2026 International Conference on the Science of Dialogic Design: Symposia for Scientists and Practitioners

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The 2026 International Conference on the Science of Dialogic Design
The 2026 International Conference on the Science of Dialogic Design
Project Structured Dialogic Design Process
Place UCLan Cyprus
Date(s) June 17-19, 2026
Type of participants scientists, practitioners and students of the Science of Dialogic Designstudents, international delegates, academics, civil society, journalists
Number of participants approx. 50
Total Duration 3 days
Link(s) Link(s) to press release(s)



_TOC_

The 2026 International Conference on the Science of Dialogic Design: Symposia for Scientists and Practitioners will take place in Pyla, Cyprus, in parallel to The 2026 Summer School of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (Pyla, Cyprus), and back-to-back with the 70th (2026) Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, Cyprus, and the Reimagining our World Systemically - From Problematique to Purposeful Action (2026) Symposium.

Auspices

The Conference is under the auspices of:

All events will be hosted by UCLan Cyprus: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gj8bFFjNnhD7Fcyu6

UCLan Cyprus has a history of collaboration with Future Worlds Center, which started when their UK campus honoured and appointed Yiannis Laouris as “Honorary Fellow” of the School of Sciences. In 2016, they sponsored all spaces and offered accommodation (in students' dormitories) at reduced prices for our Cyprus Protopia Futuriser, an experimental educational project designed and implemented by Global Education Futures.

Dates and Program

Date Time Session Chair Presenters Description
17 Jun, 2026 10.00-17.00 SDD Theory Yiannis Laouris Kevin Dye Positioning SDD within the framework of systems science and other methodologies; Theoretical grounding, axioms and theorems; Archetypes and examples of applications; Formulating effective Triggering Questions; Theory, Methodology, and Tools ecosystem; documentary on the origins, philosophy, and evolution of Science by Yiannis Laouris and Tom Flanagan.
18 Jun, 2026 10.00-17.00 SDD Hands-on training Kevin Dye Kevin Dye, Yiannis Laouris, and Jeff Diedrich How to plan, implement, report and follow-up an SDD application; hands-on training on methodology and tools by Kevin Dye-Cogniscope/Concertina, Yiannis Laouris-[[IdeaPrism, Tom Flanagan-process, and Logosofia
19 Jun, 2026 10.00-14.00 Third-Phase Science and The Future Marios Michaelides Norma Romm and Gary Metcalf Third-Phase Science theory and implications by Norma Romm and Tom Flanagan. Contemporary and future challenges of SDD: Scaling-up; ontological questions concerning the structure and transformation of social systems which remain unasked; challenges to rendering SDD as a new standard in governance; reflections by Kevin Dye, Norma Romm, Yiannis Laouris, Tom Flanagan and Gary Metcalf

Format

The format is not the standard for a typical conference. Every day will have the same structure but a different focus. Many sessions will utilize the Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP) Methodology. Additionally, some presentations will be brief, focusing on specific tasks, and contributions will be submitted before the symposium.


Five Minutes of Fame Five individuals every day give 5-min TEDx-like presentations about themselves and their key work. (PechaKucha style)
Keynote Lecture Senior members of Global Agoras introduce the Theme and the challenges of the day.
Symposium Symposium on the Theme of the day; A few speakers and a lot of discussion.
Co-Laboratory Members of the Global Agoras will have a closed-door Co-Laboratory on the Theme of the day; Other conference participants may have the same Co-Laboratory in a parallel session.
Evening Lecture Lecture given over dinner; anecdotal and informal in nature. Memories and Reflections from an event related to focal subject of the day (By a senior member of Global Agoras)


Credits Earned

Please review the SDD Certification Scheme and the SDD Credit Point System for information. Participants of this School will be awarded 10 credits and a free Cogniscope 3 License (value €290).

Activity Credits
Attend an SDD School plus self-study 6
Learn how to use an ISM Software 2
Participate in a mini SDDP 1
Secure a Mentor 1

Registration and Participation Fees

Registration at: https://forms.gle/8fYUafgWcu6xXVZm8

The Registration and Participation Fees are necessary to cover the three lunches and six coffee breaks. The spaces are provided free of charge by the host university.

In order to register, simply pay your fees wiring them to the account below

  • Trainers and Facilitators: €150 (€125 if prepaid before Dec 30, 2025)
  • Regular Participants or Trainees: €260 (€230 if prepaid before Dec 30, 2025)
  • Students (proof required): €180 (€160 if prepaid before Dec 30, 2025)

A small number of scholarship might be available for those travelling from far. The Club or Rome may also sponsor a few attendees. Participants are encouraged to seek sponsors also themselves.


