by Michael Schoon, Arizona State University
On April 21st, Arizona State University officially launched a new initiative – the Consortium for Biosocial Complex Systems. The consortium attempts to advance a new area of science by approaching research and education through a complex systems perspective. The primary work of the Consortium emerges from three member centers: the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, the Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity, and the Mathematical, Computational, and Modeling Sciences Center.–
The Consortium and ASU’s Center for Global Health are the first tangible outputs of ASU’s Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative. The Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative (CASI) is a collaborative effort to leverage trans-disciplinary relationships to address complex global challenges in health, sustainability, security and education by creation of entirely new technologies and novel solutions. This requires integration of diverse research disciplines across the University and building an extended network of global collaborations.
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Over the coming months, CASI will help form additional trans-disciplinary research groups to better bridge across disciplinary barriers within ASU. Beyond campus, the Initiative is creating linkages between institutional research partners around the globe, including CSIRO for Sustainable Ecosystems, Indiana University’s Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and the University of Barcelona Adaptive Behavior and Interaction Group, among others. For a full listing of partner organizations, click here.
Adaptiveness and Innovation in Earth System Governance 