# About

{% hint style="info" %}

#### *keywords for a quick overview*

*#beyond black & white*
\
*#transdisciplinarity*
\
*#underlying mechanisms*
\
*#self/system transformation*
\
*#mutual understanding/collective flourishing*
{% endhint %}

I envision sowing seeds for mindful, regenerative, and convivial ecologies by uncovering the **common mechanisms underlying planetary harm** and **transforming systems from within**. Since adolescence, I’ve committed to designing low-barrier, agent-based, and cooperative strategies that redirect societal trajectories—addressing wicked problems through “research and praxis as education.”

To realize this, I’ve founded and led initiatives integrating complex systems thinking with grassroots empowerment. At Awakening Cooperative Lab, our work transformed [scarcity-based competition](/adleryang/ideas-and-as-change-models/allocation-dependence.md) into [prosocial resource regeneration](/adleryang/ideas-and-as-change-models/learning-by-caring.md). This enabled marginalized youth to bypass traditional exams, enter top universities, win major awards (e.g., Taiwan Presidential Education Award), and lead impactful social-mission careers. Our [Reflexive Media](/adleryang/ideas-and-as-change-models/reflexive-media.md) model empowered youth as active inquirers and communicators, further prototyped via national media partnerships including [Taiwan National Education Radio](/adleryang/projects.md#if-there-is-a-reason-to-study-radio-series-2016) and [FutureFamily Magazine](/adleryang/projects.md#awakening-column-futurefamily-magazine-2015-2016).

As a systems connector and prototyping hub, I’ve held concurrent roles across organizations and countries to catalyze ecosystemic synergy. Highlights include:

* Director of Research at ZA Share (30k–60k participants/year), where I led a $10M policy-winning proposal to reimagine post-pandemic education via [regional revitalization](/adleryang/projects.md#education-innovation-for-regional-revitalization-2021-2022), digital transformation, and innovation;
* Founder of IRAEEH, advancing alternative higher education models under Taiwan’s Experimental Higher Ed Act;
* Additional examples includes: 
  * Curator of the Taiwan National Development Council's [International Education Summit](/adleryang/projects.md#taiwan-international-education-summit-2020-2021); 
  * Consultant/Lecturer for EDiversity & Ednovators (Hong Kong); 
  * Board/Council Member of the Japan Society of Synthetic Anthropology & International Association for Critical Realism; 
  * Taiwan Representative of AERO (USA); 
  * and Taiwan Lead for Konrad Adenauer’s (Germany) policy exchange initiatives.

My documentary, [*If There is a Reason to Study*](/adleryang/projects.md#if-there-is-a-reason-to-study-2009-2016), filmed from age 14, won international awards and was hailed as the “epitome of 2016 Taiwanese movies.” It contributed to national education reform, including replacing the Basic Competency Test. Recognized by TEDxTaipei (“Top 10 Talks of 2014”) and The News Lens 30 Under 30, I continue to foster social change ecosystems—from mentoring youth in crisis to redesigning academia as a hub for ecosystem transformation.

I believe systems transformation begins with transforming ourselves—through agent-based, low-barrier, mindful ways of becoming that regenerate our social, ecological, and inner worlds.

***

🌟Vision

Leaving the world with seeds for mindful, regenerative, and convivial ecologies.

## 🌌Mission

1. Investigate 1) the **common underlying mechanisms** and 2) their **enabling/sustaining conditions** that lead to the emergence of planetary harms or civilizational crises as wicked problems.
2. Explore **agent-based** and **cooperative approaches** to transforming wicked problems by “*being the change*.”
3. Ideal characteristics of such agent-based and cooperative approaches include, but are not limited to 
   1. having the power to redirect the dynamics of a system (patterns of thinking, acting, interacting) and its trajectory of emergence, while having 
   2. low money dependence (change can happen without possessing much financial resource), 
   3. low medium dependence (change can happen by utilizing whatever medium is at their disposal), and 
   4. not generally requiring unreachable entry barriers (change can happen without helplessly waiting for policy change or power over resource-intensive technologies).

## 🧭Major Strategies

1. Conduct social research that informs change model design and prototyping. During both processes, participants undergo **self- and communal transformation *****as***** education**.
2. Hold positions simultaneously at different organizations or projects to **serve as a connective and prototyping hub** that facilitates synergies across the ecosystem for systems transformation.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://awakening-coop-lab.gitbook.io/adleryang/about.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.