Payment

Name of Account Holder: Cyprus Neuroscience & Technology Institute
Address of Account Holder: 2, THRAKIS 2313 LAKATAMEIA NICOSIA CY
Account Details
IBAN CY09 0020 0128 0000 0001 0186 1900
SWIFT CODE: BCYPCY2N010
Name of Bank: Bank of Cyprus
Pl. Aglantzia Branch (0186)

Visas

If travelling to Cyprus requires a visa, please contact us early.

Accommodation

Up to 100 participants can stay in UCLANcy dormitories.

Prices:
  • Single Occupancy Room €60
  • Double Occupancy Room: €80
  • Triple Occupancy Room: €100

These rooms will be available starting from June 15th, 2026.

  • Reservations are first-come-first-served along with conference registration.

The UCLAN Cyprus dormitories are located within the campus area (i.e. walking distance to the main campus building). One can find more information about the accommodation facilities at:
https://www.uclancyprus.ac.cy/discover/the-campus/student-accommodation/.

The organizers can also assist participants get somewhat lower rates for the hotels close to the campus (2-5km). For the attendees who prefer this option, we may also be able to assist with the booking of bus service for transfer to/from their hotel.


Rooms are available at discounted prices at:

  • Lordos Hotel
  • Sandy Beach Hotel
  • Golden Bay Hotel
  • Radisson Blue Hotel
  • Radisson Beach Hotel
  • Lebay Hotel

Even though most hotels do not offer registrations as early, please feel free to request the current rates from us and initiate your contact with your preferred accommodation place to ensure availability and best price.

Organizers

The conference is co-organized by:

Organizing Committee

Aims

  1. Create an opportunity for scientists and practitioners of the Science of Dialogic Design (SDD) from across the world to get together for a whole week and engage in structured democratic dialogues that would help us all not only advance the science and plan its future, but also to get to know each other and become friends.
  2. Offer a unique opportunity for younger colleagues and people interested to learn more about the Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP) to engage in the science and/or the practice, to meet and interact with world pioneers, as well as to attend specially designed SDD Facilitators Training Schools that lead to Certification.
  3. Combine international efforts to achieve global consensus towards conscious evolution of the required social transformations.

Accommodation

Participants may take care of their own accommodation. The conference will take place at [[UCLan Cyprus's conference facilities located at the center of the Pyla Village. Pyla is located about 8 km (5 miles) northeast of Larnaca and 28 km (17 miles) west of Ayia Napa. The drive from Larnaca to Pyla takes around 10-15 minutes. The drive from Ayia Napa to Pyla takes roughly 27-28 minutes, depending on the route.

There are 4-5 Hotels very close to Pyla, located at the beach front, with which the organizers have arranged slightly better prices. Reservations are first comes first served.

If you opt for a student apartment, Hotel close to the City Centre (using the filter in Booking.com) or an apartment even outside the city (much cheaper) to combine business with some vacations. The organisers will try to assign whenever possible Local Assistants to international visitors to help them with their transportation and moving around.
Participants are strongly advised to make their arrangements before the end of the year to benefit from best prices.

Suggested Nearby Restaurants

The area has at least 10 restaurants within 1-2 Km.


Justification of the Need

The need for deep and far-reaching social transformation is now widely recognized. Across sectors, stakeholders understand that lasting change cannot be imposed—it must be co-created through participatory, democratic processes. Within this landscape, the Structured Dialogic Design Process (SDDP) has emerged as a powerful and proven methodology for harnessing the collective wisdom of diverse groups to address complex, interconnected challenges.

This timely international gathering in Cyprus—aligned with the 70th (Platinum) Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences—is not about revisiting the past 40 years of dialogic design history, but about shaping the history of the future. The global community of scientists and practitioners of dialogic design now spans continents, languages, and cultures. This convergence is an opportunity for that community to meet for a full week of focused learning, exchange, and co-creation—both formally and informally—to advance the process while ensuring it retains both its scientific rigor and its cultural sensitivity.

In the second quarter of our our third-millennium world, there is an urgent demand for new methodologies and tools capable of engaging people from all walks of life and channeling their collective intelligence toward sustainability, fairness, and harmony. This event will feature sessions dedicated to identifying emerging needs, recognizing challenges, and exploring innovative adaptations and solutions for the future of SDDP.

