What is an IFSR Conversation?

The IFSR Conversations were conceptualized by Bela H. Banathy around 1980. The first IFSR Conversation (then called Fuschl Conversation) was held in 1982 in a small village (Fuschl am See) in the vicinity of Saluzburg, Austria. Since then the IFSR has organized such Conversation every second year. Several other Conversations have been held all over the world.
Conversations originated as an alternative to traditional conferences. They acknowledged the insight that most of the benefit for participants resulted from the discussions and conversations with one another rather than from the formal content or presentations. The initial format for the Conversations was built around Social Systems Design.
Bela defined a conversation as:

  • a collectively guided disciplined inquiry
  • an exploration of issues of social/societal significance
  • engaged by scholarly practitioners in self-organized teams
  • who selects a theme for their conversation
  • which is initiated in the course of a preparation phase that leads to an intensive face-to-face learning phase.

For more details see: