First Open Global Systems Science Conference
November 8–10, 2012
Brussels, Belgium
The aim of the Conference is to contribute to the development of Global Systems Science (GSS). 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.
GSS builds on economics as well as on climatology, on history as well as on geography and on a variety of further disciplines. However, it is no attempt to renew the failed pursuit for a single unified science. It simply integrates insights and methods that are useful in studying global systems and develops them further for that purpose.
Important examples of global systems are:
- the energy, water and food supply systems
- the internet
- the global financial system
- the agents, resources and mechanisms involved in climate policy
- the web of military forces and relations
- globally spreading diseases
- the scientific community
GSS could not emerge without substantial advances in information and communication technology (ICT). The use of computer models, digitized data, and global virtual networks are vital for GSS, and GSS can provide a key domain for socially useful ICT developments.
This conference is organized by the steering committee of the EU project Global Systems Dynamics and Policy, a project coordinated by the Global Climate Forum, and carried out by a team involving a transdisciplinary group of institutions based in Europe and other parts of the world.
GSS is one of those fields of inquiry where a separation between basic and applied science is misleading. The community of researchers engaged in GSS will evolve in a close dialogue with practitioners, policy-makers and other stakeholders. Therefore, – following the experience of previous successful GSDP meetings (Berlin 2011, Barcelona 2012) – this conference will bring together a unique cohort of researchers and practitioners relevant for GSS.
Global Systems Science Blog
Workshop Repository
- Presentations held at the conference can be found in the GSDP workshop repository.