Each day will offer an integrated structure: a Keynote Lecture, a Symposium, a Co-Laboratory, and an Evening Lecture—all focusing on a shared challenge. Selected parallel sessions will provide opportunities for senior members of Global Agoras to deliberate in their own tracks, while other participants engage in presentations and discussions in a more traditional conference style.

Importantly, no claim is made that SDDP is “the” superior methodology—even though there is substantial empirical evidence from over 1,000 real-world applications demonstrating its value for managing complexity. Rather, SDDP is positioned as part of the Third Phase of Science: complementing, not replacing, the methodologies and tools rooted in the First and Second Phases of Science.

By offering this facilitator training alongside the ISSS’s milestone conference, we are not only investing in the next generation of dialogic design practitioners, but also situating SDDP within the broader evolution of systems science—ensuring that it continues to grow as both a science and a practice for decades to come.

A Glimpse into the Design Aims of the Program

1. Get to know each other and what everyone is doing

At the launch of ever day's program, five people will be invited to present themselves and their key work. We called it Five Minutes of Fame because we expect participants to make VERY short, TEDx-style, presentations. The presentations will be videotaped using quality systems. To prepare for the preparation people should be offering answers to questions like who s/he is, what s/he is doing, what are hers/his major interests, vision for the future, the ONE most important message to leave with the group for the theme of the day, etc. To be allowed to present, one should submit a video 3 months ahead of time. This is to ensure that people have truly prepared for such a short, but very rich presentation and not come unprepared.

2. Define future features of collective wisdom harnessing tools

We plan to use the Structured Dialogic Design Process Methodology and Cognicope analogous software to define requirements and future features of collective wisdom harnessing tools as reflected by practitioners and students of the science. An analogous virtual SDDP was organised more than 4 years ago and has driven developments since then. The vision is for a new process to kindle developments for the next 3-4 years using the authentic needs, ideas, and wishes of the community of scientists and practitioners.

3. Scaling-up the dialogue to engage thousands or millions

The next frontier. An SDDP on the challenges of scaling up and engaging thousands or millions in social change processes adhering to the laws of the science of dialogic design (on present state of realization of the idea of Demoscopio or Social Planetarium which would give citizens the opportunity to participate in deliberation and implementation of public policies in real time.

4. Coordinating and aligning our efforts

Challenge: How do we coordinate our efforts in organising dozens, if not hundreds, of SDDPs around the globe, letting people world-wide know about the potentials of the Dialogic Design Science.

5. Positioning Dialogic Design Science within the framework of other systems science methodologies and approaches

Important questions:

  • Is Dialogic Design Science the appropriate response at this time and necessarily the preferred over others?
  • Can Dialogic Design Science contribute towards reaching a global consensus?
  • When and how is Dialogic Design Science complementary to other approaches offering other insights?
  • How can we best interrelate complementary approaches, each with a tendency to consider that it is of primary value -- especially in seeking to reinforce that perspective through the gathering
  • Supposing that significant support for Dialogic Design Science emerged as a consequence of the exercise, how is it assumed that the cases for marginalizing other approaches (considered to be of lesser relevance) would be undertaken
  • How best to deal with advocacy of competing approaches and their constituencies
  • If it is possible that "different strokes are required for different folks", how is this consideration to be recognized and integrated, especially if those marginalized by SDD strenuously object in some way
  • What questions remain unasked in framing the SDD initiative -- as they are in the framing of initiatives by others -- and how do such questions constrain the wider appreciation of the outcome.

The deliberations at the gathering will address all four domains of the DOSM, i.e., the Foundation, Theory, Methodology, and Applications, in order to ensure the evolution of the science in accordance to the tenants of this model.

Preliminary Program

Day 1 Wednesday June 17

Main Theme: Contemporary Global Challenges

8: 30 - 9:00 Networking over coffee

9:00 - 9:20 Welcoming by Yiannis Laouris

9:20 - 9:44 Five Minutes of Fame

  1. Person 1: Valeriu Dragalin
  2. Person 2: Viktoria Eden
  3. Person 3: Magda Zenon
  4. Person 4: Anthodesmia Panayi
  5. Person 5: Elia Petridou


9:40 - 10:10 Keynote To-be-Named

  • Introduction to the Theme and the Challenges of the day. Chair of KMT introduces the background of the afternoon's SDDP

10:10 - 10:25 Marios Michaelides: Introduction to the Triggering Question.

