Changing Paradigms, an immersive workshop to develop innovative thinking

Date: Wednesday 4^th November 2026,

Time: 16:00-17:00

Venue: Munster Technological University, Bishopstown campus, the Le Chéile Building

Workshop Facilitator: Dr Gary Walpole, Director (I&E), The Regional Innovation & Regeneration Centre, Cardiff Metropolitan University

This experiential learning event will engage participants in a challenge that will teach the ‘paradigm shift’ required for the transition from a linear to a circular economy (CE).  It shall enable participants to engage with sustainability issues and CE principles. It will also enhance participants understanding of the PDSA (Deming, 1986) continuous improvement model, which gives learners a valuable innovation and group work tool.  The exercise adopts an ‘action -reflection-theory’ (flipped) pedagogical approach that enables participants to reflect on how the exercise can be employed for their teaching or research. The participants will be invited to reflect in groups to enhance their experience of social learning practices.  They will also individually reflect, using Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle, to capture learning specific to their research or teaching and invited to develop action points.

The PDW will employ an experiential exercise from the award winning Circular Economy Innovation Communities (CEIC) project, which creates regional collaborative innovation networks through programme communities of practice to support practitioners to develop new service solutions that implement Circular Economy (CE) principles. CEIC has developed 408 practitioners from 320 organisations across Wales and created a CE ecosystem with 210 members of the CEIC Linked in group.  Participants enhance their innovation knowledge and skills by applying contemporary techniques to enable their organisations to reduce their carbon footprint and enhance their value proposition.  The challenge led programme applies contemporary pedagogy, within Communities of Practice, that enables inter-organisation knowledge sharing.  The Conference 2025 Highlights provide insights into the programme impact.

What

The proposed workshop is informed by social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) and teaches CE and CI models through an experiential process.  The workshop will teach how our existing paradigms influence the way we approach challenges and our worldview.

• Outputs

Participants will draft a personal learning log within the workshop that captures how they can apply their learning, from the workshop to their teaching and research practice.

• Outcomes

Participants will develop an enhanced understanding of circular economy principles and the 10Rs framework.  The workshop will also enhance participants understanding of teaching paradigms (Kuhn,1962), reflective practice model (Gibbs, 1988) and the PDCA innovation model (Deming, 1986).

FREE to attend but registration is required.

Please register below to secure your place.