Curriculum Vitae
Prof. Jörn Davidsen is a Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Calgary working in the transdisciplinary field of Complexity Science. Starting with his PhD research in Theoretical Physics at the University of Kiel, Germany, and at Imperial College London, UK, he has worked on applications ranging from neurosciences to earthquakes using tools from statistical physics, complex network theory and nonlinear dynamics. This includes studies of chemical reaction-diffusion systems in collaboration with Nobel Laureate Gerhard Ertl’s group at the Fritz-Haber Institute in Berlin, Germany, as well as studies of the climate system while being a research associate at the British Antarctic Survey. Most recently, Prof. Davidsen was awarded a prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship. The latter has allowed him to spend extended periods of time as Visiting Research Professor at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam. In 2015 and again in 2017 he was elected Secretary of the Nonlinear Geophysics Focus Group of the American Geophysical Union. He currently leads the Computational Neuroscience Platform at the University of Calgary under its Brain and Mental Health Strategy. Together with his students, postdocs and collaborators, he has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers in international journals with well over 2500 citations and secured grants with a total amount of over $4M.
Current Positions
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Canada
Humboldt Research Fellow GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences , Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GermanyProfessional Experience
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Canada
Visiting Research Professor, Sept. - Oct. 2013, Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Barcelona, Spain
Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Oct. 2006 - April 2012, Ingenuity New FacultyDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Canada
Research Scientist (tenure), Oct. 2005 - Sept. 2006, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
Financial Risk Consultant, June - Sept. 2005, d-fine GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany
Research Associate, Jan. 2003 - April 2005, Max-Planck-Institute for Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, GermanyPrincipal collaborators: Prof. Markus Bär and Prof. Raymond Kapral
Visiting scientist, March 2005, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, CanadaPrincipal collaborator: Prof. Maya Paczuski
Visiting scientist, February 2005, Fritz-Haber Institute, Berlin, Germany Principal collaborator within the Department of Physical Chemistry (Head: Prof. Gerhard Ertl): Visiting scientist, March 2004, Imperial College, London, UKPrincipal collaborator: Prof. Maya Paczuski
Postdoctoral Fellow, Aug. 2001 - Dec. 2002, University of Toronto, CanadaPrincipal collaborator: Prof. Raymond Kapral
Visiting scientist, March - May 2001, Imperial College, London, UK Principal collaborators: Prof. Per Bak and Prof. Maya PaczuskiEducation
Advisor: Prof. Heinz Georg Schuster
M.Sc. in Physics, August 1998, The Pennsylvania State University, USA Title of thesis: Critical Exponents and RenormalizationAdvisor: Prof. Shyamoli Chaudhuri
Vordiplom in Mathematics, minor Physics, May 1997University of Kiel, Germany
Vordiplom in Physics, minor Computer Sciences, October 1996 University of Kiel, GermanyOrganized Symposia
International Workshop on "Chimera States: From Theory and Experiments to Technology and Living Systems"
May 16-20 2022
Max-Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany
2022 Korea-Canada Cooperative Development Symposium and International Workshop on "Multiplex Brain Networks"
April 21 – 24 2022
University of Calgary and Banff International Research Station, Canada
Canadian Symposium for Computational Neuroscience
October 26-27 2021
Campus Alberta Neuroscience, Canada
Korea-Canada Cooperative Development Workshop 2019 and International Workshop on "Function, Information Spreading, and Percolation in Brain Networks"
May 13-15 2019
Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Pohang, Korea
Korea-Canada Cooperative Development Workshop 2018 and International Symposium on "Complexity Science Approaches to Brain Dynamics"
October 1-5 2018
University of Calgary, Canada
Special Sessions on "Pattern Formation and Statistical Mechanics of Nonequilibrium Systems"
2018 CAP Congress, June 11-15 2018
Canadian Association of Physicists, Halifax, Canada
Special Sessions on "Physical Origin of Aftershocks, Foreshocks and Multiplets in Seismology, Lab Experiments and Across Disciplines"
2017 AGU Fall Meeting, December 11-15 2017
American Geophysical Union, New Orleans, USA
Special Sessions on "Fracking, Triggering Cascades, and Power Scaling in Natural Systems"
2016 AGU Fall Meeting, December 12-16 2016
American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, USA
14th Experimental Chaos and Complexity Conference
May 16-19 2016
Banff, Canada
Workshop and Seminar on "Causality, Information Transfer and Dynamical Networks"
May 12 - July 4 2014
Max-Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany
SAMSI Workshop on "Dynamics of seismicity, earthquake clustering and patterns in fault networks"
