At a glance

• Annual 4-day summer school in Barcelona (1-4 July 2025)
• Teaching the theory and practice of network research
• For those studying the human past (historians, archaeologists, classicists, …)
• No prior computational skills required, but willingness to learn

Details 

Network approaches are commonly used in diverse studies of the human past. For example, analyzing letter correspondence in 16th century England, mapping the similarity of material culture in the prehispanic US Southwest, reconstructing ancient Roman family ties as revealed through funerary inscriptions, and much more. Such research is supported by thriving international communities, conference series, a journal, and textbooks. But dedicated training in the theory and practice of network research is missing in most history and archaeology degree programmes.

The Barcelona Past Networks Summer School addresses this educational gap. It provides an annually recurring opportunity to learn what network research is, how it can be usefully and critically applied to the study of the human past, through hands-on practicals and critical lectures. The content is curated and delivered by leading experts in the field, and the summer school is a joint effort of the main international scholarly communities in past networks research. The summer school is developed for those establishing or developing their studies and research on the human past (archaeologists, historians, classicists, …).

If you aim to perform network research but your own institutional or educational context cannot support you in this specialism, then this summer school is perfect for you. No prior mathematical, computational or coding experience is needed, but a willingness to work with and learn computational and coding approaches is necessary, given the strong practical focus of the summer school.

Synchronization is one of the fundamental phenomena in complex systems and nonlinear dynamics. There are a large number of systems where synchronization is an important effect and we shall focus on two of them:

a) Mobile systems: the emergence of coordinated movement in space and time without an apparent controller.

b) The Janus-faced nature of synchronization in brain dynamics, or how synchronization impairs and drives the brain, and the importance of physics for the prediction of epileptic seizures.

The school will cover:

– A general introduction to synchronization phenomena;
– Systems where spatial and temporal synchronization occur simultaneously, as observed in sperm cells, starfish embryos and swarmalators in general;
– Introduction to epilepsy and seizure dynamics;
– Seizure prediction methods: Modern nonlinear models for the detection and forecasting of dynamical transitions from time series; challenges and opportunities for more efficient data analysis.

The event will also include a workshop on the weekend of February 8-9 covering current research in the field.

This school is part of the Topics in Nonlinear Science: Fundamentals and Applications.

There is no registration fee and limited funds are available for travel and local expenses.

Organizers:

• Marcus Aguiar (UNICAMP, Brazil)
• Hilda A. Cerdeira (IFT-UNESP, Brazil)
• Mario Chavez (Sorbonne University, France)
• Albert Diaz Guilera (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain)
• Klaus Lehnertz (University of Bonn, Germany)