Yiannis Laouris, currently serving as an MP for Direct Democracy Party, is a systems scientist, peace and democracy activist, and social entrepreneur who has devoted much of his career to developing and applying participatory methodologies that enable citizens and stakeholders with diverse—and often conflicting—perspectives to collectively address complex societal challenges.
As Founder and Lead Scientist of Future Worlds Center, he has pioneered the application of Structured Democratic Dialogue (SDD) in Cyprus and internationally. Over more than two decades, he and his colleagues have facilitated numerous structured dialogues involving citizens, civil-society organizations, policymakers, scientists, youth, and communities affected by conflict, addressing peacebuilding, reconciliation, democratic reform, education, technology, and social change. His peace work has included initiatives in Cyprus and the wider region designed to bridge divides and enable participants to construct shared visions and pathways for action.
Laouris served as President (2025–2027) of the International Society for the Systems Sciences and is President of the Institute for 21st Century Agoras, two international organizations advancing systemic and participatory approaches to societal transformation. He also leads research and technological initiatives aimed at scaling structured dialogue, including methods to engage hundreds, or potentially thousands, of citizens through distributed, asynchronous participation.
He views SDD as a powerful complement to Citizens’ Assemblies: assemblies can provide representative deliberative spaces, while SDD can help participants systematically map complexity, reveal patterns of influence among challenges and options, and identify collectively supported leverage points. Combining these approaches can help move citizen participation beyond consultation toward informed, transparent, and consequential shared decision-making.
