u-lab 2x 2023 | u-school for Transformation

Prototype your shared intention within 3 months.
Access Peer coaching / engagement with a global community of change-makers.
Receive Facilitation support in the form of Live Sessions, Zoom calls, and online discussion boards.
Use cutting-edge methods and tools offered on the u-lab 2x online platform.
Participate in co-activating an emerging global movement.
Attend cost-free: The program runs from February to May. It is a 4-month course completely free to attend, thanks to the contributions of our partners and supporters
Learn from Senior Lecturers at MIT, Senior Faculty and expert Practitioners from the u-school for Transformation (by Presencing Institute) who are actively engaged in cross-sectorial societal transformation.
Find your preferred language: although this is a program in English, the community has been kindly volunteering to translate the materials in more and more languages, helping remove language barriers.
Focus on the specific challenges of our current moment and on how to apply Theory U to the absencing patterns in our teams, organizations, communities and societies for a transformation that benefits all.

Advance in your Awareness Based Systems Change certification pathway: the 2x program is part of the Awareness Based Systems Change Certification Pathway offered by the u-school for Transformation.

Almost anyone working to bring about change in their current situation would agree: operating from our existing assumptions is not producing the results that we know are needed in these times.

Our current reality highlights a need for us to transcend our blindspots and find new ways of learning, working, and innovating as teams, organizations, and communities.

Are you and your team holding a transformational project or prototype idea? Are you wanting to:

unlock the full potential of your project?
transcend old ways of operating?
keep your team and yourself motivated?
connect into a field of fellow-changemakers?

If this strikes a chord, then you are in the right place, at the right time: apply to u-lab 2x today.

u-lab 1x was launched in 2015 as a new massive open online course designed to democratize access to the tools and methods of systems change. It has brought teachings, frameworks, and practices to over 180,000 unique learners around the world. In its first year, over 30,000 participants flocked into u-lab 1x to learn how to apply these transformative practices to their businesses, local communities, and in their personal lives.

Each u-lab 1x cohort resulted in an explosion of energy, ideas, new connections, and a sense of real possibility for transforming business, society, and self. However, there wasn’t yet a dedicated journey for continuing to nurture the emerging ideas, connections, and insights generated by u-lab 1x.

With so much potential being born, what infrastructure and process could be provided to help these teams and their powerful ideas reach their full capacity for driving change?

Sensing into what was needed next, clarity emerged for a new kind of innovation journey and prototype accelerator: u-lab 2x.

Now about to begin it's fourth cohort, u-lab 2x

leverages the unique methodology developed through the u-lab 1x learning journey
combines online learning with the Presencing Institute’s decades of experience in guiding small and large teams through innovation processes
generates a co-learning experience by guiding a global network of teams through the 4-months simultaneously
deepens the impact of the transformation process by providing a platform for these teams to share and make use of each others’ insights.
scales change-initiates worldwide by partnering with institutions, civil society organizations, universities, and companies worldwide to keep the u-lab 2x journey cost free for participating teams like yours.

So far, u-lab 2x has facilitated 790 team journeys. Last year alone, 2x teams stretched across 449 cities. A diverse range of projects and prototypes have gone through the process.

Right now, teams are gathering and clarifying their applications as we prepare to embark as the 2023 cohort.

The u-school focuses its work toward the transformation of economy and society around eight key acupuncture points (or leverage areas). Through rapid-cycle prototyping and co-evolving solutions that work at scale, the u-school aims to amplify the transformation of civil society globally.

u-lab 2x convenes both place-based teams and teams collaborating online from around the world that are working toward solutions in one of these eight areas. As a three-month, multi-local, online and offline innovation journey - u-lab 2x will help these teams:

Understand the deeper forces at play in social systems that can either be obstacles or leverage points for change;
Identify emerging future possibilities in your work;
Prototype new ways of working together in multi-stakeholder settings;
Evolve your project or initiatives

Interested in convening a team for u-lab 2x?

Read more about the eligibility criteria, benefits of participation, and time commitment below. If you’re interested, apply to join by sending us a short video and filling out an application that tells us more about your team and why you want to join the Lab.

Eligibility Criteria For a Team

Applications are for teams, not for individuals. Each team should have a smaller, core convening team of 2-4 people who initiate and take responsibility for leading a larger team through the u-lab 2x journey.
Your convening team has a prototype idea or initiative that you are developing, or are looking to develop, related to at least one of the acupuncture points.
We know that societal transformation begins with local action. You can then decide whether your team meets completely virtually, or a mix of online and offline, depending on what fits your specific context.
Conveners / teams should be in a position to influence some elements of the system you want to transform, either as a grassroots activist, an institutional leader, or through some other mechanism of change (e.g., public opinion).
Conveners should have previous experience or familiarity with Theory U (u-lab, Presencing Foundation Program, or experience applying the U process) or related methods of awareness-based systems change (Art of Hosting, etc.). For those who would like to deepen their familiarity with Theory U before u-lab 2x begins, we highly recommend Meet Theory U, a 2-hour course that will take place Jan 24, 2023 https://www.u-school.org/offerings/meet-theory-u-jan-2023. For teams accepted into u-lab 2x, we will be offering a discounted rate for both core and extended team members.
Your extended team should include an additional 5-15 people. You don’t need to have this team confirmed to apply, but should confirm their participation by mid-February 2023.
The whole team should be committed to the whole journey (February to May 2023).
Teams should be committed to share and learn as part of the global community.

There is something very confidence building, knowing teams of Presencing people from around the world are also gathering, caring about the Earth. I sense it is strengthening for me, to not feel discouraged, and I can have confidence to keep going." - Elizabeth Carney

An Accelerator for Systems Transformation

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Why Join?

Last Year's Cohort

A New Approach For Systems Change.

Explore Below

A New Kind of Innovation Journey

How it Works?

Eligibility

Interested in convening a team for u-lab 2x?

Eligibility Criteria For a Team

Finding and Forming a Team