10:25 - 11:00 Interactive Session over coffee and snacks. Discussions in small groups. Each person submits at least ONE IDEA electronically:

Statement
Clarification as text
Clarification as video


11:00 - 13.00 Symposion 1: Contemporary Global Challenges
  • Open to all participants
11:00 - 13.00 Presentations (Conference style) and Panel Discussion
Marios Michaelides: Stakeholders' Engagement
Roxana Cárdenas: The Century of the Cities: inequality and urban growth
Andreas Shoshilos: Engaging the citizens of a whole village using an adapted version of structured democratic dialogue
To-be-named: Technology in Education

13:00 - 14.00 Free Light Lunch at near-by restaurants (not covered by conference)

14:00 - 18.00 Co-Laboratory of Democracy: Stakeholders' Engagement
Triggering Question: What are the requirements of an ideal approach that secures authentic and effective engagement of all relevant stakeholders?
Dialogue Design Team

20:00 Dinner at http://www.mezetavernacyprus.net CYPRUS Meze - Please let us know if vegetarian

Evening Lecture: Memories and Reflections from Co-Labs in Cyprus by Marios Michaelides

Day 2 Thursday June 18

Main Theme: Next Generation Tools, Approaches and Resources

8: 30 - 9:00 Networking over coffee

9:00 - 9:30 Five Minutes of Fame

  1. Person 1: Penelope Vasquez Hadjilyra
  2. Person 2: Samar Abdou
  3. Person 3:
  4. Person 4: Roxana Cardenas
  5. Person 5: Kevin Dye


9:30 - 10:00 Keynote Yiannis Laouris, Kevin Dye and Gary Metcalf: From face-to-face, small groups, small scale applications to world-wide impacts

  • Introduction to the Theme and the Challenges of the day. Chair of KMT introduces the background of the afternoon's SDDP

10:00 - 10:15 Marios Michaelides: Introduction to the Triggering Question. Discussions in small groups. Each person submits at least ONE Statements electronically

10:15 - 11:00 Interactive Session over coffee and snacks. Discussions in small groups. Each person submits at least ONE IDEA electronically:

Statement
Clarification as text
Clarification as video


11:00 - 13.00 Symposion 4: Defining Features of SDD-type of engagements of Next Generation Tools, Approaches and Resources
  • Open to all participants
11:00 - 13.00 Presentations (Conference style) and Panel Discussion
Next gen. SDD software: Cogniscope v3 and beyond Yiannis Laouris, Logosofia Jeff Diedrich, IdeaPrism: A collection of Web- and App technologies to support scaling-up Yiannis Laouris:


13:00 - 13.00 Free Light Lunch at near-by restaurants (not covered by conference)

14:00 - 18.00 Co-Laboratory of Democracy: Defining Features of of SDD-type mass engagements
Triggering Question: What are requirements for Next Generation Tools, Approaches and Resources to enable SDD-type of engagements of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people?
Dialogue Design Team

Free Night

Day 3 Friday June 19

Main Theme: The Challenges of Scaling-up to engage millions

8: 30 - 9:00 Networking over coffee

9:00 - 9:30 Five Minutes of Fame

  1. Person 1: Ilke Dagli
  2. Person 2: Nikitas Assimakopoulos
  3. Person 3: [[]]
  4. Person 4: [[]]
  5. Person 5: [[]]


9:30 - 10:00 Keynote: Yiannis Laouris: The Challenges of Scaling up

  • Introduction to the Theme and the Challenges of the day. Chair of KMT introduces the background of the afternoon's SDDP

10:00 - 10:15 Kevin Dye: Introduction to the Triggering Question. Discussions in small groups. Each person submits at least ONE Statements electronically

10:15 - 11:00 Interactive Session over coffee and snacks. Discussions in small groups. Each person submits at least ONE IDEA electronically:

Statement
Clarification as text
Clarification as video


11:00 - 13.00 Symposion 2: The Challenges of Scaling up
  • Open to all participants
11:00 - 13.00 Presentations (Conference style) and Panel Discussion
Yiannis Laouris: Local micro SDDs resulting into global consensus
Kevin Dye: Actual Variety and Its Discontents: Techniques for Eliciting & Articulating Participant’s "Perfect Dissatisfaction" with Transitory Social Networks of Engagements
Reynaldo Treviño: From the Interloquium Experiment to the Millennium Requirements for Global Dialogues
TBN


13:00 - 14.00 Free Light Lunch at near-by restaurants (not covered)


SDD Facilitators Training School: Hands-on Training Opportunities for advanced and beginner SDD Facilitators to advance their skills through practical training. Interested individuals should register well in advance. The organisers will assign to them roles (i.e., Broker, Sponsor, Member of the Design Team, co-Facilitator, Lead Facilitator etc.) and mentor them throughout the process.

