Circular Economy and Digitalisation Creativities

April 2026. We have finished, colleagues and I, delivering an undergraduate management course titled "Digitalisation and Circular Economy". It was a very interesting course (I think), where we created a synergy between two paradigms:  Digital Transformation (DT), and Circular Economy (CE).  

The DT paradigm has been for longer.  It proposes a radical rethinking of organisational or business practices which, according to many, can be simplified or accelerated, if not obliterated, with digital technologies.  

The CE paradigm, most prominent in Europe than other regions in the world, points to a similar direction of simplification by creating or closing loops in practices so that their resource use can be recycled, reduced or prevented.  

A champion of this paradigm in the is the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.  

I was fortunate to work with colleagues that introduced me to this foundation many years ago (thank you Rokiah from LEAP Micro AD) and other colleagues at Royal Holloway which know more about digitalisation and DT.  I provided my knowledge and expertise in CE which I have developed in projects like "Somebody's food" (mentioned already in this blog).  And I also used my work experience and ideas on systemic innovation provided by my former PhD supervisor Gerald Midgley.  

We were also fortunate to involve our campus senior gardener Daniel Steel who kindly walked us through different sites.  He talked about how him and his team are working to restore native species.  This to him is an essential form of CE.  

Visiting the green composting facility. 

If we consider our campus as a system, we can then think of how this system can keep a better balance between its different elements.  Native species seem to have been overtaken by foreign ones.  Us humans seem not to take notice of what goes on.  In our daily lives, we consciously or unconsciously marginalise certain elements of this system. 

Having another look at species that live next to our Moore Annex Building. 

What can we do about this?  In our course, we asked students to use their creativity to identify issues of concern on campus and beyond, issues that have been also flagged up by proposers of the CE paradigm when they talk about reduce, reuse and regenerate.  

With those issues, students were to develop digital prototypes of a solution, which they then refined by reflecting on why it could fail or non fail, if we refine the solution with emerging digital technologies like data analysis, internet of things (IoT), blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and so on.  

With the above, we hoped students could then better understand the possibilities and challenges involved when we think of rethinking (radically) how we are to operate as CE-driven individuals and organisations.   In particular, if as individuals or future managers we consider the potential inclusion (or marginalisation) of valuable species or resources (i.e. food and its waste; clothing garments; vehicles, etc) in what we do. 

I was impressed with the quality of students work, in particular with their reflective accounts of why/how could their solutions (not) work.  I also perceived that they value the idea of digital product passports to help organisations trace products and alert consumers to events, for example when a product needs or can be reused or recycled.  Perhaps they value this idea too much, which in terms of creativity narrows the spectrum of possibilities.  

The futures of this course and creativity look bright.  The rise of AI offers possibilities that could be realised by adopting a responsible attitude to its adoption. CE needs to continue if we are to make positive impacts in our planet.  I hope students become better at seeing situations from different perspectives, considering tradeoffs of implementation.  

Presenting a poster about our course at the Royal Holloway Education Conference in April 2026. 

I also hope to continue helping myself and them to manage the changes that emerge when we decide (or are decided) to innovate.  

Sheerwater rediscovered!

Since 2014, the Sheerwater housing estate near Woking, in Surrey (UK), has been the subject of a partially completed regeneration project which is negatively affecting residents and despite some achievements. 

The regeneration project was stopped due to Woking Borough Council facing financial difficulties. At the end of 2025, some decisions were announced to refurbish dwellings that had already been vacated. Others were to be sold for redevelopment.     

December 2025 Map of Sheerwater planned refurbished/completed/to sell dwellings

(courtesy of the Mascot Hub) 

The Systemic Life Stories Project

I have been a regular visitor to the Sheerwater Parkview community centre since 2015.  In 2025 and after a very intersting conversation with a university colleague, I decided to apply for funding to organise a research project with Sheerwater residents and organisations. 

I partnered with the MascotHub (a partnership that provides aid and advice to residents) and the SurreyHistory Centre (a council sponsored organisation with more than 16 million historical records about Surrey). I recruited Dr Cecilia Loureiro from the Business School and Isabelle Kemp from the Social Science Impact Accelerator team. The project effectively ran between July and December 2025, with a main exhibition-workshop event on the 29th of October.  

 

Mr Paul Salt (left), resident of Sheerwater for 61 years being interviewed at the Mascot Office (September 2025).

 

With the help of partner organisations and personal contacts, I interviewed residents for their life stories. Using the systems thinking rich picture technique, with the information obtained from the interviews we (myself and Cecilia) produced and disseminated a visual history of Sheerwater as told by residents.  

A history of Sheerwater

We organised the picture (see above) into three (3) stages:  a ‘past’ (of resilience), a ‘present’ (of diversity) and a ‘future’ (of hope). In a nutshell, the past shows a community where people cared for each other.  The present shows the arrival of diverse community groups, supported by new facilities and by social media communication.  The reader can zoom in in the picture above for more detail.  

