Recent findings from a study led by James Martin Lecturer Felix Reed-Tsochas (and published in October in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) shed light on the dynamics and robustness of complex networks, with a view to identifying potential lessons for business. But as Felix Reed-Toschas notes, the research has further implications: "We suspect that there may be implications for understanding the loss of functionality in degenerative neural diseases, potential novel insights about the fragility of eco-systems subject to environmental stress, as well as possible lessons for the current financial collapse." Felix and his team will be working with other Institutes in the 21st Century School to develop similar modelling approaches for the analysis of other complex systems, such as ecosystems, neural degeneration and financial markets.
Felix Reed-Tsochas is James Martin Lecturer in Complex Systems, based at the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, and Co-Director of the CABDyN Complexity Centre.