THE OXPEX MANIFESTO
We believe in the following things:
Education is at the heart of improvement in all spheres of human endeavour – in business, in political, social and cultural development, in our responses to climate change and sustainability.
Education is most effective when linked closely with practical application – learners should be enabled and encouraged to actively contribute to valuable projects in their domain of interest.
Multi-disciplinary approaches are essential to improvement – Valuable problems are frequently complex and require skills, knowledge and thinking from multiple disciplines to provide sustainable solutions.
There is high value in building conduits between academia and business, government, not-for profit organisations and social-cultural movements – we need information, skills, knowledge and thinking to flow rapidly and effectively in both directions.
There are a core set of enabling methodologies that can be leveraged in service of this Manifesto:
Systems Thinking : Understanding complexity, interrelationships, non-linearity and emergence;
Design Thinking : Adopting the tools and thinking styles of Designers to make sense of problems and situations and then create, implement and deploy valuable solutions;
Agile Thinking : Employing an iterative and evolutionary style of project execution to maximise learning, speed progress towards goals and build engagement with participants;
Lean Thinking : Leveraging a rational, scientific problem solving approach that depends on observation and measurement, analysis, hypothesis formation, experimentation, testing and sustainment, with an imperative to reduce waste and improve flow.
There are a core set of ‘big problems’ which must guide our endeavours in all domains:
Sustainability and Bio-diversity
Poverty, Inequality and justice
Global health
Conflict and Political Instability
The provision of high-quality education for every person
Capitalising on technological opportunities and reduction of technology related risks