Complex systems

Anticipate, control and manage the complexity of the unexpected

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What is it?

Complex systems are composed of large numbers of diverse interacting parts that can be prone to unexpected and often disruptive dynamics. Small changes can generate large, amplified effects.

What roles are there in complex systems?

Smart cities, infrastructure and ecosystems are complex systems, susceptible to abrupt, large-scale, disruptive dynamics. Those working with complex systems model, analyse and design strategies for crisis forecasting and management.

For example, a single malfunction in a local substation can lead to cascading state-wide electricity grid failures, or the emergence of a new pathogen in a remote village can give rise to a devastating global epidemic.

They are tasked with modelling, analysing and designing resilient strategies for crisis forecasting and management in technological, socioeconomic and socioecological systems. You can apply these skills to a wide range of industries.

What careers could you have?

  • Design efficient buildings using the latest technologies, work on water purification and sanitation in developing countries, help people travel safely and quickly, or plan the next amusement park.
  • Apply technical skills, including mathematics and physics, to identify and solve engineering problems, such as accurately determining how much weight can be safely distributed throughout a bridge.
  • Help farming communities in developing nations by planning, implementing and maintaining important infrastructure, such as irrigation systems for crop harvesting.
  • Become an aid worker, construction manager, humanitarian architect, sustainability specialist, town planner, geotechnical consultant or senior structural engineer, among many other careers,
  • Work in the construction, mining, agriculture, coastal and marine, transport or public health sectors.

Why study complex systems with us?

  • Our Master of Complex Systems is the only degree of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and designed to develop your skills in quantitative modelling and computational simulation of system dynamics.
  • It is ideal for those graduates wanting to pursue a career at a major multinational research and development company, government and crisis management agencies, or large health, construction and transport organisation.
  • You can tailor your learning by leveraging the strengths of the Centre for Complex Systems as well as the ongoing complex systems and social network analysis research being undertaken by the Faculty of Engineering.

The degree provided me with a new perspective on how to approach things and an analytical mindset to question the underlying properties which leads to observed phenomena.

Sooraj Sekhar

Master of Complex Systems

Studying in the Master of Complex Systems has honed my existing skills in a more formal and technical way, and expanded my understanding of how to ask questions and approach problems in data.

Natasha Astalosh

Mastser of Complex Systems