Courses
MVI designs and offers experiential education on many topics within the broad fields of sustainability, resilience, transitions, and regenerative design. All our offers focus on how to cope with complexity and derive solutions that matter, employing systems thinking and systemic design, understanding and practicing the overarching connection and embeddedness between “things” and “beings”, between the biotic and abiotic world, across scales.
We collaborate with various Universities, institutions, municipalities, companies, local people, and we invite educators, trainers, professors, teachers from around the world.
We experiment with “virtually stimulated social outdoor experiences” and combine place-based “real” experiences with “dirty hands” with virtual, digital learning independent of place and time.
We offer a variety of educational offers, from short campus visits to week-long summer schools, multiple day hike/bike/ski adventures with a “cause”, restoration camps, and virtual trainings based on local innovation.
Upcoming courses
MAS ETH in Regenerative Systems: design thesis module
February - October 2025
The MAS ETH programme is about creating a positive impact in complex systems as part of learning communities. Participants find different entry points to connect with insights and updates into the latest state of science on sustainability and resilience, research by design, designerly practice, and more.
Designing Experimental Places and Spaces
10-17 May 2025
How to design experimental places and spaces? What differentiates the various formats, i.e. living labs, real-world labs, biroegional learning centers or weaving labs, and others? Visit four very different lab types and engage with in personal dialogues to learn about creating one’s own potential lab space.
Systemic Design for Regenerative Practice
10-15 June 2025
This course is a specific DRRS elective and builds upon MOOC/CAS#3 Systemic Design. We will embody the use of the SD wheel of inquiry and practice question-based navigation for systemic intervention applied to the MVI system, and how SD supports and enable regenerative practice.
Systemic Cycles Tour Annecy
16-20 June 2025
Systemic Cycle's journey around Annecy will explore the unique hydrogeography of the bioregion. Learn from the past for today, and how we envision possible futures that are resilient and regenerative.
More info coming soon
CAS ETH Worldviews: Sustainability to Regeneration
September - November 2025
The MAS ETH in Regenerative Systems equips professionals to navigate complexity of accelerating nested crises, to guide society toward regeneration between technology, real-world practice, AI, cultures, place specificity, and personal resilience.
RSD14 @ MVI hub
16-18 October 2025
The annual systemic design conference “RSD - Relating Systems Thinking and Design” is this year offered as a physical conference at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. For those participating online and not wanting to travel to North America, we offer a hybrid format at MVI to mingle between selected virtual screenings and more.
Systemic Cycles down the Po River from Ostana to Venice
18-25 October 2025
This multi-day bicycle tour is a journey through the Po River bioregion from its source at Monte Viso on 2000m asl to its delta at the Adriatic Sea at the Southern Venice Lagoon. The tour is part of the training program to become a Systemic Cycles guide in the realm of bioregional sensing and weaving toward regeneration.
Past courses
Systemic Cycles weaving guide certification course
5-11 May 2024
A Systemic Cycles weaving guide combines the skills of a classic bike guide with science-based designerly systemic weaving knowledge and didactics for designing resilient regenerative systems. SC guides are bicycle guides with the extra “SC” skills for offering new, impactful tours of tourist, educational and regional development values.
Retreat "Renewal - The Way Out is In"
9 - 14 July 2024
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) with Inner Development Goals (IDG) and Nature Connection (Awake in the Wild).
We are excited to invite you to the Retreat “Renewal - The Way Out Is In”, which will take place in the wild landscapes of the Piemontese Alps, Italy, in the village of Ostana at the Monviso Institute (MVI), from July 9-14th, 2024.
Permaculture course I and II
May 09 - 23 2021
co-working weeks on water systems: pond, black water cleaning system, grey water
ETH EPFL SDL PhD summer school
June 04 - 12 2021
co-working weeks on water systems: pond, black water cleaning system, grey water
Mindfulness and compassion in nature
July 11-28 2021
Join us in July 2021 for a sparkling, pioneering initiative, in which we take compassionate action by bringing together passionate professionals from different cultures, countries, areas of expertise and training to explore mindful ways of living and caring for ourselves, our society and our planet.
Examples of educational offers from the last years are:
University of Lugano: Master class “International Economics and Tourism”, with the course “International Tourism Colloquium” and the topic “Mountain Resilience”. Over three years, students engaged in local social network analyses and mobility experiments with choice experiment surveys.
German Permaculture Association: 12-days immersive course on Permaculture design
ETH Zurich: Master class “Systemic Design Labs” on co-designing alpine-urban circularity and a regenerative regional bio-economy
ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne: PhD Summer School «Regenerate Alpine-Urban Circularity”
Politecnico Torino: Master in “Systemic Design” with the course “Open Systems Design” on designing a regional circular economy, together with companies and practice partners from the region
Politecnico Torino: RSD7 De-Conference two-days retreat (Relating Systems Thinking and Design)
Mark Coleman of Awake in the Wild, USA: Exploring mindfulness and “flow” in nature
ShiftN, Belgium: The View from Above. A Workshop on complex sustainability challenges, flying drones. https://shiftn.com/
Dozens of day visits and offers for the public, for schools, trainings for Architects, and many others.
