Zuse Research Seminar

The Zuse Research Seminar serves as an internal interdisciplinary forum for researchers at the Zuse Institute in Berlin. The seminar includes about five talks each semester, held every three weeks during lecture time. Talks are given by researchers from the institute and aim to showcase their department's work to all institute members in an accessible way.

The format. Talks are plenary-style and last 45 minutes, plus time for questions. They follow the 15:15:15 rule: the first 15 minutes provide an accessible field overview; the next 15 go deeper but into the research are stay broadly understandable; the final 15 focus more closely on the speaker's own research. Active discussion and questions are encouraged as the seminar aims to not only disseminate knowledge but also inspire fresh perspectives and potential research avenues across disciplines at the institute.

When and where. Talks are usually scheduled Wednesdays from 11:30 to 12:30. Coffee and some light refreshments will be available in the lobby starting at 11:00. The venue is the institute's large lecture hall.

Dec 11 at 11:30

Christof Schütte MSCP

The few and the many

The talk will give a short introduction to complex dynamics of interacting systems of individual units that can be particles (molecules, …),  or agents (individual humans, media agents, …). We are interested in systems with at least two types of such units, one type of which just a “few” individual units are present and another type of which there are “many”. For such systems we will review mathematical models on different levels: from the micro-level in which all particles/agents are described individually to the macro-level where the “many” are modelled in an aggregated way. The effective dynamics given by these models will be illustrated by examples from cellular systems (neurotransmission processes) and opinion dynamics in social networks.  You will be able to follow the talk even if you do not have any detailed knowledge about particles/agents or cellular/social processes (at least I hope).

Note that this talk takes place outside of the regular schedule on a Monday .