University-Wide Inaugural Lecture - Newly appointed professors in focus
Table of contents
The university-wide inaugural lecture introduces newly appointed professors of outstanding strategic importance for TUD's research profile.
Visit the event in Fritz-Foerster-Building, auditorium 244, always on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 4:40 pm during the lecture period. The informal get-together following each lecture offers the opportunity for individual discussions.
Upcoming lecture by Prof. Dr. Dirk Brockmann
Chair of Biology of Complex Systems
Faculty: Biology
Co-Sponsor: Center Synergy of Systems (SynoSys) at TUD Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences (CIDS)
Dirk Brockmann is director of the Center Synergy of Systems (SynoSys) at TU Dresden and professor at the Departments of Biology and Physics there since October 2023. He studied physics and mathematics at the University of Göttingen, Germany where he received his PhD in theoretical physics.
Before becoming founding director of SynoSys he was professor at the Departments of Biology and Physics at Humboldt University of Berlin and led a research team at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. Between 2008 and 2013 he was professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University and faculty member of the Northwestern University Institute on Complex Systems.
He pioneered the analysis of mass data obtained in natural experiments and understanding human behavior based on data collected by digital devices. During the COVID-19 pandemic he launched the German Data Donation Project, in which more than 500,000 donors provided data collected on their smart-watches and wearable devices on a daily basis for more than 2,5 years, the largest dataset of this kind in public hands.
In 2017 Dirk launched the Complexity Explorables (www.complexity-explorables.org), a collection of web-based interactive models of famous and less famous complex systems to illustrate the beauty of complex dynamical phenomena and teach young students about these systems.
Personal information
Prof. Dr. Dirk Brockmann
Director
Center Synergy of Systems (SynoSys) &
Chair Biology of Complex Systems, Faculty of Biology,
TUD Dresden University of Biology &
Project-Group Epidemiological Modelling of Infectious Diseases
Robert Koch-Institute, Berlin
Scientific interest
The Center Synergy of Systems (SynoSys) focuses on the development of large-scale computational models for disease dynamics with a strong emphasis on the integration of network theoretic techniques and data-driven modeling for the description and prediction of disease dynamics on large geographical scales. SynoSys is highly active in the new research domain of digital epidemiology, the analysis of mass data on human behavior, e.g. the analysis of large scale, high-resolution contact networks, high-resolution, mass mobility data and mass data of physiological data obtained by wearable devices. SynoSys has a strong scientific focus on complex network science and its applications to social sciences, collective behavior in humans and animal populations. The group integrates
methods of computational science, network science and data analytics with applications on the interface of natural sciences, social sciences and medical sciences.
Scientific career path
- 2023-present Director of the Center Synergy of Systems (SynoSys), TUD Dresden University of Techology, Dresden
- 2023-present Professor (W3) for Biology of Complex Systems, Faculty of Biology, TUD Dresden University of Technology
- 2013-2023 Professor (W2) for Computational Epidemiology, Humboldt-Universitä t zu Berlin and Robert Koch-Institut Berlin
- 2009-2013 Affiliate Faculty Member, Transportation Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA
- 2008-2013 Faculty Member, Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems, Northwestern University, IL, USA
- 2008-2013 Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Sciences & Applied Mathematics, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, IL, USA
- 2006-2007 Group Leader, Complex Dynamics Group, Department of Nonlinear Dynamics, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Gö ttingen, Germany
Selected publications
- Hufnagel L, Brockmann D, Geisel T. Forecast and control of epidemics in a globalized world. PNAS. 2004 Oct 19;101(42):15124–9.
- Brockmann D, Hufnagel L, Geisel T. The scaling laws of human travel. Nature. 2006 Jan;439(7075):462–5.
- Belik V, Geisel T, Brockmann D. Natural Human Mobility Patterns and Spatial Spread of Infectious Diseases. Phys Rev X. 2011 Aug 8;1(1):011001.
- Brockmann D, Helbing D. The Hidden Geometry of Complex, Network-Driven Contagion Phenomena. Science. 2013 Dec 13;342(6164):1337–42.
- Helbing D, Brockmann D, Chadefaux T, Donnay K, Blanke U, Woolley-Meza O, et al. Saving Human Lives: What Complexity Science and Information Systems can Contribute. J Stat Phys. 2015 Feb 1;158(3):735–81.
- Maier BF, Brockmann D. Effective containment explains subexponential growth in recent confirmed COVID-19 cases in China. Science. 2020 May 15;368(6492):742–6.
- Schlosser F, Maier BF, Jack O, Hinrichs D, Zachariae A, Brockmann D. COVID-19 lockdown induces disease-mitigating structural changes in mobility networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2020 Dec 29;117(52):32883–90.
- Burdinski A, Brockmann D, Maier BF. Understanding the impact of digital contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLOS Digital Health. 2022 Jun 12;1(12):e0000149.
Grants and Funding
- CD21 – Corona Datenspende 2021 – The corona data donation project – Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) PI
- C19-LDM - COVID-19 Lockdown-Monitor - Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) PI
- KIRA – Development of novel concepts for rapid and optimized antibiotica supply in a bio-terrorism attackk scenario – Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), PI
- EpiSensDTU – Quantitative analysis of effective factors in affirmative vaccination decisions in the context off vaccine preventable infectious diseases based on large-scale participatory experiments. – Federal Ministry of Health – PI
- I2RA – Interactice rapid risk assessment for estimating the import risk of Ebola cases based on the worldwide air-transportation networks. Federal Ministry of Health – PI
- EBOKON – The German Ebola Consortium - Federal Ministry of Health – Partner Bioinvasion and Epidemic Spread in Complex Transportation Networks II, - Volkswagen Foundation - PI
- NU-PSOC Physical Sciences-Oncology Center, National Cancer Institute, co-PI
- EPIWORK - Developing the framework for an epidemic forecast infrastructure - Large- Scale Integrating Project (IP) under the Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Commission-Partner
Awards and Prizes
- 2013 Associate Student Government Faculty Honor Role, Northwestern University 2012 Annual Cole-Higgins Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Advising ($ 3000), Northwestern University
- 2010 Young Scientist Award, Physics of Socio-Economic Systems Division, German Physical Society
- 2010 Winner of the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, National Science Foundation & American Association for the Advancement of Science
- 2009 Associate Student Government Faculty Honor Role, Northwestern University
Introducing Prof. Dirk Brockmann © TUD
Details
The University-Wide Inaugural Lecture "Doing Science Like a Fungus – Complexity Research in the 21st Century" by Prof. Dr. Dirk Brockmann will take place on:
February 6, 2025
4:40 pm – 6:10 pm (6th double period)
FOE/244, Fritz-Foerster Building, Mommsenstrasse 6, 01069 Dresden
The lecture and subsequent discussion will be held in English.
Afterwards, there will be time for an informal get-together.
Upcoming lectures
More events for 2025 will follow shortly.
Past Events
You can find a review of the events of recent years on our website “Past events”.
About the University-wide inaugural lecture
Newly appointed professors who are renowned for their outstanding research work and international reputation are choosing to move to TU Dresden. The areas of research pursued by our new members are interdisciplinary in nature.
Internationally visible, newly appointed professors working in strategically relevant research areas make a decisive contribution to the development of our university. Therefore, TU Dresden welcomes enthusiastic individuals who increase the attractiveness of Dresden as a science hub and whose numerous activities connect TUD and DRESDEN-concept partners across the city.
University-wide inaugural lectures are hosted in consultation with the appointing faculties and associated institutions. More information (Intern)