Days 4 & 5 Saturday/Sunday June 20, 21

Possible day trips for participants (free time)

A Historical Perspective: From the Club of Rome to the Digital Era

For the last 40 plus years there have been probably more than 1,000 applications of SDDP in Co-Laboratories of Democracy staged in a variety of settings around the world. For example in Cyprus, the location of this Symposion (it is a Greek word meaning drinking together), we have a history of more than 20 years of applications and more than 70 Co-Laboratories[1] with government agencies, such as the Ministries of Finance, Transportation, Interior, and many others, as well as bi-communal colabs involving Greek and Turkish Cypriots addressing issues of conflict resolution and peace building on the island of Aphrodite.

The first test of the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) algorithm, developed by John Warfield[2] in 1971, was conducted by Dave Malone and Aleco Christakis on the table top of Warfield’s office at the Battelle Columbus Laboratories in Ohio, USA. The first application of ISM with real people was conducted by Brother Raymond Fitz, who later on became the President of the University of Dayton, with the City Council of Dayton in 1973. There is a video of this ISM session with the members of the city council deliberating on setting budget priorities for allocating the city revenue. The first Center for Interactive Management was established by Warfield and Christakis at the University of Virginia in 1982, and was moved to George Mason University in 1984. The first consultancy employing the Interactive Management methodology, a predecessor of SDD, was established by Christakis in Philadelphia in 1989, and it worked for 25 years with more than 50 clients in government agencies, corporations, foundations, and NGOs. The Institute for 21st Century Agoras was founded by Dr. Ken Bausch and Aleco Christakis in 2002, in preparation for the 2003 International conference of ISSS (www.ISSS.org) in Crete, when Christakis was serving as President of the systems society met Yiannis Laouris for the first time. Soon there after Laouris established the Future Worlds Center, which emerged as a leader in the evolution of SDD.

The purpose of this timely symposion in Cyprus is not to revisit the history of the past 40 plus years, but to create the history of the future on the foundation of past history. The community of scientists and practitioners of the Dialogic Design Science has now expanded to include people from all parts of the world and a variety of languages and cultures. This dedicated community of scientists will gather for the first time in this symposion for a whole week, and will deliberate formally and informally on how to evolve the process and retain its scientific credibility together with its cultural sensitivity.

The Framework of their deliberations will be the Domain of Science Model (DOSM) developed by Warfield and shown graphically here.


Confirmed Participants (alphabetically)

  1. Elina Antoniou
  2. Nikitas Assimakopoulos
  3. Katerina Kotsi
  4. Heiner Benking
  5. Roxana Cárdenas
  6. Valeriu Dragalin
  7. Kevin Dye
  8. Viktoria Eden
  9. Tom Flanagan
  10. Selen Mesutoglu
  11. Bilun Gunes
  12. Eleni Georgiade
  13. Penelope Vasquez Hadjilyra
  14. Frederick Holscher
  15. Lina Maria Jaramillo
  16. Samar Abdou
  17. Yiannis Laouris
  18. Janet McIntyre
  19. Gary Metcalf
  20. Marios Michaelides
  21. Dilek Latif
  22. Gerald Midgley
  23. Elena Georgiade
  24. Elia Petridou
  25. Norma Romm
  26. Peter Tuddenham
  27. Magda Zenon
  28. Layik Topcan Mesutoğlu

Invited and/or Un-Confirmed Participants (alphabetically)

  1. Charis Charalambous
  2. Marios Constantinou
  3. Mary Ioannou
  4. Peter Jones
  5. Elena Kalli
  6. Zora Kizilyurek
  7. Tonia Loizidou
  8. Maria Loizou
  9. Spyroula Mavrommati
  10. Doxia Mina
  11. Osam Mories
  12. Sotos Shiakides
  13. Andreas Shoshilos
  14. Reynaldo Treviño
  15. Anthodesmia Panayi


Citations

  1. ↑ Chronological List of SDDPs by Future Worlds Center and Associates
  2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_N._Warfield John Warfield in Wikipedia


Useful Links

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