POLDER: Unravelling complexity @ IAS Festival
Future Challenges session organised by POLDER, as part of the IAS Festival.
In this session, POLDER explores how we can consolidate insights from Complexity Science and prioritise which methods and tools to improve to get more actionable information into decisions. You will hear about the new labs, methodology development, and education that POLDER has stimulated in recent years.
In complex societal challenges, decisions often fail because reality contains feedback loops, delays, and nonlinearities, but also an array of goals and competing values. Consequently, we underestimate the side effects of interventions, miss tipping points, and struggle to measure progress or communicate uncertainty. Complex Systems theory helps us reason through this, but we can do more.
POLDER supports policymakers and stakeholders in navigating complex societal challenges by combining participatory processes with computational modelling and scenario exploration to improve decision quality under uncertainty.
Session programme: (14:00-16:00)
- Welcome & framing (20min)
Short introduction to POLDER’s place within IAS (history and mission), and how POLDER connects research, education, and policy practice. - Lightning talks (30min)
Short talks to ground the discussion in concrete approaches, examples, and collaborations. - Keynote (45min)
Keynote on the intersection of complexity science and policy/decision support. - Roundtable & audience discussion (25min)
A moderated roundtable with panelists (research, education, policy/practice, community building) focusing on future challenges, including “from models to uptake”, “who decides for whom?”, “uncertainty without paralysis,” and community building.
About the IAS Festival: Celebrating 10 years of the UvA Institute for Advanced Study
From 18 to 21 May 2026, the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Advanced Study celebrates its 10th anniversary with the IAS Festival: a week-long programme dedicated to reflection, exchange and forward-looking dialogue. The festival marks a decade of boundary-crossing interdisciplinary research while exploring the complex questions that will shape the years to come.
Read more about the IAS festival on the IAS website.