Biocomplexity is the study of macro-scale complex structures and behaviours that arise from micro-scale interactions of active biological agents, across multiple levels ranging from molecules and cells to organisms and ecosystems. The key concepts and features include emergence, self-organisation, feedbacks, nonlinearity, sensitivity to initial conditions, critical dynamics, resilience, as well as adaptation and evolution. The workshop brings together professionals from both academia and industry, interested in complex systems and life sciences. Several areas will be of special interest: computational epidemiology, health and bio-security, computational neuroscience, cognitive modelling, swarm intelligence and active matter.

09:25 – 09:30 Introduction

09:30 – 10:30 Keynote: Tania Sorrell, University of Sydney, "Antimicrobial resistance and ecosystems: a multiscale perspective"

10:30 – 11:00 break

11:00 – 11:30 Vitali Sintchenko, University of Sydney, "Dynamics of pathogen populations and disease control"

11:30 – 12:00 Oliver Cliff, University of Sydney, "Tracing the evolution of non-typhoidal Salmonella: Is a new superbug emerging?"

12:00 – 12:30 Rosalind X. Wang, CSIRO, "Gas chromatography – mass spectrometry data processing with deep learning"

12:30 – 1:30 break

1:30 – 2:30 Keynote: Daniel Polani , University of Hertfordshire, "Bit from It: the emergence of information from the structure of the world"

2:30 – 3:00 Hsin-Hao Yu, IBM Research Australia, "Artificial Intelligence and the Eye: a window into health"

3:00 – 3:30 Shlomo Berkovsky, Macquarie University, "Detecting personality traits using еye-tracking data"

3:30 – 4:00 break

4:00 – 4:30 Charlotte Sweeney, Vaxxas, "Vaxxas and Pandemic Disease Modelling"

4:30 – 5:00 Mikhail Prokopenko, University of Sydney, "Urbanisation, mobility and pandemic trends: 28 weeks later..."

5:00 – 5:30 Cameron Zachreson, University of Sydney, "Simulating the next influenza pandemic: how will we respond?"

Keynotes:

Prof Tania C Sorrell AM, FAHMS, Payne-Scott Professor

University of Sydney, Director Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity

Deputy Head University of Sydney School of Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Health

Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Group leader, Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology

Western Sydney Local Health District, Service Director, Infectious Diseases and Sexual Health

Australia

Prof Daniel Polani, Professor of Artificial Intelligence

President of the RoboCup Federation (2017-2019)

Director of the Centre for Computer Science and Informatics Research (CCSIR)

Head of the Adaptive Systems Research Group

School of Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

United Kingdom

Entropy journal runs a special issue on the topic, aligned with this workshop:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy/special_issues/Biocomplexity

For more information please contact:

Mikhail Prokopenko

mikhail.prokopenko@sydney.edu.au