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The purpose of this paper is to give an outline of the main topics of an introductory course in complexity and social sciences.

This paper consists of a survey of the main issues and some of the classical literature for an audience with no background in philosophy of science, social philosophy, the literature on complex systems and social choice.

In the didactical framework of the article, it would be more accurate to speak of learning objectives rather than findings. The learning objectives are the acquisition of the basic knowledge for understanding the features, the possibilities and the limitations of scientific explanations and predictions and their applications in the long-term perspective of complex social systems.

Again, the implications are didactic. The basic knowledge that constitutes the learning objective of the course serves to give students the instruments for recognizing the main opportunities and obstacles in social forecasting.

The practical implications of this paper include making students aware of complexity-related problems in their working environment and of the opportunities and constraints involved in solving them.

Operators who are aware of the main issues involved can contribute to a more balanced approach to social forecasting: avoiding to raise unrealistic expectations and making more efficient use of the available instruments.

This paper summarizes an original combination of elements from the philosophy of science, epistemology, social philosophy and social choice.

The purpose of this paper is a presentation of the guiding ideas underlining the master degree course in social foresight recently launched by the University of Trento (Italy).

This paper is a reconstruction of the guiding ideas that have been used for designing the social foresight master degree.

Students are exposed to a mix of contributions from futures studies, the human and social sciences (including psychology of decisions, social change, values and secondary analysis techniques) and mathematics (not only statistics, but also system theory and simulation).

A unique look at the ideas behind the master degree course in social foresight at the University of Trento (Italy).

The aim of this research is to determine the stages that women in resource-constrained environments go through in order to emancipate themselves through entrepreneurial activities. Based on their fieldwork, the authors develop a process framework of emancipation-through-entrepreneurship.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 57 female entrepreneurs in two resource-constrained countries in West Africa. Non-participant observations were employed as a secondary data collection technique to provide important sources of information for triangulation.

This study's findings indicate that the process of female emancipation through entrepreneurship begins with the perception of one's personal motivations, followed by the choice of economic activities, the gathering of various necessary resources, and finally the commencement and running of a venture to bring about the desired emancipation. Various factors, such as family, the external environment, personal qualities and ease of operations, were found to influence the choice of entrepreneurial activities. We also found that human, social, cultural and political capital interact to produce economic capital, a central form of capital for the starting and running of ventures in resource-constrained environments.

Although extant studies have shown that entrepreneurship can be a vehicle for women to liberate themselves from various constraints, it is as yet unclear which process these women follow to achieve such emancipation. The development of a process framework of emancipation-through-entrepreneurship is the key contribution of this paper. Despite extant research demonstrating that entrepreneurship can assist women in financially limited settings to achieve economic independence, the specific steps these women take in the process remain unclear. Thus, this paper presents a process framework that focuses on women in constrained environments and their journey to emancipation through entrepreneurship.

Although awareness is growing of the importance of employee mental health and the value of inclusive work practices, less is known about how to support employees with mental illness (MI). We aimed to explore organizational strategies and work practices that promote retention and support of employees living with MI in relation to past theory-driven research by building and extending current theory.

We adopted a qualitative case-study approach focussed on organizations that have taken steps towards promoting workplace inclusion for employees with MI. Five diverse Canadian organizations were recruited based on their efforts to build psychologically safe and healthy workplaces, and actively support employees with MI. Data collection in each organization consisted of onsite observation and interviews with workplace stakeholders, including employees with MI, their co-workers, supervisors/managers and human resource professionals. Thirty interviews were conducted from across the five organizations. Data analysis was informed by interpretive description to identify challenges and opportunities.

Two key themes were noted in depictions of supportive workplaces: (1) relationship-focussed workplaces and (2) flexible, inclusive work practices.

These practices highlight how organizations support employees with MI. Despite our focus on organizations working towards inclusion, the stigma associated with MI and the rigidity of some workplace processes continue to limit support and retention. Our findings suggest that organizations should focus on communication processes, support mechanisms, how they reinforce flexibility, inclusion and oversight of employees with MI.