October 9-11 2013
Statistical and Applied Mathematical Science Institute, North Carolina, USA
BIRS Workshop on "Statistics and triggering of earthquakes"
August 30 - Septeember 1 2013
Banff International Research Station, Banff, Canada
Special Session on "Pattern Formation and Statistical Mechanics of Nonequilibrium Systems"
2013 CAP Congress, May 27-31 2013
Canadian Association of Physicists, Montreal, Canada
Special Session on "Complex Networks in Geosciences"
2012 AGU Fall Meeting, December 3-7 2012
American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, USA
Special Session on "Pattern Formation and Statistical Mechanics of Nonequilibrium Systems"
2012 CAP Congress, June 11-15 2012
Canadian Association of Physicists, Calgary, Canada
Special Session on "Complex Networks in Geosciences"
2011 AGU Fall Meeting, December 5-9 2011
American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, USA
Special Session on "Complex Networks in Geosciences"
2010 AGU Fall Meeting, December 13-17 2010
American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, USA
Special Session on "Complex Networks in Geosciences"
2009 AGU Fall Meeting, December 14-18 2009
American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, USA
MITACS Workshop on "Geocomplexity", May 28-29 2009
Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems, York University, Toronto, Canada
Special Session on "Geocomplexity"
2009 Joint Assembly, May 24-27 2009
Canadian Geophysical Union & American Geophysical Union, Toronto, Canada
Special Session on "Scaling Aspects in Earthquake Analysis and Modeling"
SSA 2008 Annual Meeting, April 16-18 2008
Seismological Society of America, Santa Fe, USA
Session on "Seismicity Pattern Dynamics"
EGU General Assembly 2004, April 25-30 2004
European Geosciences Union, Nice, France
External Committees
Member of International Advisory Board for “Statistical Physics of Cognition”, Imperial College London, UK, since 2022
Member of Scientific Program Committee for Complex Networks 2021, Dec. 1 - 3 2020, Madrid, Spain
Member of Scientific Program Committee for Complex Networks 2020, Dec. 1 - 3 2020
Member of the Donald L. Turcotte Award Committee (2019-2020), American Geophysical Union
Member of Scientific Program Committee for Complex Networks 2019, Dec. 10 - 12 2019, Lisbon, Portugal
Member of Scientific Program Committee for Complex Networks 2018, Dec. 11 - 13 2018, Cambridge, UK
Member of Scientific Program Committee for Complex Networks 2017, Nov. 29 - Dec. 1 2017, Lyon, France
Secretary, Nonlinear Geophysics Focus Group (2015-2018), American Geophysical Union
Member of Scientific Program Committee for 9th International Symposium on Digital Earth, Oct. 5-9 2015, Halifax, Canada
Member of Local Organizing Committee for 2012 CAP Congress, Calgary, Canada
Nonlinear Geophysics Program Committee Executive (2010-2013), American Geophysical Union
Member of Program Committee for Dynamics on and of Complex Networks
Satellite Workshop of European Conference on Complex Systems, Oct. 4 2007
Dresden, Germany
Editor Experience
Chaos
Guest editor for focus issue on “Chimera states: from theory and experiments to technology and living systems”
Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (NPG)
Guest editor for special issue on "Seismicity Pattern Dynamics"
Guest editor for special issue on "Geocomplexity: novel approaches to understanding geosystems"
Guest editor for special issue on "Complex network approaches to analyzing and modeling nonlinear systems in geosciences"
European Physical Journal - Special Topics (EPJ ST)
Guest editor for special issue on "Challenges in the Analysis of Complex Systems: Prediction, Causality and Communication"
Referee Experience
Physical Review X, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review Research, Physical Review E, Physical Review B, Chaos
Nature Physics, Nature Communications, Nature Review Physics, Scientific Reports, Communications Physics
EPL, Journal of Physics: Complexity, European Physical Journal B, European Physical Journal ST, Physica A, Physica D
Journal of Statistical Mechanics, SIAM Review, Journal of Theoretical Biology, PLoS ONE, PLoS Computational Biology
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Entropy
Journal of Chemical Physics, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research, Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics
Geophysical Journal International, Pure and Applied Geophysics, Journal of Seismology, Earth & Planetary Science Letters
Tectonophysics, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Terra Nova, Space Science Reviews
Selected Honors & Scholarships
University of Calgary's GREAT Supervisor Award 2018
NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Grant 2015
Alberta Ingenuity New Faculty Award 2009
Three-month scholarship granted by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for conducting research at the Imperial College, London, UK
Professional Affiliations
The German Physical Society
The American Geophysical Union
The Canadian Association of Physicists
The American Physical Society
The European Geosciences Union
The Seismological Society of America
Interests & Activities
Travelling
Soccer, ultimate, skiing
History and archeology