To maximize the benefits of having experienced researchers from US institutions visiting IIASA as part of the Peter de Jánosi Fellowship, the current fellow was selected to train the next generation of young scientists as part of the first IIASA Summer School for Systems Modeling. IIASA Science writer, Vladimir Tarakanov, sat down with Nina Fefferman to get her first impressions of the Institute.

This year, IIASA made an important decision to capitalize on the training opportunities it provides for young scientists. For the first time ever, in addition to the Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), young professionals also gathered at the Institute as part of the IIASA Summer Schools. Among these is the Summer School for Systems Modeling, co-led by Nina Fefferman — a professor from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, US, and Director of the National Institute for Modeling of Biological Systems.

“My current research interests are primarily focused on self-organizing adaptive complex systems. These can be computers or organizational architecture, human social systems, or evolution of biological traits,” explains Fefferman. “I like to study anything where the individual rules are well described, but the interactions among the participants using those rules are complicated, difficult to predict, and can lead to very different emergent outcomes.”

Currently, Fefferman is visiting IIASA as part of the 2024 Peter de Jánosi Fellowship. “Although I am very keen to continue my own research projects, I am also very excited to spend these two weeks training a new cohort of young students and researchers here at IIASA,” she says. “I am very honored to receive this fellowship. It enabled me to travel and be here for the entire duration of the Summer School to connect with the participants, as well as with IIASA scientists.”

The Summer School co-led by Nina is a two-week course designed for master’s and PhD students, as well as post-doctoral researchers who wish to use or develop models broadly related to the sustainability agenda. Despite being only two weeks long, this course focused primarily on Systems Modeling, is expected to provide the educational value of an entire semester. It is open to newcomers, as well as young professionals who are already familiar with modeling and would like to deepen their understanding by working on group mock-up research projects of their own choice.

“We seek to help the participants not just advance their skill set, but also the mindset of how to engage, how to be part of a global community of researchers that does not simply advance academic knowledge, but also fosters real-world change through the power of applied systems analysis.”

This year, the Summer School for Systems Modeling brought together 30 students, representing 16 countries, split into six groups, each working on their own group project. The participants are unconstrained by a particular pre-selected topic or sphere and are encouraged to pursue their own research interests using IIASA’s portfolio of tools and methods, ranging from ecological models and socioeconomic systems to integrated assessment tools for energy, air, water, biodiversity, and food.

The Peter de Jánosi Postdoctoral Fellowship

The fellowship was established by IIASA in honor of Peter de Jánosi, who, as director of the Institute from 1990 to 1996, guided its transition from being a bridge between East and West during the Cold War to its current role as a center for objective, multinational, interdisciplinary analysis of global change.

The Fellowship is awarded to outstanding researchers and practitioners from US institutions to facilitate US participation in IIASA’s global research programs and to support extended research visits by De Jánosi Visiting Fellows to IIASA for exchanges with IIASA-based researchers. It is facilitated by Friends of IIASA.

The recipients of the Fellowship must pursue a research focus that is in line with Institute’s research agenda. Preference is shown to candidates whose work is directly relevant to public and private sector decision makers and managers.

The Peter de Jánosi Visiting Fellowship is funded from the proceeds of a development campaign by IIASA and Friends of IIASA in 2011-2013, which raised one million dollars to memorialize the contributions of Peter de Jánosi to IIASA.

“It helps IIASA immensely to have these fellowships as they have a leveraging effect and show the tremendous effect that funding beyond membership can have,” said Fabian Wagner, Dean of Capacity Development and Academic Training Unit (CDAT) and Principal Research Scholar in the Energy, Climate and Environment Program (ECE).

Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the IIASA blog, nor of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.