All the work we do is an experiment and an exploration in working towards a humane and ecologically viable future. It is part of an enquiry to find ways that connect inner and outer work, that develop new capacities and organs of perception, and that mobilise people internally to become ‘agents of change’ in their own lives, and active ecological citizens in the wider social sphere.

We are also involved in reflective practices to understand how these different processes and strategies work and to articulate how they relate to the field of transformation.

Through these practices we are making propositions about ways of thinking of this field of change, about approaches to change and different criteria of effectiveness.

These practices and transactions take many different forms and work in the field of transformation at different levels. This ranges from work on the streets in cities and towns, to work in organizations and cultural groups, to sharing the strategies with research students in universities. Sometimes people are involved as individuals with no initial common purpose. In other contexts the work is focused with and for a particular group, or has a specific theme.

We do not often distinguish between our pedagogic work, our projects and our processes with groups outside the university. The reason for this is that they all share the same strategies and understandings. And teaching and learning should also be seen as an integral part of the field of transformation!

Many of these transactions work with non-physical materials – like questions, speech, discussion and listening processes – which are examples of what Beuys described as the ‘invisible materials’ of social sculpture.

This work is initiated and developed by the core members of the SSRU – staff, student researchers and associates.

Here are a number of projects, processes and transactions that reflect our work in the field.