Join us in Wellington, New Zealand for the Capital City Complex Systems Symposium, 24-25 February 2026.
Understanding complex systems: Theory, practice and impact
Nau mai haere mai ki tēnei hui!
The Capital City Complex Systems Symposium 2026 will explore cutting-edge knowledge of complex systems and complexity, and how this knowledge is being used to better understand systems and drive system change. It will be held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, during summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Ka mihi mātou ki ngā mana whenua o tēnei takiwā, ki a Taranaki whānui, me ngā hapū, iwi iwi katoa kua tau i kōnei, me ō rātou mahi whakahirahira, mahi tiaki i ngā taonga o ēnei whenua.
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, is the capital city of Aotearoa New Zealand. Māori have lived in Te Whanganui a Tara for 800 years. We acknowledge Taranaki whānui, and all the peoples who have lived here, and their close relationship with the lands and waters.
The theme for the conference is ‘Understanding complex systems: Theory, practice and impact’.
Following the success of previous symposia in 2023 and 2024, this event will continue to foster interdisciplinary, cross-sector and cross-society collaboration in complex systems thinking, research and action. In 2026, the symposium will integrate the latest insights from complex systems science with the pressing concerns facing communities, businesses, and policymakers today. A particular focus will be how complexity science has evolved and how it is informing contemporary actions and solutions for prosperous, resilient, equitable and democratic societies – amid growing global challenges.
The symposium will explore complexity through a rich interdisciplinary lens, bringing together philosophical and epistemological perspectives alongside practical insights from fields including artificial intelligence, infrastructure, health, education, climate, and the environment, and cutting-edge insights from Māori and local communities. Attendees will engage with understandings of complexity, examine innovative methods and tools for working within complex systems, and discuss the implications for public policy, governance, leadership and Indigenous system change.
This inclusive, supportive event is essential for anyone interested in understanding the trajectory and practical applications of complex systems knowledge — including researchers, leaders, policymakers, innovators, changemakers, practitioners, and students. Whether you’re deeply experienced in complex systems research or newly curious about its potential, the symposium will provide valuable insights, networking opportunities, and inspiration.
The Capital City Complex Systems Symposium 2026 will take place on 24–25 February 2026 at the Tiakiwai Conference Centre, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington.
Carl Bergstrom
Carl Bergstrom is a professor of biology at the University of Washington. Though trained in mathematical evolutionary biology, Carl addresses a broad range of problems across natural and social sciences with a unifying theme of how information flows. Within biology, Carl studies problems such as how communication evolves and how natural selection puts information into the genome. In the philosophy and sociology of science, he studies how the incentives created by scientific institutions shape scholars’ research strategies and, in turn, our scientific understanding of the world. In network science, he explores how to extract the relevant information from massive networks comprising tens of millions of nodes, and how information flows through networks of this scale. Most recently he has started to focus on how social media and large language models facilitate the spread of disinformation, with a particular focus on what we as educators can do to stem this accursed tide.
Diane Finegood
Diane Finegood is a professor and fellow at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. She is an internationally recognised scholar with work in a range of disciplines including pathogenesis diabetes, application of mathematical modelling to physiological systems, cross sector partnership, knowledge mobilisation, and systems thinking. Diane’s current passion is for the application of systems thinking and dialogue to address complex problems across a broad range of topics, with a particular focus on health systems and public health. Twenty years of thinking and learning about approaches that embrace complexity led to her build the Complex Systems Frameworks Collection alongside illustrator Sam Bradd.
Brian Castellani
Brian Castellani is a scientist–artist, Director of the Research Methods Centre and Co-Director of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Durham University, UK. He is also Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry (Northeastern Ohio Medical University, US); Visiting Professor, Nelson Mandela University (South Africa); and a Fellow of the UK National Academy of Social Sciences. Brian also runs InSPIRE, a UK policy and research consortium for mitigating the impact places have on air quality, dementia and brain health across the life course and is Co-investigator of the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus. Trained as a health sociologist, clinical psychologist, methodologist, and artist, he is co-author of The Atlas of Social Complexity, which sets out his case-based complexity approach. He applies this framework – through computational modelling, mixed methods, and the visual arts – to topics in public policy, environmental health, inequality, and the lived realities of navigating today’s complex systems.
To be announced.
To be announced.
Organising committee
- Associate Professor Anna Matheson (co-chair)
- Michael Howden (co-chair)
- Dr Lisa Pilkington
- Dr Bernardo Buarque
- Zainab Rizvi
- Jonathan Burgess (production and communications)
- Shreya Rao (operations)
To be announced.
Programme committee
To be announced.