workpackages

WP # 1: Connection to government, business and media leaders

Admin — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:00:00 +0200

WP1 proposes the organization of STREPs meeting with government, business and media leaders such as to make those branches aware and interested in what the STREPs have to offer. The objective is to bring ultimately to real projects and business applications some of the STREPs research results. We want to establish continuing contact of STREPs to senior policy makers, senior industry managers and senior media persons across the continent. Our goal is to satisfy interest in the STREP aspects pertaining to strategic risks assessment, procurement and distribution networks, social ills eradication. Public interest might be expected and we aim at coverages of STREPs’ research by major media that help reach a wider range of actors from more diverse communities.

Leading institution:

TUD - TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN - DRESDEN, GERMANY

WP leader

Prof. Dirk Helbing helbing@traficforum.org

WP # 2: Connection to economic policy makers

Admin — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:00:01 +0200

WP2 provides a more intimate connection of STREPs to policy makers especially in within economic institutions (national banks, anti-trust authorities, etc). Here we are speaking about a more technical level and about going beyond just generic acquaintance. We propose short series of mutual literacy courses given between economists and STREP people. We also support partially the NEW2006 conference and seminars to various economic and policy making institutions. We introduce the relevant STREPs concepts and techniques in the daily thinking and action of economic policy planners. This helps to promote the use of the techniques of the STREPs in their areas of research and in their policy decision. We intend to measure the success by the persistent presence and the continuing partnership of STREP researchers with a few influential planers.

Leading institution:

UNISA - UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI SALERNO - FISCIANO (SA), ITALY

WP leader

Prof. Pasquale Perisco ppersic(at)unisa.it

Project Manager:

Dr. Marisa Faggini mfaggini(at)unisa.it

WP # 3: Complexity – Industry Connections

Admin — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:00:02 +0200

WP3 makes the connection of STREPs to technological application areas and in particular to infrastructure networks. The effort is to make the connection between real life situations and the Complexity STREPs ideas such as multi-level analysis and network properties. We will measure the success of our interface with the industry by the participation of industrial partners to WP3. We hope to have major organizations maintaining a significant level of cooperation with the STREPs. We will invest much effort that the knowledge transferred by the STREPs will induce practical applications. We will document these eventual applications in our reports and publish it to a wider audience (WP1).

Leading institution:: ENEA - ENTE PER LE NUOVE TECNOLOGIE, L'ENERGIA E L'AMBIENTE - ROMA, ITALY
WP leader:: Dr. Sandro Bologna; bologna(at)casaccia.enea.it

Objectives

The objectives of this WP are to:

WP # 4: Integrating complexity application areas from New EU states

Admin — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:00:03 +0200

A responsibility that we have taken upon ourselves was to make full use of the talents and capabilities of the scientists from the new and candidate EU members. In order to create a synergy between the interest, expertise and connections of each STREP and the great potential of the young scientists in the new and candidate EU members, we have defined a dedicated work-package. It aims at insuring the presence and absorption of young scientists from the new counties in all the STREPs activities and also take care of their special needs. We are supporting the visits of young scientists from Candidate and Associate States to the STREP sponsored activities. Moreover we support events that help them to enroll in scientific programs such as the European Complexity PhD. We expect tight complementary cooperation with the similar WP of ONCE.

WP # 5: Supporting Female Advancement in Complexity Application Areas

Admin — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:00:04 +0200

The same ideas as in the WP4 have guided us for defining the WP dedicated to female scientists. The dedication from the beginning of resources, expertise and management attention to this issue will avoid the danger of having the issue forgotten within the STREPs. Moreover, the leader of the program is one of the world prominent leaders in gender issues in the scientific field. WP5 will support financially travel to STREP actions, and support events that will help them to enroll in scientific programs such as the European Complexity PhD.

Leading institution

BIU - BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY - RAMAT-GAN ISRAEL

WP Leader

Prof. Mina Teicherteicher@macs.biu.ac.il

WP # 6: Think-Tank Forum for reaction and proaction

Admin — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:00:05 +0200

WP6 Think-Tank Forum for reaction and proaction. One of the things that the Complexity community and the STREPs sub-community miss is a leadership recognized as such. This is in spite very distinguished scientific leaders doing complexity in various application areas and within the STREPs. We have close meetings either triggered by momentous developments or on long-standing problems. Our goal is to engage recognized top researchers. They meet periodically in a think tank format (in the presence of their close junior co-workers) and act as a forum for the development, exchange of ideas, setting priorities, reacting to novel developments and initiating new scientific demarches. In addition to scientific directions they generate ideas for further development of training, mobility, infrastructure development .

WP # 7: Summer schools, advanced courses, and other knowledge transfer instruments

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:41:05 +0200

WP7 Summer schools, advanced courses and other STREPS connection instruments. In spite of the last years’ emphasis on electronic communication, when it comes to creative – one of a sort – activities, direct contact and interactive explanations are unavoidable. This is even more so in situations engendered by complexity where often and fast familiarization with new fields is necessary at all academic levels. Thus, in addition to the more standard Basic courses and Advanced Courses, we have more original instruments tailored for the special knowledge transfer needs of the STREP community. In particular we have the instrument called Advanced Introduction (related to ensuring the coherence of the leadership of the complexity research, in cooperation with WP8 in ONCE) which is very different from a usual summer school: it aims at senior researchers that need to get quickly familiar with the spirit and jargon of a new field without necessarily getting a practitioner level of performance.

