Workshop 25th March 2010 10 a.m. Room 1257, Building 59, Highfield Campus
Complexity theory for social scientists
- Submitter
- Nicki Lewin
This seminar is organised by the Centre for Citizenship, Globalisation and Governance and Living with Environmental Change USRG, and sponsored by the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM). Complexity science is concerned with breaking down complex systems to look at the components, and to see how they behave together. As such, it is a perfect means for integrating research from ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sciences, which together constitute complex systems. Although complexity science is highly relevant to much of the work we do in social sciences at Southampton, very few of us understand the theory and methods used. This one-day workshop aims to raise awareness of the techniques used by complexity scientists and help us to understand how they might be used by social scientists.
Programme
- Introduction the EPSRC’s funding on complexity, Dr. Milena Buechs (Sociology and Social Policy)
- A dumbo’s guide to complexity theory for social scientists, Dr. Seth Bullock (ECS, Complexity in Real World Contexts USRG)
- Complexity theory and methods in the study of public policy, Prof. Robert Geyer (University of Lancaster)
- Understanding complex socio-ecological systems: needs and challenges, Prof. John Dearing (Geography, Living with Environmental Change USRG)
Tea, coffee and lunch will be provided. To reserve your place, please email Angela Westley A.G.Westley@soton.ac.uk. Please also let her know if you have any special dietary requirements.