Santo Fortunato: Mathematical modeling of social dynamics

Описание: Description: The course is an introduction to a recent very active research topic, that is growing in terms of visibility and impact. The idea of a rigorous quantitative modelling of social dynamics, which could match the stunning successes that Newton's laws had reached in physics, has had a long history and many illustrious fathers, from political philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, Auguste Compte and Stuart Mill, to scientists like Condorcet, Petty and Quetelet. However, only in the last decade, with the increasing availability of large datasets on social phenomena and of massive computational facilities, it has finally become possible to implement this idea.

The goal of this course is to make the students acquainted with this new and fascinating research topic, and to provide them the necessary set of tools to make them able to work in this area. The students will learn how birds organize their motion in ordered flocks, or how pedestrians behave in panic situations. We will also see how consensus emerges from a multitude of individuals who initially have very different opinions, or how languages compete with each other like animal species. Being fairly new, this discipline offers many directions for potential contributions, especially from young people, in contrast to what usually happens for established topics. It is possible that projects developed by the students at the end of the course may turn into scientific publications in international journals.

The course is lectured in English.

Lecturer: Santo Fortunato
Video: Otto Olavinen