated, the ability of research to deal with intractable complex problems using systems-based methods is still relatively ill-formed and unwieldy. i2S aims to even out the relationship by enhancing the ability of research to deal with intractable problems.

The sculpture is located on ANU Campus on Chifley Meadow, near the Menzies Library.