QMUL Centre for Complex Systems News

Study by Anna Maltsev and collaborators on the cover of Circulation Research

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 23:00:00 +0100

A recent article by Anna Maltsev, Reader in Applied Probability in the Centre for Complex Systems, and colleagues at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore (Maryland, USA) was featured on the cover of Circulation Research. Circulation Research is a prestigious medical journal published by the American Heart Association, covering research on the cardiovascular system. The study by Anna Maltsev and collaborators is entitled "Cardiac Pacemaker Cells Harness Stochastic Resonance to Avoid Sinus Arrest". It explores how the heart's natural pacemaker (the sinoatrial node) keeps beating reliably even when its individual cells are noisy, irregular, or barely active. The researchers found that noise can help pacemaker cells stay active via stochastic resonance, whereby a certain amount of random fluctuation makes weak signals easier to detect and act on. Experiments in rabbit pacemaker cells, mouse heart tissue, and computer models showed that adding noise could restart inactive cells and make slow, irregular firing more rhythmic, especially when heart rate was very low. The effect depended on interactions between electrical activity and calcium signaling inside the cells, and may be particularly important during conditions that slow the heart, such as strong parasympathetic activity, aging, or certain rhythm disorders. Overall, the findings suggest that innate randomness is not simply a problem for the heart's pacemaker system. It may be an important built-in safeguard against the heartbeat stopping altogether. Link to the original research article: A. Okamura, I. K. He, A. V. Maltsev, R. Bychkov, S. Tagirova, M. Wang, Anna V. Maltsev, Michael D. Stern, Edward G. Lakatta, and Victor A. Maltsev, "Cardiac Pacemaker Cells Harness Stochastic Resonance to Avoid Sinus Arrest," Circulation Research 139, e328905 (2026).

What is the two-dimensional shadow of a four-dimensional fractal?

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0100

Ian Morris, Reader in Mathematics in the Centre for Complex Systems, and Çağrı Sert from the University of Warwick, have found a remarkable generalisation of a landmark result about self-affine fractals to their projections or "shadows". Their study, entitled Projections of self-affine fractals, was published in the highly prestigious journal Inventiones Mathematicae. Broadly speaking, a fractal is a geometric shape of infinite detail. As one zooms in, finer and finer structures emerge, which are often similar to the shape's appearance at larger scales. The most familiar examples are self-similar sets, such as the Sierpiński triangle, the Menger sponge and the von Koch snowflake. An important characteristic that quantifies the complexity or "roughness" of a fractal is its dimension. By definition, every self-similar set is the union of finitely many re-scaled and re-oriented copies of itself. When these smaller copies do not substantially overlap one another, the dimension of the fractal satisfies a well-known formula found by J.E. Hutchinson in 1981. Much less well understood, and a topic of active research, is the class of self-affine sets. These are sets which are equal to the union of finitely many linearly distorted copies of themselves. Probably the best-known example of a self-affine set is the Barnsley fern. In their breakthrough study, Morris and Sert characterise the dimension of projections of high-dimensional self-affine fractals onto lower-dimensional spaces. For example, they ask for the dimension of the shadow cast by a four-dimensional fractal on different two-dimensional spaces. The dimension of this shadow can vary depending on the angle, just like for ordinary objects: A coin has a one-dimensional shadow when viewed edge-on, but has a two-dimensional shadow when seen from other directions. Morris and Sert find that self-affine fractals in high-dimensional spaces can cast unexpectedly small shadows. Their work also has connections with dynamical systems and additive combinatorics, showing that observations of chaotic dynamical systems can follow statistical limit laws which are surprisingly unevenly distributed, and that self-affine fractals can have unexpectedly small sumsets. Link to the original research article: I. D. Morris and C. Sert, Projections of self-affine fractals, Invent. math. (2026)

Professor Ginestra Bianconi awarded John Templeton Foundation grant to advance the Gravity from ...

