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Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)

What happens at IAS

We regularly host and organise events to spark ideas, exchange knowledge, facilitate networking and create new research partnerships. Events at the IAS are typically small-scale in an almost 'homely' ambiance, offering researchers a haven to ponder, debate and reflect. Find an overview of our events on our events page. 

Updates about our community can be found on our news page. Subscribe to our Newsflash newsletter and stay informed about IAS news, events and opportunities. Past editions of the newsletter are available in our Newsflash archive.

Every day at IAS is themed and hosts a different research group.

Research groups at IAS

Approaching societal, scientific, or policy problems from a complexity perspective requires joining forces from different fields, in terms of methods, concepts, theoretical frameworks, and data. At IAS we therefore host 5 different research groups that are working on a specific thematic day during the week. If you are interested in working with one of the groups at IAS, please contact the coordinator of the group. 

Monday

Population-Scale Social Network (POPNET)
POPNET is a novel digital infrastructure and research community with the aim of unlocking longitudinal social network data on the entire population of the Netherlands for academic research purposes. It enables new exciting research in an anonymized as well as ethically and legally responsible manner. This research may lead to actionable insights into key issues including segregation, substantive social change, and UN sustainable development goals such as reducing inequality.
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For inquiries
Tuesday

AI, Media & Democracy Lab
The AI, Media & Democracy Lab, which has been awarded ELSA status by the Dutch AI Coalition, work together with journalists, media professionals, designers, citizens, fellow researchers and public and societal partners, to investigate the impact of AI on the democratic functions of the media. The researchers develop and test value-driven, human-centric AI applications, as well as ethical and legal frameworks for the responsible use of AI.
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Coordinator: Sara Spaargaren
Wednesday

Centre for Urban Mental Health
The Centre for Urban Mental Health aims to unravel new pathways to improve urban mental health that take into account the complexities and dynamics of mental health problems and mental health disorders in an urban environment. State-of-the art complexity science is used as a backbone to understand and intervene upon the complexities and dynamics of mental health problems in an urban environment, with special attention to common mental health problems and common mental health disorders. They focus on common mental health conditions (depressive, anxiety and substance use disorders) and aim to understand why and when some groups or individuals thrive in an urban setting, whereas other individuals are vulnerable and develop mental problems.
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Coordinator: Ludo Westerveld
Thursday Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP)
The Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) is an interdisciplinary research centre across fundamental sciences with the purpose of furthering the understanding of emergent phenomena. Its goal is to create an interdisciplinary research programme that covers subjects such information theory, topological phases of matter, multiscale modelling, networks, complex systems, emergence of causality, non-equilibrium systems, collective intelligence, among many others.
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Coordinator: Jácome Armas
Friday

COMbatting CRIMes that undermine democracy and the rule of law in a comprehensive and smart manner (COMCRIM)
COMCRIM is an interdisciplinary research project conducted by an international public-private research consortium into crimes that undermine democracy and the rule of law in and via the Netherlands. Over 28 scholars from more than nine disciplines jointly examine the systemic factors of organized crime. Public and private partners collaborate to detect such crime in unconventional data sources such as banking records, follow the money and discern criminal networks, patterns, and effects.
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Coordinator: Betsabé Vasquez Martinez

Personal Microbiome Health
Starting in September 2022, IAS has become the host of the new METAHEALTH concortium (funded by NWA-ORC) to investigate health in a microbial, sociocultural and care context in the first 1000 days of life. It brings together expertise on the oral and gut microbiome with expertise in public health, social and behavioral sciences, and complexity and data science in order to advance cutting-edge research in the complex field of microbiome science.
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Coordinator: Martha Florencia