Takayuki Hiraoka

Complex Systems Scientist / Network Scientist

Postdoc at Aalto University

photo by Yu Saito

I am a complex systems scientist, working mainly in the field of network science. My current research focuses on:

However, I'm interested in many other things! In the past, I have worked on: 

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University in Finland.

What is complex systems? What is network science?

Complex systems broadly refer to the systems in which the interaction between many elements leads to the emergence of unexpected collective behaviors. Examples can be found in every corner of our lives on every scale: human societies, cells, brains, organisms, ecosystems, evolution, epidemics, languages, culture and norms, mobility and migration, information and communication systems, cities and transportation systems, infrastructure, democracy and politics, market and economic systems, climate and earthquakes—so yes, pretty much anything that is difficult to model from first principles. As a complex systems researcher, I prefer to look for commonalities and connections between these seemingly unrelated areas rather than studying each one in isolation.

Network science is the collection of studies that models systems as networks—a mathematical object consisting of nodes and links. The nodes represent the components of the system, and the links represent how they interact with each other. This simplification and abstraction allows us to focus on how elements are connected and what the connection patterns mean for the behavior of the system. Although a relatively new discipline, network science has become a cornerstone of complex systems research because it provides a powerful toolkit for studying diverse systems. 

Updates