21st Century Science Initiative
Studying Complex Systems
The Complex Systems program supports scholarship and research directed toward the development of theoretical and mathematical tools that can be applied to the study of complex, adaptive, nonlinear systems. It is anticipated that research funded in this program will address issues in fields such as biology, biodiversity, climate, demography, epidemiology, technological change, economic development, governance, or computation. JSMF supports research in the brain sciences through its topical program Understanding Human Cognition. The Foundation recommends that researchers in the neurosciences not submit proposals to the Complex Systems RFA. Typically, such proposals are unsuccessful. While the program's emphasis is on the development and application of the theory and tools used in the study of complex research questions and not on particular fields of research per se, JSMF is particularly interested in projects attempting to apply complex systems approaches to coherently articulated questions. Proposals intending to apply complex system tools and models to problems where such approaches are not yet considered usual or mainstream are appropriate to the RFA.