Jon Soske is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of institutional design, complex systems science, and social justice. With a background in African history, political theory, and public health, he brings a unique perspective to understanding structural inequities and building participatory approaches to social change. His current research focuses on "systems thinking from the margins." This project develops an ecological theory of agency through examining how institutions function as human-created "small worlds" that stabilize decision-making—and how marginalized actors navigate their breakdown and repair failing systems in real-time.

Combining ethnography with mathematics (Kolmogorov complexity, category theory) in novel ways ways, he investigates unbound agents (e.g., peer recovery workers, harm reductionists) who operate both within and outside institutional frameworks by bridging disconnected fragments of systems and reconfiguring the "fit" between actors and affordances. This work reframes decision theory as a science of institutional ecologies, revealing how power asymmetries fracture equilibria and why adaptive capacity often resides at the margins. Jon’s work is deeply informed by his lived experience in long-term recovery from addiction and community organizing alongside people impacted by homelessness, incarceration, and substance use disorders.