Conference Concept

The characteristics and uses of models differ widely across the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. These diverse roles of models in theory and empirical research remain a major challenge to interdisciplinary collaboration.

 

The planned conference aims to collect and compare modelling practices across disciplines and to explore answers to the following questions:

• What is the concept of a model in the respective discipline?
• Are there models of change, and, if so, how are they developed?
• How is their performance assessed?
• How are models communicated?
• Can models be transferred between the sciences and humanities?

The conference will be organized in three sections, all addressing a specific challenge of modelling in an interdisciplinary context:

Section 1: The use of models in the natural and social sciences

The section wants to explore whether different fields in the natural and social sciences share a common understanding of models. The question is what the nature and role of generalizations are in the natural sciences on the one hand and in the social sciences on the other. The section seeks to compare the ways of how theoretical goals such as explanation and understanding are pursued in the natural and social sciences.

Section 2: Models of change

The section will focus in particular on models of change. We will ask how change is modeled in the natural sciences and the humanities, for example, in models of social change, conceptual models, mathematical models, or computer simulations. In particular, we will look at how transfer is possible or takes place via models of change and whether we can find a common theoretical ground for models, such as evolution, not only across subjects but also across disciplines.

Section 3: Modelling processes of change under uncertainty

The section discusses advances of research on uncertainty that focus on the modeling and analysis of different ways of navigating uncertainty in processes of change. It will delve into new approaches allowing to develop a better understanding of modern society and social change in general. The overarching research question is: What are the effects of dealing with uncertainty in society or on societies and how can different ways of dealing with uncertainty be modelled?
 

The conference addresses an interdisciplinary audience and talks will be accessible to scholars from all disciplines. In order to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange, all contributors will provide a definition and explanation of the term “model” as it is used in their research.

The goal is to clarify the use of models across disciplines and to extract similarities and differences in order to pave the way for more fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration.