On November 12 and 13, a total of 36 people participated in the 7th European System Dynamics Workshop at the University of Bergen. The workshop theme was “Natural Resource Management: Contributions of System Dynamics to Research, Policy and Implementation” and participants’ invitation had been mainly based on their expertise in the workshop theme. The academic program included nine sessions in which authors presented a paper, followed by reflections from a discussant and 30 minutes of feedback and discussion by the entire audience.

During a final debriefing round, participants emphasized that the particular value of the workshop was twofold:

1. The atmosphere of trust in the room, facilitated by the specific format of the workshop, allowed participants at different stages in their career to freely give their opinion, value others’ perspectives and exchange thoughts and ideas.
2. This atmosphere not only stimulated constructive feedback on specific papers but it also encouraged participants to challenge our own biases as system dynamicists, that is, to challenge the biases of our own field and reflect on combinations with other methodologies to overcome some of the limitations of our own.