Salem Kolleg, Germany: over the last years, MVI serves as base camp and re-supply/safety backup for student groups who leave on annual self-supplied mountain backpacking trips over 8-10 days, including a 24h "solo" in wild nature.
https://www.salemkolleg.de/de/
Grown Outdoor Creativity Lab: Regenerative composite design courses - building skis, snowboards, kiteboards, outdoor utensils from locally grown renewable materials, i.e. hemp, Paulownia, and renewable glues.
Continuous public educational series: Regenerative Design Talks
For upcoming teaching courses and educational experiences,
please visit the Events pages
Courses
MVI designs and offers experiential education on many topics within the broad fields of sustainability, resilience, transitions, and regenerative design. All our offers focus on how to cope with complexity and derive solutions that matter, employing systems thinking and systemic design, understanding and practicing the overarching connection and embeddedness between “things” and “beings”, between the biotic and abiotic world, across scales.
We collaborate with various Universities, institutions, municipalities, companies, local people, and we invite educators, trainers, professors, teachers from around the world.
We experiment with “virtually stimulated social outdoor experiences” and combine place-based “real” experiences with “dirty hands” with virtual, digital learning independent of place and time.
We offer a variety of educational offers, from short campus visits to week-long summer schools, multiple day hike/bike/ski adventures with a “cause”, restoration camps, and virtual trainings based on local innovation.
Upcoming courses
Living Systems Labs design course
Summer 2024
Learn what Living Systems Labs are, how they work, how to set them up, what skills are needed, and discover diverse places and contexts via the new livingsystemslabs.net explorer. This course is virtual, with an optional field trip to European labs end of October '24.
More info coming soon.
Living Systems Labs design course
Summer 2024
Learn what Living Systems Labs are, how they work, how to set them up, what skills are needed, and discover diverse places and contexts via the new livingsystemslabs.net explorer. This course is virtual, with an optional field trip to European labs end of October '24.
More info coming soon.
Rewild Yourself
Autumn 2024
Contemporary survival, inner resilience and leadership
The course responds to nested crises, to build the inner capacity to withstand and resist, to reframe, to regenerate internally, mentally and physically.
More info coming soon.
Past courses
Systemic Cycles weaving guide certification course
5-11 May 2024
A Systemic Cycles weaving guide combines the skills of a classic bike guide with science-based designerly systemic weaving knowledge and didactics for designing resilient regenerative systems. SC guides are bicycle guides with the extra “SC” skills for offering new, impactful tours of tourist, educational and regional development values.
Retreat "Renewal - The Way Out is In"
9 - 14 July 2024
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) with Inner Development Goals (IDG) and Nature Connection (Awake in the Wild).
We are excited to invite you to the Retreat “Renewal - The Way Out Is In”, which will take place in the wild landscapes of the Piemontese Alps, Italy, in the village of Ostana at the Monviso Institute (MVI), from July 9-14th, 2024.
Permaculture course I and II
May 09 - 23 2021
co-working weeks on water systems: pond, black water cleaning system, grey water
ETH EPFL SDL PhD summer school
June 04 - 12 2021
co-working weeks on water systems: pond, black water cleaning system, grey water
Mindfulness and compassion in nature
July 11-28 2021
Join us in July 2021 for a sparkling, pioneering initiative, in which we take compassionate action by bringing together passionate professionals from different cultures, countries, areas of expertise and training to explore mindful ways of living and caring for ourselves, our society and our planet.
Examples of educational offers from the last years are:
University of Lugano: Master class “International Economics and Tourism”, with the course “International Tourism Colloquium” and the topic “Mountain Resilience”. Over three years, students engaged in local social network analyses and mobility experiments with choice experiment surveys.
German Permaculture Association: 12-days immersive course on Permaculture design
ETH Zurich: Master class “Systemic Design Labs” on co-designing alpine-urban circularity and a regenerative regional bio-economy
ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne: PhD Summer School «Regenerate Alpine-Urban Circularity”
Politecnico Torino: Master in “Systemic Design” with the course “Open Systems Design” on designing a regional circular economy, together with companies and practice partners from the region
Politecnico Torino: RSD7 De-Conference two-days retreat (Relating Systems Thinking and Design)
Mark Coleman of Awake in the Wild, USA: Exploring mindfulness and “flow” in nature
ShiftN, Belgium: The View from Above. A Workshop on complex sustainability challenges, flying drones. https://shiftn.com/
Dozens of day visits and offers for the public, for schools, trainings for Architects, and many others.
Salem Kolleg, Germany: over the last years, MVI serves as base camp and re-supply/safety backup for student groups who leave on annual self-supplied mountain backpacking trips over 8-10 days, including a 24h "solo" in wild nature.
https://www.salemkolleg.de/de/
Grown Outdoor Creativity Lab: Regenerative composite design courses - building skis, snowboards, kiteboards, outdoor utensils from locally grown renewable materials, i.e. hemp, Paulownia, and renewable glues.
Continuous public educational series: Regenerative Design Talks
For upcoming teaching courses and educational experiences,
please visit the Events pages