The information below is subject to change as the course is still being developed. The information will be made definite in June 2026.
How do (socio)ecological systems respond to various human-driven pressures? This course introduces students to System thinking through mathematical modelling and computer programming as tools to understand (socio)ecological systems. The course will provide a theoretical basis to understand and apply different approaches to model complex systems, i.e., empirical vs mechanistic and deterministic vs stochastic modelling approaches. Examples of commonly employed (socio)ecological models in sustainability and global environmental change assessments will be used to discuss and understand the implications of different type of approaches. Basic concepts of system boundaries and feedbacks will be introduced as the students learn to view (socio)ecological systems and sustainable societies as adaptive-complex systems. The systems will be explored by programming and modelling in Python. Basic programming concepts will be introduced ad-hoc for this course to provide students with necessary tools to implement and run basic numerical models (e.g., variables data types, lists, for loops, functions, etc.).