Global Systems Science

Developing a GSS research programme

May 23, 2013
by Franziska Schuetze
in Global Systems Science

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Additional contribution to the energy section of the GSS Orientation Paper

Regarding the energy section of the GSS Orientation Paper the following topics seem to be important to me. Some thoughts might already be incorporated in the latest version just posted by David, but I post them anyways: 1) Global energy trade flows and the economy In 2011, annual revenues of the three largest energy corporations such as Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon and Chevron were in the range of US$ 470bn, US$ 433bn, US$ 236bn respectively (Global Energy company rankings: http://top250.platts.com/Top250Rankings/2012/Region/Industry). Seeing that this is as large as the GDP of Portugal (US$ 237bn), Argentina (US$ 446bn), Norway (US$ 485bn) in the same year, one can assume that energy trade flows have a significant impact on the global economy as a whole. GSS can engage in mapping and Read more [...]

May 23, 2013
by J. David Tàbara
in GSS Orientation Paper

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Version v2 of the GSS Orientation Paper

Dear colleagues, There has been a lot of activity recently regarding the production of the Orientation Paper on Global Systems Science. First of all we would like to thank very much those who have contributed to our GSS discussions so far, either with pieces of text, the EC consultation process and of course via the GSS blog! So we think it’s now high time to show what we have been doing so far. Please find attached the long version v2 of the GSS Orientation Paper (2013-05-23) [PDF, 2.8 MB]. There are still some gaps and changes that will be carried in the coming days. Out of this long document we will produce a summary which will be presented and discussed in our GSS Brussels conference in June 10-12. You can post you general comments on the text on the GSS blog, or if you have Read more [...]

May 22, 2013
by J. David Tàbara
in Sustainability

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Workshop on Urbanization, Sustainability and Prosperty – Workshop report online

The workshop was organized against a backdrop of rapidly growing renewed interest in the theme of urbanization, which was characterized by Simon in the 1980's as "the major challenge for [organization] sciences in the 20th century". To be clear, that does not in any way reduce the importance of the huge amount of work that has already been done on this theme, both in Europe and in North America, in part by participants in this workshop (Batty, Pumain, etc.). But this work is now reaching a different stage, in part due to the application of complex systems theory to this domain as a result of the work first initiated in the ISCOM project (funded by the ICT directorate of the EU, and led by Lane, van der Leeuw, Pumain and West as PI's), which seems to be pointing to the possibility that the Read more [...]

May 22, 2013
by Carlo C. Jaeger
in Global Systems Science

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The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

This is a post about "Disaster Risk Reduction: Government to Governance", a debate that took place in the framework of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (Geneva, May 19-23). Speakers were: - Walter Ammann, President of the Global Risk Forum, Davos (Download Presentation) - Lai Hongzhou, Mistry of Civil Affairs, P.R. China (Download Presentation) - Marco Ferrari, former chair of the drafting committee for the Hyogo Framework for Action, Board member Global Risk Forum (Download Presentation) - Shi Peijun, Beijing Normal University and Integrated Risk Governance Prject, Beijing (Download Presentation) - Saber Chowdhury, Bangladesh, chair of the standing committee on Peace and International Security of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. (Download Presentation) Here, Read more [...]

May 11, 2013
by J. David Tàbara
in Global Systems Science

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Updated list of people involved in GSS discussions (10-May-13)

Dear all, I have updated the List of participant to GSS meetings & workshops (v8, 10-05-13).   This list includes people who have participated at the discussions and contributed to the following meetings: First Open Global Systems Science Conference (Brussels, November 8 – 10, 2012) Towards a Sustainable Global Financial System (Potsdam, December 8 – 9, 2012) GSS workshop on Models and Data (Brussels, February 7 – 8, 2013) Urban development and GSS (Brussels, February 13 – 14, 2013) GSS – Territorial versus functional Patterns (Arizona, February 25 – 26, 2013)   And will be expanded with the participants of the following workshops: Narratives as Communication (Brussels 13 – 14, March 2013) Visions of GSS: Energy Futures (Brussels, Read more [...]

