Thematic cycle "Complexity"

Advanced courses, conferences and seminars on the modeling of behaviors and interactions

Organized in partnership with   labex MME-DII and Fondation pour la Modélisation en Economie.labex

Coordinators : 
Laura Hernandez - LPTM
Marius Ochea - THEMA
Alessandro Torcini - LPTM

A Thematic Cycle on Complexity will take place in 2018 at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IEA) of Cergy-Pontoise University. It aims at providing to UCP researchers dealing with complex systems in their own disciplinary field, with the opportunity to discuss their experiences and methods. It will also be the occasion to bring together local and international experts in the different involved disciplines. This thematic cycle is developed in the framework of the national ISITE project related to Complexity studies, recently awarded to Cergy-Pontoise University.

It is generally admitted that a complex system is composed of a large number of constituents holding non-linear interactions which show multi-scale self-organizing phenomena. With such definition, it clearly appears that problems related to complex systems are intrinsically interdisciplinary, as proven by the numerous institutes devoted to a multi-disciplinary study of complexity that have been created all around the world [1].

Our university hosts various teams issued from different disciplines, working on systems having these characteristics. As examples, one can cite the study of phase transitions,  turbulences, or synchronization problems in Physics; the models of financial, import-export, centralized or decentralized markets, or the study of risk assessment and management in Economy; the studies of opinion formation and the influence of new on-line media on the off-line events in Sociology, the research on urban dynamics and mobility or the emergence of centralities within suburban territories in Geography, the studies of host-pathogen systems, or the interaction of complex molecules and biomaterials in Biology, the multi-scale studies of rock deformation and alteration in Geology, the integration of multimedia data or the studies on neuro-cybernetics in Computer Sciences, among so many others.

The kickoff event of this cycle is an invited seminar by Professor Roberto Livi, previous holder of the IEA International Research Chair 2011, taking place on January 30^th 2018.

All around the year, the Thematic Cycle will propose:

• Cross disciplinary courses: they are aimed at an interdisciplinary public, and are open to students (master level) and researchers interested in learning practical methods and tools devoted to the study of complex systems.
• Specific courses: these short courses will address a specific topic in complex systems. Starting from the state of the art on the chosen topic, they aim at presenting the recent advances on the domain.
• Interdisciplinary conference « Transversal problems on Complexity », it will be held on May 23^rd and 24^{th 2018}, and will bring together internationally renowned keynote speakers and local researchers specialized on different aspects of complexity.
• International Research Workshop:  “Extreme Dynamics on Networks”, to be held on May 25^th 2018.  Its aim is to bring together local and international researchers in order to prepare an interdisciplinary project, to apply to the ITN-EJD-MSCA, 2019 call.
• Specific conference: « New Insights in Complex Neural Dynamics”, to be held on June 2018.
• Periodic seminars and mini-symposia: All along the year, there will be either seminars given by  recognized experts in the chosen field, open to a large scientific public,  or mini-symposia, gathering several experts in order to hold a deeper discussion on the chosen topic.