Personal Foundation
Three Personal Foundation programs are required. Choose between u-lab 1x with Certified Track (or Ubuntu.Lab) and PFP: Presencing Foundation Program (or ELFP: Ecosystem Leadership foundation Program). Levels of Scribing, plus Scribing Essentials programs are mandatory.
Requirements: Participation in three of the programs listed below, being Levels of Scribing, AND Scribing Essentials mandatory.
u-lab 1x
Online Program
6 weeks
This MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) run in partnership with MITx is a 6-week program on the foundations of Theory U, a transformative process for transformative change that blends systems thinking, consciousness and wisdom traditions, and civic action. It is a “learning by doing" program where you get familiar with Theory U tools, methods, and frameworks and start cultivating your ability to apply them to your life and work. This is an online self-paced course complemented with synchronous live sessions bringing together thousands of change makers from around the world.
u-lab 1x runs every year from September to November. In partnership with MITx.
You must register for the Verified Certificate Track of u-lab 1x.
Presencing Foundation Program
In-Person Program
4 days
There are multiple programs currently open for registration.
Click on “More information” below to see all currently available options:
The Presencing Foundation Program (PFP) “Action Confidence in Times of Disruption” is a foundational hands-on, 4-day experiential intensive program, offered in a retreat style, with a group of 60-80 other participants. In the Presencing Foundation Program, you will be facilitated through a U-process, learning and/or deepening your understanding of the foundational frameworks, participating in the core methods and tools, and gaining action confidence to actualize the emerging future you want to be a part of. The program is designed to enable you to build connections with others, contribute to the cultivation of a generative social field, and experience the U-process in depth with your cohort.
The PFP is offered both online and in-person, in English. The in-person PFP is offered once each year in Europe or the USA.
Theory U: Leading Deep Transformation for Business, Society and Self I Berlin
Theory U Presencing Foundation Program with in-person Guest Speaker Otto Scharmer
Jun 30 – Jul 4, 2025
Theory U: Leading Deep Transformation for Business, Society and Self | Philadelphia
Theory U Presencing Foundation Program with in-person Guest Speaker Otto Scharmer
Oct 27 – 31, 2025
Ecosystem Leadership Program
Module 1
In-Person Program
4 days
There are multiple programs currently open for registration.
Click on “More information” below to see all currently available options:
An intensive in-person and in-nature program, with multi sector leaders and change agents from the same region, to cultivate the kind of leadership needed to face the challenges of our time, activating the deepest sources of knowledge and inspiration for systems change. In this module we will focus on the personal foundations required for ecosystems change.
The ELP module 1 is offered only in-person. Each region has admission criteria specific to the regional program.
Either PFP or ELP1 meets the requirement for the ABSC Practitioner Certification. It is not necessary to take both.
Ecosystem Leadership Program Latin America 2025 | Module 1: Personal Transformation
Apr 2 – 6, 2025
Ecosystem Leadership Program Asia Pacific 2025 | Module 1
Ecosystem Foundations
Jun 23 – 25, 2025
Levels of Scribing
Online Program
2 weeks
A 2-week largely self-directed program, ending with an integrative 2-hour live session, to learn and apply the 4 Levels of Scribing.
Scribing Essentials
Online Program
5 days
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A foundational program to develop the inner capacities of scribing—a process of drawing while people talk—for real-time reflection. Includes small and large group conversation, and guests to add insight on the daily topic and provide an opportunity to practice scribing.
Visual Practice Workshop
Several editions from 2011-2019
Blended Online & In-Person
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This program is equivalent to Scribing Essentials.
Deepening
”We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them” (Albert Einstein)
We believe that Social Arts are crucial as we try to find new ways to change the global challenges that we face today. The Presencing Institute developed tools and practices for creating safe containers and help to (re-)activate sources of deeper knowledge as we try to sense into the future we want to see.
One program is required.
Visual Practice for Theory U
Applying the social art of scribing, to see and sense an emerging future
Online Program
This program will focus on drawing methods that specifically support the 5 movements of Theory U. Learners will weave frameworks from the previous programs specifically to cases involving Co-Initiation, Co-Sensing, Co-Presencing, Co-Creating, and Co-Evolving. The precise format of this program is under development.
Certification Project
Your Visual Presencing Practitioner Certification pathway culminates in a final certification project of your choice where you will need to apply the methods, tools and space holding capacities learned in programs to your own context. The Certification Project Workspace provides a framework for you to document your activities and engage in guided reflection on your learning.
Requirements: Please note, your Certification Project is a different project than those you did during the programs, but it can be a new iteration of an early project. In the Certification Project form, you will be asked to upload photos or videos of your application experience and share your learning reflections with us.
Certification Project Submission
Your documented action learning project for certification
As soon as you completed all the steps above, we invite you to submit your project as your final step on this certification track.
You can already register for this track below, submitting your project will be possible after all prerequisits are met.
Register here
You will be guided on the process through your personal, online certification workspace. Once you have started your certification project submission have up to 2 years to complete and submit your project. You can only start your certification project submission after all required programs have been completed.
Once you have completed your certification project form, you will submit it for verification. This is the final step of the Visual Presencing Practitioner Certification Process. Once your certification project has been verified, you will be issued your Certificate.
