October 8-11, 2024

Doblerstr. 33, 72074 Tübingen, Germany

Deadline: July 15, 2024

https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/263562

Organized by: Michael Herrmann (Tübingen Forum for Science and Humanities, University of Tübingen) and Dr. Helena Atteneder (Institute of Media Studies, University of Tübingen)

Human societies constantly change at many levels, from individuals to communities and nation states. Historically and at present societies have become more or less polarized, more or less cooperative, more or less integrated. 

To understand and perhaps even predict these trends and their consequences, there is a complex interaction between the individual, the social and the structural. Network as a basic principle structuring society, as a metaphor for human interaction, is a relevant subject for various research disciplines, long before Castells developed the "network society" as a relevant label for a certain form of social organisation.

Complex networks – ranging from the Internet to different (online) social networks – influence our lives. From communication networks, social networks, biological systems, neural networks, to technological networks such as the internet: many of these networks are similar in the sense that they share basic properties.

It is thus important to understand these real-world networks themselves and the factors which influence its dynamics. Computer-intensive mathematical modelling approaches quantify and infer potential regularities and patterns in order to uncover a correspondence to the real world target system.

How can we use networks as a tool for both theoretical and empirical investigations?

Questions we raise:

1) What are suitable application areas?

2) How can graphs/dynamical systems/agent-based models/visualization methods be used as a tool to understand (unexpected) collective behavior?

3) To what extent do the formal properties of (computational) networks influence the emergence of biases (and inequality)?

4) What social implications can arise from the application of a commercialized network logic and how can these be critically analyzed?

5) What are the challenges involved and what are the methodological limitations?

Invited Speakers (confirmed):

Luis F. Alvarez Léon, Geography, Darthmouth College, USA, https://geography.dartmouth.edu/people/luis-f-alvarez-leon

Fariba Karimi, Computational Social Science, Graz University of Technology, Austria, https://csh.ac.at/fariba-karimi/

Daniel Kostic, Philosophy, Leiden University, Netherlands, http://daniel-kostic.weebly.com/

Melanie Nagel, Political Science, University of Tübingen, Germany, https://fatk-tuebingen.de/das-team/melanie-nagel/

Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat, Media and Communication Science, Sheffield Hallam University, UK, https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-profiles/joan-rodriguez-amat

Poster/Presentation sessions for participants

During the Autumn School there will be two 90 min slots for poster/presentation sessions. In addition to the presentations by our invited speakers and intensive workshop sessions, participants will have the opportunity to present their own research here and receive valuable feedback. Participants can present and discuss their current research projects (dissertations, projects, paper drafts, etc.) that should be thematically connected to the overall topic of the Autumn School. Please indicate in your application whether you wish to present and, if applicable, submit an abstract (max. 300 words, excluding literature). The selection of contributions will be made by the program committee.

Application & Deadlines

The Call for Applications is distributed internationally. We welcome submissions from master students, PhD students and early career researchers from all disciplines. Please submit the following

● Your CV

● A short motivation letter (half to one page)

● An abstract of max. 300 words (exc. literature) in case you want to present in the poster/presentation session

to: info@tfw.uni-tuebingen.de

Deadline: July 15th, 2024

Applicants will be notified latest by July 31st, 2024. 

If you have any questions, please contact info@tfw.uni-tuebingen.de.

About us:

The Tübingen Forum for Science is a central institution of the University of Tübingen. The "Forum" aims to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue, by crossing institutional and disciplinary boundaries. It connects international students and (young) researchers through Summer & Winter schools and organizes academic conferences on interdisciplinary timely and fundamental questions. Promoting interdisciplinary collaboration in teaching and research may help tackle social problems which cannot be addressed by individual disciplines in isolation. We are funded by Udo Keller Stiftung Forum Humanum and Tübingen University.

You can find further information here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/tfw