May 10, 2013
by Francesco Mureddu
in Global Systems Science

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CROSSOVER Final Conference in Policy Making 2.0, keynotes from UNDP, FuturICT, System Dynamics Society

Join us in Dublin to explore the emerging technologies and trends that are changing the way policy is made. The FP7 Crossover Conference will be held directly before the Digital Agenda Assembly on 17th & 18th June at Trinity College What will be discussed? Open and big data Visual analytics Modelling and simulation Collaborative Governance and Crowdsourcing Serious Gaming Opinion Mining Invited speakers include: Miguel Gonzalez Sancho, Member of Cabinet of VP Kroes (keynote speaker) Emer Coleman, former Deputy Director of UK Government Digital Service Alberto Cottica, Policy-Making powered by Networks Igor Mayer, Serious games for policy Eliot Rich, Systems Thinking, System Dynamics, and Group Decision Support Anna Carbone, FuturICT Jed Shilling, Millennium Read more [...]

April 26, 2013
by Colin Harrison
in Global Systems Science

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1493 by Charles Mann

While on leave recently in Maui, I started reading this book on the global, systemic impacts - ecological, economic, infrastructure, health, agriculture, and others - of the Columbia Exchange.  It is written by a great journalist, Charles Mann, and it is wonderfully readable - quite a page turner.  What I found especially interesting about it is the system of systems perspective that the author takes on the global consequences of events.  While not express in the terminology we might use ourselves, it is a wonderful demonstration of what a Global Systems Science could accomplish.  It also suggests (to me) the value of people, such as Charles Mann, who do not look at these problems from the perspective of a single discipline, but rather can take a broader, more integrative point of view. Read more [...]

April 26, 2013
by Colin Harrison
in Global Systems Science

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X and the City

Fame at last for urban science!  The May 2013 edition of The Smithsonian magazine has an excellent article on quantitative approaches to urban studies.  It features stories and photographs of many of our colleagues including Geoff West, Luis Bettencourt, Joe Lobo, and Steve Koonin.  More…

April 26, 2013
by Elke Henning
in Global Systems Science

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Registration Open: “Second Open Global Systems Science Conference” June 10-12th, 2013, Brussels

Second Open Global Systems Science Conference 10.06.2013-12.06.2013 | Brussels, Belgium More information and registration On behalf of the steering committee of GSDP project, in cooperation with the projects EUNOIA, FOC, INSITE, MULTIPLEX and NESS, we are pleased to invite you to the Second Open Global Systems Science Conference, to be held in Brussels at the Stanhope Hotel (www.thonhotels.com/stanhope), June 10 – 12th, 2013. This conference will be the closing conference of our project GSDP; it will provide an overview on the GSS activities so far and help to frame the future research program. The study of problems as diverse as global climate change and global financial crises is currently converging towards a new kind of research – Global Systems Science. Download Agenda... Read more [...]

April 15, 2013
by Francesco Mureddu
in Global Systems Science

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GSS Research Challenge in the CROSSOVER Roadmap

Dear all the consortium of the CROSSOVER project is currently engaged in drafting a research roadmap on ICT Tools for Governance and Policy Modelling. The roadmap is enriched with cases and applications of ICT tools, and is available online in a commentable format at http://www.crossover-project.eu/ResearchRoadmap.aspx. As a consortium we decided to introduce a research challenge in Global Systems Science, thereby I would be glad if there could be an interaction on your side. By using the roadmap there would be the possibility to give further visibility to GSS, as it is regularly presented and discussed in online and offline events, such as the next International Conference on Policy Making 2.0 taking place in Dublin next June in the Digital Agenda week http://www.crossover-project.eu/InternationalConferenceonPolicyMaking20.aspx. Read more [...]