Three-day meeting

Introductory Lectures on Aspects of Complexity

University of Manchester, 6-8 July 2009

Aa 3-day meeting exploring how physicists can contribute to the biological, economic and social sciences, aimed principally at graduate students and established physicists who are interested in learning about these novel applications.

On each day there was a different theme, with one introductory lecture, three research talks, and ending with an overview lecture summarising the state of the subject, giving perspectives on current research and looking to the future.

Organizers:
Tobias Galla

Programme:

Day 1: Monday July 6th - Biological Systems

Introductory Lecture (9:30-10:30):

Rampal Etienne (Groningen)

Physics in ecology: the utility of the useless

Coffee (10:30-11:00)

Research Talk I (11:00-12:00):

Michael Lässig (Cologne)

From Darwin to complexity: the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of biological evolution

Research Talk II (12:00-13:00):

Andrew Rutenberg (Dahlhousie)

Physics of bacteria: models and manipulations of Min oscillations inside E. coli

Lunch (13:00-14:30)

Research Talk III (14:30-15:30):

Pasquale Stano (Roma Tre)

Lipid vesicles as cellular models: from the self-reproduction to the construction of minimal cells

Coffee (15:30-16:00)

Overview Lecture (16:00-17:00):

Nigel Goldenfeld (Urbana-Champaign)

What can physics do for biology? What can biology do for physics?

Day 2: Tuesday July 7th - Social Systems

Introductory Lecture (9:30-10:30):

Jorge Pacheco (Lisbon)

Cooperation in an adaptive, globally connected world

Coffee (10:30-11:00)

Research Talk I (11:00-12:00):

Karl Sigmund (Vienna)

Cooperation in joint enterprises: between freedom and enforcement

Research Talk II (12:00-13:00):

Guillaume Deffuant (Aubiere)

Models of opinion dynamics and social influence: From attraction-rejection to empathy

Lunch (13:00-14:30)

Research Talk III (14:30-15:30):

Kenny Smith (Northumbria)

Language change and language evolution in the lab

Coffee (15:30-16:00)

Overview Lecture (16:00-17:00):

Bruce Edmonds (Manchester Metropolitan)

Understanding observed social systems - the hard complexity problem

Day 3: Wednesday July 8th - Economic Systems

Introductory Lecture (9:30-10:30):

Angelo Secchi (Pisa)

Dynamic increasing returns in economic systems with heterogeneous agents

Coffee (10:30-11:00)

Research Talk I (11:00-12:00):

Esteban Moro (Madrid)

Ecology of strategic behavior in stock markets

Research Talk II (12:00-13:00):

Matteo Marsili (Trieste)

The non-trivial role of axioms in the mathematics of financial markets

Lunch (13:00-14:30)

Research Talk III (14:30-15:30):

Stewart Hodges (City University London)

An Introduction to Financial Engineering

End of meeting