Systems Thinking
Nothing we do is fixed. We put practical educational tools out into the world, then test, question, analyse & refine. With systems thinking and user insight, we continually improve the effectiveness, simplicity & presentation of our work.
Strategic Focus
Much of the research underpinning Psynapp already exists, so our starting point is to bring this work together across the different layers of human experience & translate them into a practical, integrated framework that we can begin testing.
This allows us to begin with application, putting a working prototype of Experience Studies into practice, testing it in real settings, and using what we learn to challenge, refine & improve.
Our work is organised around four strategic priorities:
Develop 'Experience Studies'
Develop Experience Studies through research, testing, teaching, creating practical workshops & resources that help build awareness, discernment, resilience & agency. More →
Tracking Emerging Pressures
Identify, map & explain emerging psychological, educational and cultural ‘pressures’, from attention capture & cognitive outsourcing to synthetic influence, authority and relationships. More →
Increasing Public Understanding
Build public understanding of Experience Studies, Metacognitive Education and the changing conditions shaping human development through publications, research, talks, media, campaigns & open resources. More →
Research Led Policy Advice
Work with policymakers, educators, curriculum specialists & designers to systematically build Experience Studies into contemporary education, with the goal of building generational clarity & resilience. More →
Principles
Our approach reflects the interconnected nature of human development: practical, interdisciplinary & grounded in lived experience.
OUR WORK IS GUIDED BY THREE CORE PRINCIPLES
1. Human-Centred Design
We begin with the realities of experience rather than the capabilities of technology. Our work is designed to strengthen human capacities including awareness, discernment, resilience, agency, relationship & meaning.
2. Research Through Practice
We believe meaningful educational innovation emerges through practice. Ideas are translated into frameworks, tested in real educational settings, observed, evaluated, and continually refined through experience and evidence.
3. Open Collaboration
We actively seek collaboration across education, psychology, philosophy, technology, design, and the wider research community, recognising that meaningful progress emerges through shared knowledge and diverse perspectives.
Humane Technology
Technology increasingly shapes how we think, relate, learn, and develop. As intelligent systems become ever more woven into everyday life, it is increasingly important that they are designed to support human wellbeing rather than simply maximise engagement, influence behaviour, or optimise commercial outcomes as they currently are.
An aligned technological future requires greater transparency, healthier incentives, and digital environments that respect attention, agency, and psychological development. Lasting change requires both educational approaches that strengthen awareness and agency, and technologies designed to respect and support human development.
IMCE supports the growing movement for more humane technology and encourages readers to explore the excellent work of the Centre for Humane Technology, whose research and advocacy have helped bring these issues to wider public attention.
Cultural Context ‘A Civilisational Shift’
The world faces several major civilisational crises at once: ecological instability, disruption from technological acceleration, declining trust in knowledge & institutions, lack of meaning & purpose, together with global economic upheaval. The term metacrisis has been coined to describe these deeply interconnected issues.
Climate & Ecological Crisis
Ecological instability is not only environmental, but directly connects to individual concepts around consumption, desire, fear, values, collective behaviour & our relationship with living systems in general.
Technological Acceleration
Technology is reshaping human life: how we think, work, create & relate. As intelligent systems increasingly mediate knowledge, decisions & relationships, they alter how we encounter reality, & where authority & agency reside.
Shared Reality & Trust
Our sense of a shared reality is fracturing. Trust in institutions, knowledge & the promise of progress is giving way to uncertainty about what is true and where we are heading.
Meaning & Belonging
The stories that once gave life direction are losing their hold. Questions of who we are, where we belong & what makes life worth living become harder to answer as our connections to community, place & purpose weaken.
Geopolitical & Economic
Shifting power, conflict & economic insecurity unsettle the foundations of everyday life. Livelihoods, security & the prospect of a stable future become less certain, shaping what we fear, what we hope for & how we relate to one another.
These shifts change the conditions in which we grow, learn & make sense of our lives. They shape what captures our attention, whom we trust, what we expect from the future & where we find meaning. IMCE is developing Experience Studies to help people understand how these wider changes enter their own lives—shaping what they notice, believe, value & choose. This gives us a practical starting point for understanding how we are shaped—and how our choices help shape the world around us.