WP # 8 : Complexity-at-large Conferences

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:51:20 +0200

WP8 General conference of STREPs and complexity application fields One of the advantages and also problems of the Complexity community is its spread over many application fields. While this gives it vitality it also puts the complexity people always in minority. It also prevents the community from developing a personality and a stable system of connections. We have initiated an annual large complexity conference where STREP members can come and be sure to meet people from the relevant areas. Moreover, as in other fields, the annual conference becomes the arena for a job market and for initiating STREP cooperation projects, for establishing collectively the agenda of the STREPs for the next year. Most of the budget for the 3 annual conferences comes from the WP1 in ONCE, but the participation of the STREPS is ensured by the participation by GIACS with 50000 Euro.

Leading institution

CNRS - CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE - PARIS , FRANCE

WP leader

Dr Paul Bourgine
bourgine@poly.polytechnique.fr

WP # 9: Coordination of Complexity Data transfer and sharing

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:01:52 +0200

WP9 Complexity Data availability to STREPs. For a long time, one of the most damaging myths for the image of complexity was that it misses a sound experimental grounding. The reason for this misperception might be the fact that many of the complexity relevant data are accumulated under the name of the application disciplines. This is not surprising since funding for making “complexity measurements” were never allocated. On the other hand, an enormous amount of complex data is being accumulated in different fields. Most of these data is not even recognized by the groups producing (gathering them) as complexity data. In fact this is part of the puzzle in understanding and interpreting those data. To make this data available to the STREPs, one has to discover, catalogue, coordinate and meta-process the data bases as to create an uniform readily accessible body of information.

WP # 10: Activities initiation, monitoring, coordination and control using open electronic network-map

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:13:01 +0200

WP10 STREPs activities coordination using open electronic platform An interactive software tool including the conceptual specifications, user interface design and actual coding is constructed and maintained to support the coordination of the STREPs and the CA activities and to represent interactively their conceptual evolving relationships. We use this to self-organize the STREPs research environment. This is a quite innovative way of building interaction and communication among the various STREPs. However, the real proof of the concept is to make it available to the STREPs on line for open (un-moderated) contribution by all the members and sub-communities. The goal is the use of the platform as the central nervous system of the CA. Thus, in the process of recognizing its own extent and its internal connectivity, the STREPs community use (reflexively) complexity specific methods, namely self-organization.

Leading institution

ISI - FONDAZIONE ISI - TORINO, ITALY

WP # 11: Connecting existing research/education Programs

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:22:25 +0200

WP11 Connecting research and PhD programs. On one hand complexity as such is very much an outsider in most of the European universities including many of the ones participating in the STREPs. On the other hand, research programs that have been produced under various umbrellas are relevant to complexity and may contribute to the STREPs. We propose to make a systematic search and identify complexity activities. Funding and arrangements is provided for Complexity researchers to actually travel and participate in such programs and courses at least among the STREP participants. Also we try, at least within the STREPs participant universities to make arrangements for recognizing “foreign” complexity courses for credit. Having itinerant researchers between the STREP participants contributes not only to their careers but also to the integration across the Complexity Pathfinder and across the various application domains. We support the logistics related with having common junior researchers travel between various STREPs and insuring thereby the transfer and fusion of their expertise.

WP # 12: European Complex Systems Society including scientists from all Complexity Application Areas

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:34:35 +0200

WP12 Structuring STREPs environment into an European Complexity Society. The Complexity Pathfinder members establish the society and use a variety of ways to get to all potential members. There is an executive committee with appropriate geographical and discipline representatives that thinks on the missions, goals, special activities and on representing complexity in other European forums etc. The measure of our success will be the existence by 2007 of a European Complexity Science Society capable to support itself (after GIACS ends) by membership fees and including thousands (1000 by 2008) of members as well as corporate members from business and industry.

Leading institutions

BIU - BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY - RAMAT-GAN ISRAEL

OU - THE OPEN UNIVERSITY - MILTON KEYNES UK

CNRS - CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE - PARIS , FRANCE

WP leaders

Prof. Mina Teicher teicher@macs.biu.ac.il

WP # 13: Group Report – Generating a Complexity Roadmap

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:42:40 +0200

WP13 Expert Group Report – Generating a Complexity Roadmap As a central player in the European Complexity Research field, this CA is perfectly situated to provide policy makers with an Expert Group Report – a comprehensive study of the European complexity community, its interests, goals, and structure. This colossal task may seem too ambitious, mostly because of the size of the material that needs to be encompassed; nevertheless, we aim at such a comprehensive goal by forming an expert group, and in parallel creating a web-based interface for communal authoring. We start by using the tool for characterizing the STREPs and for clarifying the status and relationships between them. On the later stage, by allowing the entire community to participate in the aggregation of the material, we will democratically allow some of the raw material of the report to emerge from communal contributions. See Complexity Roadmap (beta version)

Leading institutions

ISI - FONDAZIONE ISI - TORINO, ITALY

HUJI - THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM - JERUSALEM ISRAEL

WP #14: Management

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:57:11 +0200

WP14 The management GIACS contains at least one participant institution from each STREP.

WP #15 Review and Assessment

Admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:03:02 +0200

The review and assessment committee acts along the lines and regulations specified in the relevant NEST documents. It consists of 7 members. The platform at WP10 supplies the committee with an updated picture of the planned, current and past activities in GIACS.