Shifting the Dark Matter of Education - A Conversation with Indy Johar and Adam Purvis
Which places might be the first movers in a radical educational shift? And by radical in this conversation we're not talking about small tweaks in the types of individual competencies and credentials we optimize for in our current version of schools. But a completely different set of logics, values, meaning and purpose for what education could be, set in a broader context of the transformation of systems and radical democratic renewal. This might all sound pretty grand but I believe, like my guests today, that building for this transition is the work we all have to do! I've been a huge admirer of the work of dark matter labs for a long time and so it was an incredible opportunity for me to be able to sit down with Indy Johar an Adam Purvis to explore these massive and important issues.
Indy is an architect and co-founder & Mission Steward of Dark Matter Labs. He is also a founding director of open systems lab, seeded WikiHouse (open source housing) and Open Desk (open source furniture company). Indy's work is focused on the strategic design of new super scale civic assets for transition - specifically at the intersection of financing, contracting and governance for deeply democratic futures.
Indy is a non-executive international Director of the BloxHub, the Nordic Hub for sustainable urbanization. He is on the advisory board for the Future Observatory and is part of the committee for the London Festival of Architecture. He is also a fellow of the London Interdisciplinary School.
Indy was 2016-17 Graham Willis Visiting Professorship at Sheffield University. He was Studio Master at the Architectural Association - 2019-2020, UNDP Innovation Facility Advisory Board Member 2016-20 and RIBA Trustee 2017-20. He has taught & lectured at various institutions from the University of Bath, TU-Berlin; University College London, Princeton, Harvard, MIT and New School. He was awarded the London Design Medal for Innovation in 2022 and an MBE in 2023.
Adam Purvis has spent over a decade building mission led movements and networks. His primary role at Dark Matter Labs is holding the team and driving internal clarity. Previously, Adam was cofounder of FutureX, a major influence on how the Scottish Government supported entrepreneurship, startups and innovation. Adam served as the convener of the CAN DO Forum, on the MSc E&I Innovation Board of University of Edinburgh Business School, and the Advisory Board of Napier University Business School. Since then Adam's focus has moved to the systems in which business and entrepreneurs operate, taking everything he learnt from the greatest doers on the planet who have humanity in their heart, and applying that to the systems that we all operate in today.
Links:
https://darkmatterlabs.org/