The future of Sheerwater

The future of Sheerwater as perceived by residents, is about building bridges between different community groups or constituencies.  

Participants at the "Sheerwater Rediscovered!" event, October 2025, Surrey History Centre. 

There are challenges and opportunities to do so.  A key challenge is to facilitated inter-group communication and understanding.   One opportunity to address this challenge as proposed by participants at the main project event (pictured above) is to design disseminate a welcome pack and restablish a community newsletter.  

During 2026, this possibility has been mentioned to representatives from some Sheerwater organisations.  There could be scope to do so, provided that there is an adequate form of leadership to take it forward, and that an appropriate format (i.e. electronic or other) is agreed between interested parties.

Hope for the future

We (myself included) are to 'move on' from what Sheerwater was: a fantastic, a very happy time (as told by many residents).  We are now in the present where, according to the philosopher Bying Chul Han (2024), it is still possible to act with hope and despite a sense of despair: to do something meaningful, to do something for others, spontaineously or in improvised forms.  To be open to possibilities as we do when we 'dream'; to positively turn to each other (positively), to trust in each other, and search for those possibilities together.  

The hope, paraphrasing the philosopher Byung Chul Han (2024) is for Sheerwater residents and groups to be open to accept that the future is uncertain, and that hope "increases our sensibility for what-is-not-yet, on which we have no direct influence" (p.27).  

With hope, the future becomes then up for the taking.  Let's try to infuse a good sense of hope in Sheerwater.  As we do when we cheer the Sheerwater Football Club team:

Come on Sheers!, Up the Sheers! 

Reference

Han, B. C. (2024). The spirit of hope. John Wiley & Sons.

Note

Further details about the event and the project “Systemic Life Stories for regeneration:  Helping Sheerwater” can be seen at: 

https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/projects/systemic-life-stories-for-regeneration-helping-sheerwater-social-/, accessed April 2026

 

In the classroom - what are we all doing here? Being seriously playful?

We now have different lifestyles that are part of our higher education.  Busier, mobile, remote, what sometimes is called hybrid. 

Students seem to be pensive in the picture, busy, and so am I as an educator. 

No doubt, social media (ever present, even in students' laptops!) has invaded our lifestryles and classrooms.  For the last few years, I get increasingly worried when I notice students checking their mobile phones, or typing fast in their laptops or tablets/  Something is going on!

What are we all doing here?

As an educator, I try to relate the exercise to concepts already explained in lectures. Some questions come and go when I check on students. It seems we all learn, or try to, whilst paying attention to our lives outside the classroom.

The technologies are supposed to help us remember, practice, get feedback, personalise. They are supposed to be the true complement of hybrid learning. Online access to material, simulations, presentations, exercises, case studies, discussions. All of these learning resources are there.

In many cases, instead, these technologies are allowing us to escape the interaction, the conversation, the reflection. They are allowing us to escape the classroom.

Like Edgar Morin (2016) says, part of the problem is that we have fragmented knowledge into disciplines. We have severed connections between knowledge, experience and learning. We need to rediscover such connections.

In one of my books (2020), I made an attempt to do so by bringing the idea that it is possible, within and outside the classroom, to play and be serious, to let our best selves come to the fore and help us be creative.  In the class, there are opportunities to be seriously playful.  

The results were unexpected. In one session, some students took videos of me playing the flute to create an association between music and numeracy. In another (an examination), others complained when the more 'serious' display (a graphic of a linear equation) did not show. I remember panicking at the time and solving the problem as fast as I could.  Some serious students said that this should not have happened.  And they were right.  Only that I felt as if I was in the wrong place trying to nurture my creativity and theirs.  

This las experience also taught me that there is still a long way to become seriously playful in management education.  Many university administrators operate too inflexibly and pass the blame to others, without considering that perhaps they are also part of the problems that emerge.   Luckily, the classroom still is a space to create, but we need to be there in body and soul to fully do so.  


After this and other experiences, I have changed focus (I also stopeed teaching and leading on big courses - 400 students and over!). I have designed exercises and assessments that aim to be more interactive, and I try my best to check the display of information.   

I have also ventured outside the classroom.  I also ask students to go around campus and observe situations, talk to venue managers or other 'customers', so that they also ask questions.

So, going back to the question

So, to the question of: "What are we all doing here?", I can only answer that we are simply here and there. We should try to be here, not try to achieve too much when we play with creativity, and be aware that social media (the gateway to the 'there' ) is also a member of our classes. 

We need to manage our technologies carefully, so that not all the attention to the here goes away.  And we need to find the appropriate spaces to be seriously playful with creativity  

References

Córdoba-Pachón, J.R. (2020). Creativity in Management Education: A Systemic Rediscovery. London: Palgrave McMillan. Have a look at the spirit of play and seriousness, and the experiences chapters.

Morin, E. (2016). Enseñar a vivir. Manifiesto para cambiar la educación. Barcelona: Paidos. A well explained vision for systemic education.