Employing dynamical systems modeling to understand complex phenomena: from interacting bistable systems to football drills

I have been working to understand complex phenomena in social sciences and biology utilizing dynamical systems models. In this seminar, I will talk about two projects. The first one is rather theoretically motivated, while the second is empirically motivated, aiming at data assimilation. The first topic is our research on a system of interacting bistable elements, which have been employed in studies on epilepsy, ecosystems, and climate change. We considered diffusively coupled stochastic bistable elements, and analyzed the influence of coupling strength on the system's mean escape time [1]. The second part concerns our ongoing project on "3v1 ball possession games", a drill to improve football skills. We developed a simple model that simulates movements of players and the ball. We aim to quantify the difference between high- and lower-level football teams by estimating model parameters for each team.

[1] H. Ishii and H. Kori, Diffusive coupling facilitates and impedes noise-induced escape in interacting bistable elements, Sci Rep 14, 11019 (2024).