Complexity Laboratorium Utrecht opens its doors

Prof Gerrit van Meer, Dean of the Faculty of Science, has officially opened the Complexity Laboratorium Utrecht (CLUe) on 4 November. The CLUe facility offers the various of scientists from the research theme Complex Systems Studies easy access to powerful computational and data visualisation software, helping the researchers to work together on overarching research questions. Van Meer: “It’s great that so many researchers from different faculties are here today to show their interest in CLUe.”

Complex Systems

In complex systems, many small units interact to give rise to unexpected phenomena at a larger scale, a prominent example being the fascinating patterns generated by a flock of birds. Researchers from the focus area Complex Systems Studies try to model this complexity for a better understanding of issues like the spread of infectious diseases, climate change, opinion formation and crowd behaviour. Within this approach, new computational methodologies and the analysis of (big) data play an important role.  

CLUe

The Complexity Laboratorium Utrecht was initiated by climate physicist Prof. Henk Dijkstra, who himself studies the variability in the climate system using a complex systems approach. “The novel concepts, and the computational and data analysis techniques lead to a more detailed understanding of weather and climate”, says Dijkstra. “I am convinced that complex systems approaches will also generate alternative views and open up new research fields in other disciplines in the near future.”

Connecting disciplines

Apart from aiding scientists to use complex systems approaches in their own research, CLUe also supports collaboration through interdisciplinary meetings. Dijkstra: “At these CLUe meetings, we discuss overarching questions regarding the behaviour of complex systems, such as what determines the resilience of these systems and how this can be influenced.”