Dr James Dyke

Interests: agent-based computing, artificial life, astrobiology, complexity science, cybernetics, earth system science, ecology, ecosystem services, evolution, major evolutionary transitions, thermodynamics

After my batchelor's degree in Philosophy at UNL I worked in industry in a number of technical then consulting roles. During this period I spent a few years traveling and working in Asia. A MSc in Evolutionary & Adaptive Systems at the University of Sussex led onto a doctorate there within the Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics. My thesis centered on the analysis of co-evolutionary models such as Daisyworld and under what conditions these systems exhibit stability and homeostasis. I then spent two years at the Max Planck Insititute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany, working as a research scientist in the Biospheric Theory and Modelling Group. I applied some non-equilibrium thermodynamic theory to Earth system models in order to begin to assess how the emergence and evolution of life on Earth has affected the planetary system. In August 2011 I joined the Science and Engineering of Natural Systems group, which at the time was being merged into the Agents Interaction and Complexity Group.

I am currently developing a new multidisciplinary undergraduate module that will examine a number of major issues in the Earth system. To find out more: www.globalchallenges.soton.ac.uk

My blog can be found here.

DPhil "The Daisyworld Control System", Centre for Computational Neuroscience & Robotics, University of Sussex, 2009

MSc Evolutionary & Adaptive Systems, University of Sussex, 2004

BA(hons) Philosophy, University of North London, 1995