Note: Although we are principally open to students from all academic fields related to our interdisciplinary research 
area, students from a field that routinely applies mathematical modelling and analysis and computer simulations will find it much easier to meet the requirements for successful work on these topics.
Note: please send all requests on student research projects at copan to both Jobst Heitzig and Jonathan Donges (i.e. CC both in emails)!
Project topics include:
- Complex social-ecological systems dynamics
- Development and analysis of network models of interacting agents applied to problems of climate change mitigation, sustainability transformations, decarbonization, forms of social tipping dynamics etc.
- Modelling of the World-Earth system in the Anthropocene
- Dynamics of climate and social tipping elements and their interactions in the Earth system
- Development of theoretical frameworks and quantitative measures of concepts such as social-ecological resilience, agency, responsibility etc.
Methods applied include:
- Complex systems theory
- Network theory
- Dynamical systems and nonlinear dynamics
- Statistical physics
- Earth system modelling
- Climate physics
- Game theory
- Machine learning and artificial intelligence
Check here for successfully completed Bachelor, Master and PhD theses completed at COPAN.
