COMPLEX SYSTEMS: An Introductory WORKSHOP

The study of complex systems is an emerging area of research with a strong inter-disciplinary approach. All physical, biological, ecological and social systems are complex networks of interacting subsystems at multiple scales. Studies of complex systems have begun to explain their characteristic properties like emergence and self-organisation only in the recent past. This research is therefore trying to fill an important and deep rooted lacuna in sciences. There are however, very few undergraduate and post-graduate curricula which give students even a basic introduction to the study of complex systems.

This workshop will introduce upper-level undergraduate, and post-graduate students of physical sciences including physics and chemistry, mathematics, and engineering disciplines to complex systems. It will follow a hands on pedagogy. Relevant ideas about complex systems will be introduced through lectures on three core areas of non-linear dynamics, biophysics and climate modelling. Students will also work on standard codes for computational biology, non-linear systems and climate models. Wherever feasible, they will be introduced to machine learning algorithms to become familiar with the latest research initiatives.