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 23:00:00 +0100

Professor Ginestra Bianconi, Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Centre for Complex Systems, has been awarded a three-year, £323,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation to develop Gravity from Entropy. This new theoretical framework seeks to uncover the microscopic nature of gravity and bridge the long-standing divide between general relativity and quantum mechanics. Gravity from Entropy, recently introduced by Professor Bianconi in Physical Review D, proposes a fundamentally new view of gravity emerging from principles of statistical mechanics and information theory. At its core is a novel action based on the geometric quantum relative entropy between the physical spacetime metric and the metric induced by matter and curvature, providing a microscopic statistical foundation for gravitational dynamics. The new project will further develop this framework through three interconnected research objectives. The first is to investigate the cosmological implications of Gravity from Entropy by exploring how its modified gravitational equations affect the evolution of the Universe, cosmic acceleration and the possible resolution of cosmological singularities. The second is to extend the theory to include Dirac fields, enabling Gravity from Entropy to describe the spin-½ particles that make up ordinary matter. The final objective is to formulate the theory in a second quantization, laying the mathematical foundations for a fully quantum description of gravity. By bringing together general relativity, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and information theory within a single mathematical framework, the project addresses one of the most fundamental open questions in physics. Along the way, it is expected to generate new mathematical methods for understanding quantum geometry and spacetime while providing new avenues for theoretical and experimental tests of gravity. Professor Ginestra Bianconi said: "Understanding the microscopic origin of gravity remains one of the greatest challenges in fundamental physics. This project will explore whether gravity can be understood as an emergent phenomenon rooted in information theory and statistical mechanics, opening a new route towards a quantum theory of gravity."

Summer research internships for undergraduate students

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 23:00:00 +0100

Ten talented undergraduate students from across a wide range of Science and Engineering programmes are embarking on exciting summer research internships under the mentorship of academic supervisors. This fantastic opportunity has been made possible through the QMUL Summer Training Research Initiative to Support Diversity and Equality (STRIDE) and the London Mathematical Society's Undergraduate Research Bursaries (URB) scheme. Spanning the full breadth of Science and Engineering, these diverse and innovative projects offer students a unique chance to explore research, develop new skills, and gain first-hand experience of academic discovery. We hope the programme will inspire the next generation of researchers and ignite a lasting passion for scientific inquiry. Below, you can find the full list of projects, students, and supervisors taking part in this year's programme. Zahra Ibrahim Ahmed Yusuf: An inclusive approach to measuring depression in neurodivergent young adults from diverse backgrounds (supervisor Giorgia Michelini) Tahran Tinnin Motlib-Siddiqui: Bioelectronic Sensors for Lanthanides (supervisor Lin Su) Radoslaw Bukowiński: LoRa-Based Satellite Ground Station Development and Link Analysis using the TinyGS Network (supervisor Fatma Benkhelifa) Mohammed Rizwan Miah: Offshore Aquaculture Renewables (supervisor Eldad Avital) Elsie Chidera Obiako: Developing AI tools for image-based diagnosis (supervisor Shaheer U Saeed) Amina Abulrahim Montalto: Domestic Water Recycling (supervisor Eldad Avital) Nursen Adiba Chowdhury: Synthesis, Fabrication and Characterization of Novel Antiferroelectric Materials (supervisor Giuseppe Viola) Ivet Lobo: Combinatorial search algorithms- AI and Machine Learning vs Integer Optimization (supervisor Thomas Prellberg) Zishan Xu: Higher order hyperbolic problems with singularities (LMS URB, supervisor Claudia Garetto) Oliver Leo Carter: Matroids that maximase a valuative invariant (LMS URB, supervisors Alex Fink and Mark Jerrum)

