How do systems change through time in response to environments that are not fully predictable? Researchers across the biological and social sciences have tackled this question using a variety of theories, models, and measurement tools designed to capture adaptations across different systems, time scales, and levels of analysis. The resulting diversity of approaches offers substantial promise for advancing understanding of adaptive processes. At the same time, meaningful integration across approaches and disciplines can be challenging, as different frameworks prioritize distinct aspects of adaptation and necessarily simplify others to develop tractable ways to address this complex topic.
This symposium seeks to to explore productive points of connection and contrast across disciplines by bringing together researchers across psychology, neuroscience, biological anthropology, ecology, epidemiology, and education to engage with a shared set of questions:
By highlighting advances and gaps in theory development, model testing, measurement innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration, the meeting aims to foster cross-disciplinary dialogue and to chart pathways toward frameworks that more fully reflect the complexity and adaptiveness of how systems respond to unpredictable environments.
| 09:00 | Arrival and coffee |
| 09:30 | Welcome and introductions: Yuko Munakata |
| 09:40 | Willem Frankenhuis: Bridging timescales in unpredictability research |
| 10:00 | Marjolein Bruijning: The evolution of phenotypic variance |
| 10:20 | Nicole Walasek and Stefan Vermeent: Measuring the Unpredictable: Subjective and Objective Approaches to Environmental Variability |
| 10:45 | Break with refreshments |
| 11:10 | Harm Krugers: Stress and adaptation |
| 11:30 | Aniko Korosi: Nutritional strategies to counteract the early-life adversity-induced impact on cognitive functions |
| 11:50 | Break |
| 12:00 | Discussion in small groups and share out moderated by Seth Pollak |
| 12:30 | Lunch provided |
| 13:30 | Recap of morning themes by Willem Frankenhuis |
| 13:40 | Seth Pollak: Unpredictability and Child Development |
| 14:00 | Yuko Munakata: How children adapt to unpredictability in the moment and across developmental trajectories |
| 14:20 | Break |
| 14:45 | Anne-Laura van Harmelen: Resilience after adversity, it is complex. |
| 15:05 | Wouter van den Bos: Developmental Changes in Exploration Trade-offs Across Adolescence |
| 15:25 |
Discussion in small groups and share out: Moderated by Nicole Walasek and Stefan Vermeent |
| 15:55 | Closing |
| 16:00 | Drinks and bites |
| 17:00 | End |
Yuko Munakata is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis and an IAS Research Fellow September 2025-February 2026.
Willem Frankenhuis is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Psychobiology at the University of Amsterdam and a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law.