Home

Melbourne Centre for Community Development

Prof. J. Donald R. de Raadt (BA, FRMIT, MBus, PhD) has taught in management schools in Australia, the USA and Sweden. In 1993 he was installed as professor by the Swedish government and held the Chair in Informatics and System Science at Luleå Tekniska Universitet for twelve years. He has served as President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (USA), President of the Swedish Operational Research Society and Vice-President of the International Federation for Systems Research in Vienna. He has played a leading role in the international systems science community and developed an ethical approach to systems thought directed towards community development, ethics and a humane life. He is the author of Information and Managerial Wisdom, A New Management of Life, Redesign and Management of Communities in Crisis and A Method and Software for Designing Viable Social Systems. His research has been published in most of the international systems journals and presented in conference papers and as guest key-note speaker in Australia, USA, Europe and Latin America.

Dr. Veronica D. de Raadt (BSocWk, MA, PhD, MAASW) qualified as a social worker in Australia and after earning a masters degree in the US, worked in domestic violence and mental health. To add to her skills in the human services, she earned her doctoral degree in Sweden and studied human factors in community development in remote communities. The results are summarized in her book Ethics and Sustainable Community Design. In Sweden she also taught psychology, sociology and research methods at Luleå Tekniska Universitet and worked with EU-funded community development projects. She founded, together with her husband, the Institute for Management and Social Systems in Sweden, now operating in Australia as the Melbourne Centre for Community Development. Her research has been published in the main systems journals and been presented at international conferences in Europe and the US.