A systems approach has been taken to the development of the GroundsWell, its wider community and the programme of work in order to achieve a shared and common understanding of the aims and desired outcomes of the programme.

This summary report describes the systems approach taken and includes examples of the application of the selected methods.

The first workshop provided training in systems thinking and to clarify the programme focus with the range of stakeholders involved; either in contributing to, or progressing the work packages, or as potential beneficiaries. This included exploring the situation to determine the underlying factors believed to shape the problem, and the relationship between them.

The second workshop focused on the complexity of access to, generation of secure storage and use of data, ensuring compliance with GDPR.

The final workshop led to the development of a shared vision across the work package leads and key partners.

Following the workshops a more formal systems approach was taken to develop a conceptual model identifying the complete and coherent set of activities relevant to the purpose of the research programme in order to confirm the coverage of the various work packages and the governance aspects.