Description

Today’s policy professionals are increasingly asked to respond to complex, interconnected challenges— such as climate change, pandemics, and the rapid rise of AI—where traditional policy tools often fall short. Many of these challenges are what policy scholars often call “wicked” problems: complex issues with no clear solution, where actions in one area can unintentionally create new problems elsewhere.

If you’re finding that familiar policy approaches no longer provide clear or lasting answers, this course is designed for you. Designed for mid-level and senior policy analysts, this course builds on foundational policy development skills and focuses on how to work effectively when standard frameworks are no longer enough.

You’ll examine the limits of conventional policy analysis and explore complex adaptive systems thinking as a way to better understand and respond to wicked problems. The course also introduces newer approaches, such as narrative and behavioural policy, human learning systems, and conscious systemic leadership, alongside reflection on the inner dimensions of policy work, including mindset and values.

Delivered as an interactive, discussion-based learning experience, the course draws on participants’ real-world experience, peer learning, and concrete case studies. You’ll leave with practical insights and integrative frameworks to support more thoughtful, holistic, and wise policy making in your role.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Analyze the characteristics of wicked policy problems that resist simple or linear solutions
  • Assess the strengths and limitations of traditional policy approaches when applied to complex and uncertain policy challenges
  • Apply systems thinking and complex adaptive systems concepts to policy analysis, design, and implementation
  • Evaluate the influence of values, assumptions, and judgment on policy decision-making
  • Integrate analytical and reflective approaches to develop more effective and context-sensitive policy advice

Duration

12 hours

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Instructor

Dr Naresh Singh is a Professor of Government and Public Policy, Director of the Centre for Complexity Economics, Applied Spirituality and Public Policy and Co-Director of the Centre for Legal Empowerment of the Poor. He is a former DG and acting ADM in the Federal Government of Canada. On the corporate side he served as sustainability adviser to the Toronto Centre on Financial Leadership, Senior VP for Global Development Solutions Canada, and ESG Advisor for Moneymoov.

Professor Singh was a visiting scholar at several universities, including Boston, Harvard, Fordham, McGill, Waterloo and Guelph and University of Ottawa. He has been a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Pan American Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization. He is widely published. Two of his recently co-edited books are Applied Spirituality and Sustainable Development Policy (Emerald UK 2024) and most recently Handbook of Global Philosophies on AI Ethics (Routledge 2025)