ALIFE & SOCIETY

ALife & Society is an initiative of members of the ALife community interested in addressing current planetary pressing problems from a complex systems perspective, and a diversity of methods from computer simulations to beyond academics participatory strategies, engaged with society in its widest sense.

Our mission is to create a space for the community to explore and take action in how ALife can benefit society by engaging with societal, ecological, and planetary challenges.

We host the ALife & Society Seminar Series once per month (Monday, PM UTC) where we welcome (informal) presentations and discourse about any work related to this goal in any capacity. Some of our previous topics have included: using various modeling/simulation techniques to fight covid-19, modelling artificial bees for better decision-making in agriculture, discussions on the future of "universities", best practices for open science for ALifers, permaculture & synthetic ecology, and UK nature restoration strategies.

We also welcome interested researchers and practitioners to be part of the ALife & Society Working Group. The aim of this group is for members to take a more active role in engaging with these "wicked" problems: leveraging ALife's unique blend of methods, tools, and researcher skillsets to collaborate with on-the-ground practitioners and stakeholders looking to address these societal, ecological, and planetary challenges.

ALife & Society also has a chair on the International Society of ALife (ISAL) Board: the Societal Impact Chair (Dr. Peter Lewis) and we regularly host a Special Session at the annual ALife Conference. Click here for details of our 2023 Special Session.

If you would like to be added to our Seminar Series and/or Working Group or are interested in giving a talk, please contact us.