Dr Angela Espinosa (Colombia, 1958) got a PhD on organisational cybernetics in 1995 in Aston University (England, UK) under R. Espejo’s supervision. She worked closely with S Beer and was a co-founder and is currently a Director of Metaphorum Cooperative, which develops Beer’s legacy. Metaphorum was initially created by some of Stafford’s closest collaborators when he passed away in 2002, to continue developing his legacy, at the ‘Staffordian Syntegration: A Tribute to Stafford Beer’, at Scarborough Management Centre, Hull University, England (June 2003).
Angela was Director of the Informatics Secretariat at the Colombian President’s Office (199-1992). She led several national projects in Colombia, applying the Viable System Model and Team Syntegrity in the 1990s. She got the Ashby Lecture from the International Federation of Systems Research and Vienna University in 2002; and the Norbert Wiener award from Kybernetes (Emerald Literati) in 2006.
As well as being a consultant, she has been an educator and a researcher. She was an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, and at the Business School at Los Andes University, Colombia (1992-2002; 2009-2016). A Reader in Cybernetics in Hull University Business School (2002-2018) – where she is now an Emeritus Fellow. For the last three decades, she has been an Invited Professor in several universities in Latin-America and Europe. More recently she has been an Honorary Research Fellow in Exeter University, and 2020-2024 in Transylvania Executive Education, Romania. She is a Fellow of the British Cybernetics Society.
She has published extensively on developments on organisational cybernetics in systems, cybernetics and operational research journals (see her google scholar profile at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JGqUgo8AAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1. Her 2011/2017 books with Walker ‘A complexity approach to sustainability: theory and application’, and her 2023 book ‘Sustainable Self-governance in businesses and societies: The Viable System Model in Action’ summarise her approach to organisational viability, sustainability and self-governance.
Angela is a Metaphorum Certified Viable System Model (VSM) Coach and Trainer. She is offering VSM Beginner, VSM Coach, and VSM Designer Courses.
Contact:
angela.espinosa.salazar@gmail.com;
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-espinosa-0a9b50a
//angelaespinosa2.academia.edu