Complexity Science and Social Science
At the Interface to the Real World
Call for Papers and Conference Participation

Coping with the global-scale challenges of financial instability, food security, climate change, sustainability, demographic change and migration, pervasive web technology, transnational governance and security, among others, will involve dealing with large-scale complex systems made up of many parts interacting and adapting in sometimes subtle ways. People are critically important components of them all, which makes studying such systems a topic for social science as well as for natural science and engineering. However, the issues transcend disciplinary boundaries and making progress will require a significant interdisciplinary effort.

Much of the research that is required to address these issues is taking place at a new interface, where collaboration between economists, demographers, sociologists, etc., is supported and catalysed by tools and concepts from the physical sciences, mathematics, computer science and engineering. In the same way that research at the life and physical sciences interface has revolutionised biology and medicine since the turn of the century, research at the social sciences interface has the potential to transform our ability to answer questions about social, socio-economic, socio-ecological and socio-technological systems.

Contributions in the form of papers of 2500 – 8000 words reporting work that straddles the interface between complexity science and social science are invited. The intention is that a collection of papers will be published after the conference as a special issue of a prestigious journal. Papers describing applications are especially welcomed. There will also be an opportunity to present posters.

Date: 24th and 25th September 2012
Venue: Chicheley Hall, Royal Society International Centre, Newport Pagnell, UK. http://bit.ly/ieya3m
To Attend: Follow the link to a page with further information and to submit an abstract or expression of interest to attend through the online form.
http://www.csrw.ac.uk/events-hosted/complex-interface-conference-2012
Deadline: 1st June 2012. Places will be confirmed by 1st August 2012.

Queries to Prof. Nigel Gilbert [email protected] and Alison Cooper (network coordinator) [email protected]