Impactful foundational work on network dynamics highlighted in Physical Review E

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 23:00:00 +0100

A work from 2004 by Vito Latora, Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Centre for Complex Systems, and two co-authors has been selected for a collection of highly influential papers on statistical and nonlinear physics published in Physical Review E (PRE). The selection identifies 35 works from the journal's 33-year history that were foundational for their respective research fields. "Model for cascading failures in complex systems" by Paolo Crucitti, Vito Latora, and Massimo Marchiori was one of three publications chosen for shaping the field of Network Dynamics, where researchers aim to understand how signals evolve in time across complex networks. Examples include data transfer over the internet or the flow of electrical energy across power grids. The work by Vito and colleagues, which has received over 1500 citations to date according to Google Scholar, was among the first to develop models for identifying where such networks are vulnerable to overloads or targeted attacks and how resulting node failures propagate through the system. These insights are crucial for devising countermeasures and improving the resilience of critical infrastructure. At the time of publication in 2004, Vito had recently taken up his first permanent position as a lecturer at the University of Catania and also taught at the newly founded Scuola Superiore di Catania. The study's first author, Paolo Crucitti, was a Computer Engineering student at said school of excellence and one of the first master's students supervised by Vito. The third author, Massimo Marchiori, was a former colleague of Vito's from his time as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT. Vito describes it as an exciting and productive time and explains: "I am particularly grateful to the Scuola Superiore for the support and freedom they gave us in pursuing bold and uncertain research ideas." He highlights that it was the combination of Paolo's novel modeling ideas and his own experience in the previously largely disconnected fields of dynamics and network structure which made this transformative, foundational work possible. More broadly, the work also contributed to the formation of a "lab of complexity" at the Scuola Superiore, of which Vito became the Director in 2008, serving this role until he joined Queen Mary University of London as a full professor in 2012. Link to the full collection of influential works from Physical Review E: Over 30 years of Statistical and Nonlinear Physics in Physical Review E Link to the original research article: Paolo Crucitti, Vito Latora, and Massimo Marchiori, "Model for cascading failures in complex systems," Phys. Rev. E 69, 045104 (2004)

12 May: International Women in Mathematics Day

Sun, 10 May 2026 23:00:00 +0100

International Women in Mathematics Day is celebrated on 12 May, marking the birthday of Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to receive the Fields Medal in 2014. Born in Iran, Mirzakhani made groundbreaking contributions to mathematics before her life was cut short at a young age. Her legacy continues to inspire women and underrepresented groups in mathematics worldwide. This International Women in Mathematics Day we spotlight the research profile of two female colleagues in the School of Mathematical Sciences: Professor Ginestra Bianconi and Dr Miriam Norris. Ginestra Bianconi is Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Centre for Complex Systems. She is Fellow of the American Physical Society and member of the European Academy of Sciences for her work on statistical mechanics . In 2025, she was awarded the Euler Prize by the Network Science Society for her pioneering contributions revealing the interplay between the topology of networks and their dynamics. She is the author of the monograph Higher-Order Networks: An Introduction to Simplicial Complexes (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Her current research focuses on the establishing the deep mathematical relation between geometry, topology, and dynamics on higher-order networks. She uses algebraic topology to define the dynamical state of simplicial complexes, revealing new collective phenomena relevant to complex systems and theoretical physics. Over the past five years, she has promoted the use of the Topological Dirac operator to characterize the interplay between topology, geometry, and dynamics, and to explore its role in theoretical physics and dynamical systems. More recently, she has opened a new research direction in quantum gravity with the formulation of the Gravity from Entropy (GfE) approach which proposes an entropic action from gravity. You can read about this work here. Miriam Norris is a senior Heilbronn Research Fellow in the Centre for Combinatorics Algebra and Number Theory. Miriam's research is devoted to representation theory in the intersection between algebra and number theory. She is currently working with Dr Shu Sasaki on aspects of representation theory involved in the Langlands programme. Miriam returned to London from a postdoc in Manchester in October 2025 having done her PhD within the London School of Geometry and Number Theory. Outside of maths she really enjoys hiking and cycling around the city, particularly over London's bridges!

Three centre members in top 100 UK researchers rankings

Sun, 10 May 2026 23:00:00 +0100

Three researchers of the Centre for Complex Systems (CCS) have been ranked among the Top 100 UK Scientists in their respective disciplines by Research.com in its 2026 evaluation. The assessment is based on bibliometric data and impact measures. Christian Beck, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Head of the CCS, was ranked 64th in Mathematics. His research focuses on data-driven analysis and stochastic modelling of complex systems with applications to real-world problems like sustainable energy systems, power grids, and air pollution. Vito Latora, Professor of Applied Mathematics and CCS Deputy Head, and Ginestra Bianconi, Professor of Applied Mathematics, were ranked 19th and 80th, respectively, in Engineering & Technology. Vito Latora investigates complex networks of interacting dynamical units, with applications ranging from social to biological systems. Ginestra Bianconi explores the interplay between geometry, topology and dynamics on complex networks, including applications in statistical mechanics and gravity theory.

