Dirk Brockmann receives ISAL Education and Outreach Award for “Complexity Explorables”

Dirk Brockmann has received the Education and Outreach Award from the International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL). The award was presented during the ALIFE 2025 conference in Kyoto, Japan, and recognizes his innovative science communication project Complexity Explorables.

Complexity Explorables is an interactive online platform that explains central models of complex systems and Artificial Life in an accessible way. The collection visualizes topics such as traffic jams, herd immunity, swarm behavior, and social networks through interactive simulations. Each “Explorable” combines a concise introduction with a dynamic model that users can control, turning abstract concepts from complexity research into intuitive learning experiences.

Since its launch in 2017, Complexity Explorables has been used internationally in teaching, outreach, and network science education, including at the Santa Fe Institute (USA) and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna.

The ISAL jury praised the project as “full of interesting and engaging teaching materials related to various subfields of Artificial Life. It is clearly polished and professional and would be valuable for more of the ALife community to be aware of.”

More information here.