MIR@W Day Disordered Systems

This MIR@W day will focus on disordered systems as a unifying theme across disciplines, spanning problems from molecular and materials science to astrophysical networks. The aim is to foster dialogue around the common mathematical structures, dynamical phenomena, and modelling challenges that emerge in such systems, thus developing and/or strengthening genuinely interdisciplinary connections across different departments at Warwick.

Organiser: Prof. Gabriele C. Sosso

Date: June 12^th, 2026

Location: MB0.07Link opens in a new window

Registration form: TBC

Who should attend?: The event is open to any member of the academic staff at Warwick, notwithstanding their Department. One of the aims of the event is to foster dialogue, and possibly collaboration, across a diverse portfolio of scientists working on systems in which disorder, complex interactions, and collective behaviour play a central role. We therefore warmly welcome anyone interested in disordered systems, complex networks, and emergent phenomena, including researchers working on glassy materials, soft and active matter, microbial and ecological communities, neural and social networks, transport systems, large-scale astrophysical structures and more.

Programme

When	What
11:00 - 12:00	Lunch
12:00 - 12:10	Welcome
12:10 - 12:40	Scott Habershon
12:40 - 13:10	Michael Faulkner - Advanced Monte Carlo simulation for disordered systems: dealing with ordering and clustering en route to relaxation
13:10 - 13:40	Gareth Alexander
13:40 - 14:00	Coffee Break - I
14:00 - 14:30	Susana Gomes - Modelling and control of opinion dynamics on evolving networks
14:30 - 15:00	Timothy Saunders
15:00 - 15:30	Lukas Eigentler - Can we predict desertification in patterned semi-arid plant ecosystems?
15:30 - 15:50	Coffee Break - II
15:50 - 16:20	Albane Thery
16:20 - 16:50	Daniel Bayliss
16:50 - 17:30	Discussion
17:30 - ?	(@Varsity) Follow-up, i.e., drinks

Talk titles and abstracts:

• Lukas Eigentler - Can we predict desertification in patterned semi-arid plant ecosystems?

  Banded vegetation patterns are a common feature of drylands. The ability to self-organise into alternating stripes of vegetated and bare soil areas is thought to be a resilience mechanism that prevents catastrophic tipping of dryland plant ecosystems. In this talk, I will provide an overview of how mathematical modelling and analysis can be used to predict how banded vegetation bands respond to environmental changes, particularly focussing on climate-change-induced desertification processes.

• Susana Gomes - Modelling and control of opinion dynamics on evolving networks

The field of opinion dynamics has recently seen a large interest from the mathematics community, both from modelling and control perspectives. Most works focus on the Hegselmann-Krause model, a bounded confidence model that assumes everyone can communicate with everyone else as long as their opinions are close enough. Typical results focus on analysing whether the system achieves consensus, and control strategies aim to steer a population towards consensus (or make it so more quickly) by using controls that act directly on agents. These models can be made more realistic if one introduces a social network that constrains communication between agents and if the controls are restricted. In this talk, I will present some recent results from my group on models for opinion dynamics that include co-evolving networks (i.e. a dynamical system where the underlying network evolves at the same time as, and influenced by, the individuals' opinions) and how to use the network evolution to control the overall system. If time permits, I will also show our work on one-to-one Boltzmann-type interactions with different types of agents who can lie to steer the system, and how this can be optimised to achieve consensus.

Join (in person): Please feel this short registration form (TBC)

Outcome: This event seeks to connect people working in seemingly unrelated disciplines under the methodological umbrellas that underpin the study of disordered systems. There is a growing ambition to cultivate these connections across the different Departments and Faculties at Warwick, chiefly to fuel genuine scientific curiosity and interdisciplinary work, but also with an eye toward leveraging joint funding opportunities in the near future.

Discussion prompts (to guide the open discussion): TBC