Prestigious ecology prize awarded to former Queen Mary postdoc

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 23:00:00 +0100

Benjamin Schäfer, who was a postdoctoral researcher in the Centre for Complex Systems between 2019 and 2021 working with Professor Christian Beck, will receive the prestigious 2026 Ecology Prize of the Viktor & Sigrid Dulger Foundation, awarded by the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The prize recognises outstanding achievements by young researchers based in the German state of Baden-Württemberg who develop solutions for ecological problems. The Heidelberg Academy particularly highlights Benjamins research towards building stable and resilient power grids by combining physical modelling and transparent, explainable AI methods. An important contribution was a study on data-driven load profiles and residential electricity consumption, which originated from his time at QMUL and was published in Nature Communications in 2022. Benjamin currently holds a tenure-track professorship at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and leads the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group "Data-Driven Analysis of Complex Systems" (DRACOS). Link to original press release (in German): https://www.hadw-bw.de/sites/default/files/2026-04/PM_Akademiepreise-2026.pdf

Resolution of long-standing conjecture about dynamical systems published in Inventiones Mathematicae

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

A team of researchers including Oliver Jenkinson, Professor of Mathematics in the Centre for Complex Systems, has recently published a breakthrough study in the highly renowned journal Inventiones Mathematicae. The paper, entitled Typical periodic optimization for dynamical systems: symbolic dynamics by Wen Huang, Oliver Jenkinson, Leiye Xu and Yiwei Zhang, addresses a foundational question in the field of ergodic optimization: In a complex system with great diversity of dynamical behaviour, what is the "best" or most efficient state in the sense that it maximizes some reward or utility function? The study resolves long-standing questions that date back to the 1990s, tackling the conjecture that for a "typical" or generic reward function, the optimizing behaviour should be a simple, repeating cycle - a periodic orbit. While this Typical Periodic Optimization Conjecture has been a central focus of the community for decades, providing a rigorous mathematical proof for broad classes of systems has remained an elusive challenge. By using techniques from symbolic dynamics, where complex motion is represented by sequences of symbols, the authors demonstrate that periodic optimization is indeed the rule rather than the exception. The work extends these results to a wide variety of systems, including those with so-called sofic structure. As well as providing a definitive answer to conjectures from thirty years ago, this insight also offers new tools for understanding how simple structures can emerge as the typical optimal state of highly complex, chaotic systems. Link to the original research article: W. Huang, O. Jenkinson, L. Xu and Y. Zhang, Typical periodic optimization for dynamical systems: symbolic dynamics, Invent. math. (2026)

ISPF grant funding for an international and interdisciplinary research project on air pollution ...

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

A group of researchers from QMUL's Centre for Complex Systems (CCS, School of Mathematical Sciences) and the Centre for Genomics and Child Health (CGCH, Blizard Institute) have received £25,000 from UKRI Research England (internally administered by QMUL) for an interdisciplinary project on the dynamics of air pollution through the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF). The project is led by Christian Beck (Professor of Applied Mathematics, CCS) and Jonathan Grigg (Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine, CGCH) and will expand existing collaborations with partners in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo) and South Africa (Stellenbosch). According to WHO estimates, outdoor air pollution causes more than 4 million deaths annually worldwide and affects the most vulnerable groups in big cities of low- and middle-income countries most severely. Joining the expertise of mathematical modellers, medical practitioners, and environmental engineers, the project explores the spread of pollutants and their effects on human health. Eventually, the researchers will develop local air pollution forecasts and risk estimates of extreme events to facilitate mitigation strategies. The project enables an interdisciplinary cross-faculty collaboration between the Faculty of Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at QMUL. Particular emphasis will be on the analysis of the tails of the measured air pollution concentrations, examining both high-pollution and low-pollution events, as well as on the medical consequences of inhaling small carbon particles.

New study proposes an information theory framework for mining higher-order triadic interactions ...

