IIASA Summer School for Systems Modeling 2025: raising a new generation of promising scientists and leaders

“The Summer School for Systems Modeling has three main objectives,” explains Fabian Wagner, IIASA Capacity Development and Academic Training Dean. “The participants not only get to study and try out different modeling methodologies such as agent-based modeling or network analysis, they also learn about the best practices of modeling. Finally, we want participants to experience working on a self-defined research project in an international environment, exactly as they would if they were actual IIASA researchers.”  

During the summer school, IIASA researchers deliver comprehensive guidance on the development and application of mathematical and computer models. This includes addressing uncertainties in data and processes, exploring potential solutions, and identifying viable options for future action. Many of the examples presented are drawn from IIASA’s portfolio of tools and methodologies, ranging from ecological models, socioeconomic systems, and integrated assessment frameworks related to energy, air, water, biodiversity, and food systems.

“My current research focuses on the water-energy-food nexus and I would like to use systems analysis as part my work on agriculture in Pakistan,” says Kashif Nazir Qureshi, postdoctoral fellow at Lahore University of Management Sciences who came all the way from Pakistan to participate in the course. “Attending this summer school was an enriching experience for me, enabling me to engage with renowned researchers and fellow participants from around the world while engaging in hands-on exercises, modeling work and collaborative discussions. The interdisciplinary nature of this summer school has really helped me strengthen my knowledge and gain a better idea of how to use systems science in my own work.”

As part of the two-week course, participants attended a series of lectures on a range of topics during the first week.  IIASA principal research scholar Brian Fath delivered an introductory session on systems thinking and systems analysis. Senior researcher Susanne Hanger-Kopp introduced key concepts, principles, and methods related to transdisciplinary research design. Additionally, Program Director Elena Rovenskaya of the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program, led a session on major approaches to modeling complex socio-environmental systems, including their epistemological foundations, opportunities, limitations and best practices in modeling (including sensitivity analysis and model validation). Participants also engaged in discussions about how different research questions and societal challenges necessitate tailored modeling approaches.

“My ambition to learn more about multiscale modeling approaches and network with top authorities in the industry is what inspired me to enroll in the summer school,” says Shabeen Fatima, who studied bioinformatics at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. “This experience was very useful, it gave me an opportunity to meet and collaborate with world-class researchers, but most importantly, it also gave me clarity with regard to relating my research questions to systems modeling and system dynamics.”

Toward the end of the first week, nine parallel sessions were held to delve deeper into specific modeling approaches and different aspects of modeling, including optimization, network analysis, agent-based modeling, complex systems, systems dynamics, game theory and formalizing fairness in decision-making models. The sessions were led by IIASA researchers Celian Colon, Brian Fath, Sibel Eker, Nikolay Khabarov, Mathias Wildemeersch, and Elliott Woodhouse. In addition, two sessions were led by Nina Fefferman — professor at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, US, Director of the National Institute for Modeling of Biological Systems, and former IIASA Peter de Jánosi Visiting Fellow, who participated as a guest lecturer.

“This experience was extremely useful as it really broadens one’s perspective of modeling approaches and their use in general, as well as their role in shaping the real world and our everyday reality,” says Bernhard Wortmann, a PhD candidate at Forschungszentrum Jülich in the Institute of Jülich Systems Analysis.

At the end of the first week, participants self-organized into five teams to use their second week to focus on the real-world challenge of negotiating among different stakeholders to define and advance research questions that serve everyone’s interest well. Team research topics included:

• Alternative Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs);
• Bridging Models and Policy – Understanding What Drives Impact;
• Considering Justice in Carbon Tax Revenue Reallocation;
• Sparing is Caring? On Modeling Land Use Allocation in IAMs;
• The Urban Dynamics of Decarbonization: A Comparative Study of Cities.

Participants addressed the challenges associated with diverse training backgrounds, cultures, priorities, and skill levels among their team members, gaining valuable experience in utilizing systems modeling as an effective collaborative tool beyond its role in advancing scientific understanding. The program concluded with participants delivering a presentation on their group work.

"My primary area of work is sustainable food systems and I use system dynamics modeling as a tool,” says Ruchira Goyal, who works as a program associate at the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water in India. "This summer school has been most useful — it allowed me to exchange knowledge with peers and experienced experts from all over the world. It also helped me to expand my toolkit of different modeling methods, which I am keen to apply in my future work.”

Upon completion of the course, participants are equipped with the necessary skills to design and implement models as well as critically evaluate the modeling approaches used by others. To learn more, please check the IIASA Summer Schools website for updates on upcoming opportunities.