CeBER will host the 1st edition of the course on Non-Equilibrium Social Systems and Multi-layer Phenomena: Unveiling the Key-Drivers Through Stochastic Processes and Complex Network Analysis that will be lectured by Professor Harvey Spencer Sánchez-Restrepo (Researcher National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City). It will be held on the Faculty of Economics, Coimbra University from 17th of February to 25th of February.
The course aims to introduce and explain various frameworks for understanding multi-level phenomena, as well as their theoretical and conceptual foundations. As the attendees take ownership of the concepts, different educational results coming from large-scale evaluation datasets are presented, emphasising the analysis of the emergence of order and control parameters in diverse levels or scales (multi-layer phenomena), a milestone in empirical analysis techniques.
During the course, two powerful tools are presented: stochastic processes and complex networks. At this point, attendees understand why deterministic equations are, always, a particular case of stochastic models, and that social network analysis is a collection of quantitative methods for comparing and measuring relationships among individuals connected among them by any directed or undirected relationship, deepening their skills to choose broader and more rigorous approaches for modelling complex phenomena, as well as for identifying and understanding how random events’ impact on social systems through empirical analysis.
The final section addresses key issues in the economics of education, including learning poverty, structural inequality, and social mobility, with a particular focus on their relationship to socioeconomic status and the novel concept of learning deprivation. It prepares attendees for a critical discussion on the advantages and limitations of evidence-based policy in devising practical solutions to complex, high-level problems in social contexts.
The course is free of charge but the registration is mandatory on : https://ls.uc.pt/index.php/679291?lang=en . We encourage interested individuals to register as soon as possible to secure their spot in the program, as the class will have a the maximum capacity of 30 participants.
Save the date
The registration will be open untill 12nd of February.
Save the date
The registration will be open untill 12nd of February.
Program
| 1. Non-Equilibrium Social Systems | To introduce crucial concepts and background on constructs and concepts fundamental to the empirical analysis of structural inequality of learning deprivation |
| 2. Multi-layer Phenomena | To present the concept of multi-layer phenomena, as well as the most common categories for studying dynamics at distinct levels of complex systems, providing an appropriate formalism for developing phenomenological models from data, and the adjustment or update of classical or deterministic models. |
| 3. Empirical analysis | To provide review concepts and tools relying on estimation strategies adopted to exploit variation in observational data and evidence-based management, as well as highlighting sensitive aspects during the identification of the causal effects of policy |
| 4.Learning Deprivation | To analyse the foundations of large-scale learning assessments, what they measure, how they relate to the deterministic model for learning poverty and how they were rescaled to a stochastic framework with stronger measurement properties for estimating absolute and relative learning deprivation. |
| 5.Structural inequality | To estimate and discuss the importance of family and community background for identifying characteristics that might explain the resemblance or variations in learning outcomes and educational achievement, as well as the association with socioeconomic status (SES). |
| 6. Social mobility | To examine associated factors related to learning outcomes such as students, family, and schools’ characteristics, as well as educational and non-educational factors, to highlight how educational preferences and expectations have an active role in explaining learning deprivation at lower levels of learning and socioeconomic status. |
Learning Objectives and Intended Skills
At the end of the course, participants are expected to master the concepts of disequilibrium and the main constructs used to model complex systems, as well as obtain information and knowledge from data from large-scale evaluations and apply new conceptual and practical tools to identify and characterise some non-trivial properties, trends and patterns that are present in large data sets and that lead to the emergence of properties only observable at higher order scales.
Qualification Requirements and Regulations
Rules of creation and operation of non-degree courses at the University of Coimbra.
Model of Study/ Duration
Face-to-face/10 hours – 2 hours per day.
The course will occur on the following days: 17, 18 ; 19 ; 24 and 25th of February, from 17:00 to 19:00 pm.
For any questions, send your email to Professor Ernesto Nieto Carrillo : enietoc@fe.uc.pt