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Triadic interactions—higher-order interactions in which one node regulates the interaction between two others—are widespread in complex systems, from gene-regulatory and metabolic networks to neuroscience and climate. For example, the presence or absence of an enzyme can affect the reactivity between two chemicals. Likewise, in the brain, glia cells can regulate synaptic connections between two neurons. Yet, despite their importance, methods for detecting such interactions directly from dynamical data have been largely absent. In a new study published in Nature Communications, an international team of scientists led by Ginestra Bianconi, Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Centre for Complex Systems (CCS, QMUL), propose a new information-theory framework for mining triadic interactions in real-world biological systems. The authors first introduce the Triadic Perceptron Model, which captures the dynamics that arise in the presence of triadic interactions. By demonstrating that triadic interactions generate a distinct dynamical signature detectable through the proposed information-theoretic framework, the model lays the foundation for the authors' development of the Triadic Interaction Mining (TRIM) algorithm. The wide applicability of this algorithm to real-world scenarios is demonstrated by identifying new candidate triadic interactions relevant to Acute Myeloid Leukaemia from gene-expression data. Marta Niedostatek, the CCS PhD student who is joint first author of this study, together with a former CCS postdoc Anthony Baptista, states: "Triadic interactions are often overlooked in the study of complex systems, yet they are ubiquitous. Detecting their presence enhances our understanding of complex biological dynamics and can open new perspectives across different scientific domains." Given the ubiquity and importance of triadic interactions in complex systems, these new methods promise exciting opportunities for detecting such connections from real-world data and exploiting this knowledge to understand and control systems across various domains including biology, neuroscience, and climate. Link to the original research article: M. Niedostatek et al., Mining higher-order triadic interactions, Nat. Commun. 16, 11613 (2025)

Adrian Baule wins EPSRC funding to investigate theoretical foundations of AI media generators

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Council (EPSRC) has awarded an £84,036 research grant for exploring Metastability in generative diffusion models to Adrian Baule, Reader in Applied Mathematics in the Centre for Complex Systems. The project will target the foundations of AI image, audio, and video generators such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Sora. The underlying technology of such AI media generators is a generative diffusion model (GDM), which starts from random content and iteratively transforms it into structured data. Despite impressive practical results, the mechanism behind the success of GDMs is still poorly understood. Drawing on analogies with physical diffusion processes, the project aims to improve our understanding using tools from statistical physics. In particular, it will focus on metastability, a key ingredient for many physical, chemical, and biological phenomena. The insights are expected to enhance the performance of GDMs and help building more explainable, controllable, and responsible generative AI tools. Image source: NVIDIA blog "Improving Diffusion Models as an Alternative To GANs, Part 2"

Workshop on Aperiodic Order at MFO (Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach)

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Together with colleagues from the US and Germany, Reem Yassawi, senior lecturer in the Centre for Complex Systems, has applied successfully to host a workshop at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach (MFO, Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics). MFO workshops are prestigious gatherings of small groups of invited experts, who spend a week with talks and discussions to share recent results and novel methods and to initiate new collaborations. The present workshop will take place in April 2027 and bring together 53 researchers from 15 countries and various scientific backgrounds, united by their interest in Aperiodic Order. Systems exhibiting aperiodic order display some regularity, but without repeating patterns. Examples of this phenomenon are quasicrystals and Penrose tilings. Their study builds on methods from harmonic analysis, dynamical systems, and spectral theory, among others. Besides experts from these research areas, the participants will also include scholars from other fields with recently discovered connections to aperiodic order.

Weini Huang invited to give the prestigious 2025 LMS Mary Cartwright lecture

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 23:00:00 +0100

Dr Weini Huang, a reader in the Centre for Complex Systems, will be the 2025 LMS Mary Cartwright lecturer. The Mary Cartwright Lecture is an annual event organised by the London Mathematical Society to celebrate the achievements of distinguished women mathematicians The event was established by the LMS in 2000 and is named after Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright, the first female mathematician FRS, the first woman to receive the Sylvester Medal, the first woman to receive the LMS De Morgan Prize and the first female President of the LMS. Dr Huang is the first QMUL academic to give this prestigious lecture. The lecture will take place online on November 7. More details here.