Date: March 18th, 2014 Venue: STIAS | Wallenberg Centre | 10 Marais Rd | Stellenbosch | South Africa Registration fee: R 400 per person The notion of anticipation is increasingly at the heart of urgent contemporary debates, from climate change to economic crisis. As societies become less confident that traditional methods will provide effective models by which to understand and engage with complexity, anticipation is coming to the foreground as an emerging field of study that is influencing a wide variety of disciplines. In this colloquium we will explore how complex systems can be understood by developing models of anticipation [...]

Applications are invited for the post of Research Fellow / Senior Research Fellow specialising in Climate Change Scenarios, Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation, at the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI), Faculty of Science, University of Cape Town. The successful candidate will be responsible for leading a Southern African regional research team, within the broader ASSAR (Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions) multi-region research project, and for cross-region research synthesis across other ASSAR regional research projects (West Africa, East Africa, South Asia). The post involves both research management and supervision, as well as significant personal research. ASSAR is a five year [...]

The Mediterranean Institute for Biodiversity and Ecology (IMBE, Aix-Marseille University, Aix-en-Provence, France), in its Research Group "Conservation Ecology and Biotic Interactions" has a 22-month post-doc position open for applications. The position is funded through a European Neigborhood Partnership (ENPI) project on vulnerability of coastal ecosystems, involving research groups from Rome and Cagliari (Italy), Alexandria (Egypt), Beirut (Lebanon) and Sfax (Tunisia). At IMBE, the project is directed by Arne Saatkamp, Agathe Leriche, and Cécile Albert, in Marseille, France - a region noted for its access to outdoor activities. The project aims to model the impacts of fragmentation (spatial organization), habitat degradation [...]

The Mediterranean Institute for Biodiversity and Ecology (IMBE, Aix-Marseille University, Aix-en-Provence, France), in its Research Group "Macroecology and Biogeography of Global Change (MacroBio)" has a 36-month PhD position open for applications. The position is funded by the European Commission through the FP7 Research Project OPERAs and affiliated with the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS). The topic is the broad-scale spatial mapping and quantification of ecosystem service trade-offs following management of agro-ecosystems in the Mediterranean basin. The context of the research includes the environment (climate, land use) as well as trends in societal demands for services. Based on scientific literature, spatial [...]

On his recent visit to South Africa U.S. President Barack Obama announced a new phase of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) - the Washington Fellowship. This new program is for young professionals ages 25-35 and offers a 6 week leadership program on the campus of a U.S. university, followed by a one week presidential summit in Washington, DC. The program will take place in June/July 2014.  Selected participants in this program are going to have the opportunity to interact with Heads of State and leaders from civil society, private and public sector across the region and from the US. [...]

The International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the International Council for Science (ICSU), in collaboration with the International Network of Next Generation Ecologists (INNGE) and Institute for New Economic Thinking's Young Scholars Initiative (INET YSI), are planning to assemble a group of early career researchers with diverse backgrounds and research perspectives to reflect on ecosystems and human well-being in the transition towards green economies and debate relevant issues as part of a series of conferences on Integrated Science that are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The aim is to bring together creative multidimensional, interdisciplinary and trans- disciplinary perspectives [...]

Up to four Doctoral and Masters Research Bursaries have been established at the University of Cape Town's African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI). The work will be focused within the Bergrivier Transdisciplinary Research Programme which includes partners from the Western Cape Government, the Bergrivier Municipality and other business and civil society participants. The aim is to develop a range of interdisciplinary activities that will support the Bergrivier Municipality in their efforts to plan and respond to the challenges of climate change and development. Students will work within transdisciplinary teams of researchers and practitioners from different departments, disciplines and backgrounds. Research [...]

For young climate experts from transition and developing countries interested in conducting a project in Germany. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s fellowship programme allows future leaders to spend a year in Germany working on a research-related project of their own choice in the field of climate protection. Fellows are free to choose their own hosts. Submit an application if you come from a non-European transition or developing country and are involved with issues relating to the scientific, engineering, legal, economic or social aspects of climate change. Up to 20 fellowships will be granted, funded under the Federal Environment Ministry’s International Climate [...]

As you already know, the Santa Fe Institute's research spans the growing field of complex systems.  This includes: scaling and growth in cities social, biological, and technological networks phase transitions in search and optimization quantum computing and computational complexity major transitions in evolution, and the origin of life We have postdocs, faculty, and visitors in fields ranging from Computer Science, Economics, and Physics to Biology, Ecology, and Anthropology.  If you come here, your own interests will add to this ever-changing mix.   In addition to a competitive salary, Omidyar Fellows receive discretionary research funds for travel, visitors, and other research costs.  The Fellowship lasts up [...]