CALL FOR PAPERS: 4th International Conference on Complexity And Policy Studies (CAPS 2020) — May 18-20, 2020 — Washington, DC DEADLINE: February 15, 2020

February 07, 2020

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BRINGING RESEARCHERS AND PRACTITIONERS TOGETHER TO ADVANCE SOCIAL GOOD IN A COMPLEX WORLD -- CAPS 2020 is the 4th International Conference on Complexity and Policy Studies. The single track cross-disciplinary conference is organized by the Complex Systems Institute of the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. It is a cross-disciplinary conference that brings together researchers and practitioners to explore the application of insights from the study of complex systems to public policy with a special emphasis on social good. The conference gives practitioners and researchers the opportunity to learn from each other, explore collaborations, and connect with like-minded people.

We live in a world undergoing a rapid series of transformations and crises, and policy has not kept pace with these changes. In large measure, the failure of policy is due to an inherited cognitive framework that is ill-suited to an increasingly complex world. Disciplinary boundaries that do not map well to the world's problems aggravate the mismatch. As a consequence, institutions are ill-equipped to manage emergent and often disruptive processes. This has negative consequences on the lives of individuals, their communities, and the Earth's ecosystem. Although policymakers and other leaders are slowly paying more attention to these consequences, the principles that sshould drive policy formation, inform implementation methods, and investigate the diverse impacts of interventions on heterogeneous populations remain unclear. Moreover, fruitful interaction between disciplines is rare even though talk of the need for interdisciplinarity is widespread. Complex systems studies, because of their focus on adaptive systems, interactions, and nonlinearity offer a framework for advances in these areas. Furthermore, the cross-disciplinary nature of complex systems studies holds promise for a better alignment of the globus intellectualis and the world's problems.

The Complexity and Policy Studies (CAPS) Conference offers a forum to explore the potential of complex systems approaches in the policy sphere. In a space that fosters interaction and collaboration it brings together researchers and practitioners who incorporate or who do want to incorporate complex systems thinking into their research and practice. Drawing on complex systems thinking participants can ask questions, share their experiences and insights, reflect on their understandings, and conceive of joint projects.

The 2020 CAPS Conference seeks submissions from practitioners, policy makers, and researchers that address all aspects of complexity and policy. Submissions can be short summaries of real-world projects, traditional research papers, case studies, or exploratory pieces that open new avenues. This year, the conference particularly welcomes submissions that touch upon issues of equity and gaps in access to basic needs or technologies. For example:

How can analytical techniques that embrace complexity illuminate the heterogeneous impacts of policy?
How can policy making be improved by understandings derived from complexity studies?
How can we use our emerging understanding of complexity, human action, and adaptive social systems to the benefit of individuals, societies, and all of humankind?
How can knowing more about the complexity that shapes our personal relations, collective action, and the sustainability of social institutions lead to healthier lives and increased well-being?
When and how exactly do complex systems approaches outperform traditional approaches?
Can complex systems approaches help to identify root causes of inequity and point to levers that avoid future exacerbation?

Ongoing, non-linear interactions between a diverse set of participants in a policy-focused coworking space will be at the center of the conference experience. The organizers hope for the emergence of unpredictable and desirable system-wide patterns.

Organized by the UNC Charlotte Complex Systems Institute READ MORE

PAPER AND CASE STUDY SUBMISSIONS

The conference accepts two kinds of submissions at the intersection of complex systems studies and public policy:

academic papers (full papers in pdf format of roughly 5000 words) or posters (described in an extended abstract of roughly 500 words) that either
- present original research (theoretical or field) or
- describe and analyze real-world cases or
- reflect on the current state of research
project summaries by practitioners as either presentations or posters (short summaries in pdf format of roughly 500 words) that
- outline a project where complex systems approaches were successfully used or
- outline a project that used traditional approaches and ran into insurmountable problems that might be amenable to complex systems approaches

If submissions are accepted authors will be asked to give a 15 minute presentation on their papers or project summaries or present the poster in a special session. Furthermore, if requested by the authors, accepted papers and abstracts can undergo an additional review process and be published in a special issue of the Journal on Policy and Complex Systems. Both full papers and short abstracts should be submitted through EasyChair. Please make sure to register for the conference on our website in addition to the paper submission.

Potential topics for submissions include, but are not limited to:

Access to Education; Access to Healthcare; Civil Society; Conflict Resolution & Cooperation; Coupled Human-Natural Systems; Diffusion of Innovations; Digital Divide; Digital Humanities; Dynamic Human Behavior; Dynamics of Trust & Reputation; Ecological Footprint; Economic Development; Economic Mobility; Evolutionary Dynamics; Group Decisions & Collective Behaviors; Justice and Fairness; Model Replication; Poverty; Public Policy; Retirement; Simulation Software & Computational Frameworks; Smart Cities; Socio-Economic & Financial Networks; Social Media; Social Norms; Social Networks; Sustainability; Verification & Validation

The submission deadline is February 15, 2020.

WORKSHOPS

The organizers will consider the possibility of 1-2 short workshops (1-2 hours each) on specific topics. These can be short workshops that take place during the conference or long half-day workshops that can take place before or after the conference. If you are interested in organizing a workshop, please e-mail your contact information, workshop title, and workshop description to info@caps-conference.org.

IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES

Paper submission opens: January 1, 2020

Paper submission closes: February 15, 2020

Workshop proposal: February 15, 2020

Notification to authors: March 30, 2020

Early registration: April 15, 2020 READ MORE