researchers
hsd acorn
Human Systems Dynamics and Applied Complexity Research Network
Janice Ryan, PhD, OTD
clinical psychology - occupational therapy - mental healthDr. Janice Ryan, OT, HSDP, is the Founder and Director of Attunement Solutions and a certification trainer for the American Association of Multisensory Environments (AAMSE). She partners with neurodivergent children, adults, families, and practitioners to improve quality of life, strengthen relationships, and support meaningful, sustainable change. With five decades of experience in clinical psychology, advanced training in Occupational Therapy, and 20 years as a Certified Human Systems Dynamics Practitioner, Dr. Ryan brings a whole-person, system-informed perspective to mental health and well-being. She has published peer-reviewed articles and family-focused resources, trains practitioners in her treatment model, and develops online quality-of-life communities for neurodivergent adults.
Brian Hunter Young
leadership - organisational development - strategic planningBrian Hunter Young is an HSD Professional and currently a doctoral researcher with the University of Stirling, Scotland. His current research centers on exploration of complex patterns in human adaptive systems, examining how leadership behaviours, relational dynamics and wider system conditions interact to shape collective action. With more than 20 years’ experience across health, social care and the voluntary sector in Scotland. His career has centred on organisational development, strategic planning, improvement, leadership and working with change across complex systems.
Elvira holds a PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne for her work on the applications of multi-agent systems and neural networks to the development of semi-autonomous renewable energy management systems. After spending 15 years in the field of people management in various high-tech sectors, Elvira turned back to complexity science and its applications in Human Systems Dynamics.
Elvira’s current research focuses on human relational ecologies: exploring how meaning, identity and agency emerge through participation in complex human systems.
relational ecologies - agency - process complexityElvira Booth, PhD
Judy Thal, PhD
mathematics - organisational development - Complexity Science - Systems Theory - Graph TheoryJudy is a mathematician whose academic work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University focused on convexity and combinatorics, graph theory, systems theory, optimisation on graphs, and complexity theory.
After leaving academia, she brought this scientific perspective into her work with Human Systems Dynamics (HSD), founding the HSD Learning Center in Tel Aviv in 2011 and leading an HSD cohort together with Glenda Eoyang and Royce Holladay.
Her subsequent work has combined research, teaching, and practice, including the development of an academic HSD course in Israel, applied research into the use of HSD in organisations, and a six-month research programme exploring innovation through a complexity-informed lens.