Schedule

NetPLACE Seminars are held every two weeks through Zoom, usually on Thursday at 16:00 UK Time (ZOOM LINK) unless otherwise specified.  Check the list of upcoming talks below for more details. Each session consists of one talk, focusing on different areas of complex systems and networks, and a following discussion on some difficulty or problem involving our research or PhD life. Each seminar is about an hour long in total, during which questions and related discussion is highly encouraged and promoted

The seminars are held by graduate or postgraduate students and the aim is to share with other early researchers interesting results and facts from their field of interest at a nontechnical level. Therefore, an advanced knowledge of a the topic is not required to attend the seminars.  

If you are interested please do not hesitate to join the next meeting and to tell your friends/colleagues. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter to keep updated!

NetPLACE Seminars start again in October 2024. Fill in our form if you want to give a talk and join the discussion!

Check out our past talks!

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(#41) Amahury Jafet Lopez Diaz - 28th Nov, 2024 @ 4pm UK Time
State University of New York (Binghamton, USA)

Zoom link

RESEARCH TALK
Networks of chemical automata as a solution to programmability in unconventional computing

Abstract:  Nowadays, artificial intelligence uses a significant amount of energy, and its consumption is expected to increase in the coming years. In the face of the climate change crisis, this is problematic. It is, therefore, necessary to find sustainable alternatives that allow us to both reduce energy expenditure and increase computational power. Unconventional computing architectures are excellent candidates for this task, as they can often operate with orders of magnitude less energy than traditional computing systems. Despite the wide variety of substrates that can be used in unconventional computing, it remains difficult to elucidate a programmable unconventional structure to date. Recently, it has been shown that there is a parallelism between certain chemical reactions and different types of abstract automata. In this study I propose the use of chemical automata networks (called “chemical circuits” in my research) in order to solve the programmability problem in unconventional computing. Our results provide information on the computational efficiency produced by the interconnection of the chemical reactions used as components, showing a clear preference for strong synergistic interactions in both the deterministic and stochastic cases.

DISCUSSION
How to survive lack of motivation in academia

Abstract: Between grant deadlines, reviewer comments and lack of job opportunities, nowadays it is a challenge to stay motivated when doing research. For me passion is a very important factor when working long hours in the lab and with this discussion I intend to question the forum on how passionate they are about their research topics. While it is true that it is often necessary to make sacrifices in order to obtain funding, it is also true that senior researchers should promote the ideas of their students. Taking the above problem as inspiration, I will put on the table three strategies that from my perspective could be of great help to keep us motivated when doing research.

(#42) Francesco Bertolotti - 12th Dec, 2024 @ 4pm UK Time
LIUC Business University (Castellanza, Italy)

Zoom link

RESEARCH TALK
TBA

Abstract:  TBA

DISCUSSION
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Abstract: TBA