CREATIVE METHODOLOGIES AND INNOVATIONS IN RESEARCHING COMPLEX SOCIAL SYSTEMS:

Qualitative, Interacting And “Mixing” Methods Approaches

(Online*)

14th of October 2026

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS IS OPEN!

*Altough the workshop is online, for those attending CCS2026 in presence there will be a room allocated to this Satellite where you can join other onsite participants. You will still need access to your personal computer to participate in Part II of the session

SATELLITE MEETING AT CCS2026

SIGN-UP & CONSENT for conditions of participation is required for this workshop (No additional cost): Please see more information below

If you are interested in staying with touch regarding any potential follow-up activities, let us know by writing to us to: complexthinking.project@gmail.com

About

CREATIVE METHODOLOGIES AND INNOVATIONS IN RESEARCHING COMPLEX SOCIAL SYSTEMS:

Contributions & submissions

Aims and focus

This Satellite aims at stimulating interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methodological discussions about key challenges, questions and gaps that need to be addressed in researching the complexity of social systems. This workshop focuses on methodological thinking and on creative methods and innovations for complex social system research, towards generating emergent insights, abductive leaps and more complex knowledge. It has a particular focus on contributions from qualitative approaches as well as approaches exploring synergies and creative interactions, beyond simple “mixings” of qualitative, quantitative and & or AI-based methods. We adopt a broad and flexible view of the process of “mixing-methods” but attempt to go beyond the simple combination or mixing of methods to explore a variety of creative interactions and relations between methods. In doing so we adopt a complexity-informed perspective, to raise questions about how we can make different methods interact and what kind of relations between methods can be explored that lead to novel, emergent methodological processes and approaches as well as surprising and innovative results and insights on complex systems? We aim to explore how methods can “dance together” and in what creative ways can their interactions be choreographed.

Contributions addressing real-world social and social-ecological systems and contexts of applications are specially welcome, as well as those involving participatory and transdisciplinary research. Theoretical and philosophical contributions are equally welcomed as well as empirical research which is presented highlighting the methodological challenges tackled and the development or implementation of innovation and creative solutions.

This workshop targets a set of core questions and challenges which include, but are not limited to:

What kind of difficult and challenging questions call for new methodological developments and how can qualitative approaches and creative interactions and mixings between qualitative, quantitative and AI methods be explored to promote novel insights and abductive leaps leading to more complex knowledge, capable of guiding actions?
What qualities and features of complex systems pose particular methodological challenges and/or call for new approaches and how can they be best captured by qualitative and synergetic/mixing-methods approaches?
What is “slipping” through or remaining invisible with mainstream methods and approaches that calls for methodological alternatives and innovations and of what kind?
How can we increase the methodological coherence of our research with the nature of complex systems with qualitative and interacting or “mixing”-methods approaches?
What guiding principles and meta-methodologies or frameworks can guide the exploration of synergies in the interaction between methods?
How can qualitative approaches inform complexity informed methodologies?
How can different philosophical approaches, and ontological and epistemological perspectives, inform different kinds of approaches to qualitative or mixing methods research on complex social systems?
How can synergetic, interacting or “mixing”-methods approaches reveal that which escapes our habitual methods and how can it support abduction? How can abduction inform the process of exploring methodological synergies?
What is the role of the researcher in complex methodological creativity?
What are the challenges of training for methodological complexity? What distinctive methodological challenges arise when studying complex social and human systems, compared with non-human or physical complex systems?
What kinds of methodological issues do complex social systems bring that may be different to non-social/human complex systems?

This Satellite workshop is organised in two parts:

Part I includes contributed talks and keynote lectures which aim to address the challenge questions in ways that provide stimuli and input for the collective discussion in Part II.

Part II includes a facilitated and participatory discussion, using a digital version of the Relatoscope* method, a complexity-informed method to promote complex relational dialogues. This dialogue will focus on critical challenges and the core questions and aim at supporting emergent or integrative insights.

This Satellite follows on from the 1st edition at CCS2025 in Siena, titled “QUALITATIVE AND MIXED-METHODS APPROACHES IN SOCIAL COMPLEX SYSTEMS RESEARCH: Methodological challenges and innovations” . Importantly, it builds on that first workshop and explores some of the questions raised in it. You (an consult the report of this previous Satellite here (to be inserted)

Please note that participation in Part I is highly encouraged, but is not a prerequisite for Part II (subject to space limitations).

References

Melo, A., & Campos, R. (2022). Facilitating scientific events guided by Complex Thinking: A case study of an online Inter/Transdisciplinary Advanced Training School. Informing Sci. Int. J. an Emerg. Transdiscipl., 25, 89–110. https://doi.org/10.28945/4934.
Melo, A. T., Caves, L. S. D., El-Hani, C. N., Renault, L., Gershenson, C., Soto-Andrade, J., … Morell, J. (Preprint - 2023, November 6). A Complexity-Informed Methodology for Interdisciplinary Dialogues: Key Questions and Challenges for Theory, Research and Practice on Modes of Thinking (In) Complexity. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/v6t2h

Programme

PROGRAMME (UNDER CONSTRUCTIONS).

Note: The programme indicates both EDT (time zone of the conference) and GMT+1 (London/Lisbon)

Breaks are highlighted in orange. Please note that during some of the breaks the main conference may be running talks. Cf. main conference programme.

ABSTRACTS available here (to be added)

PART I

09:00-09:20 (EDT) 14:00-14:15 (GMT+1):

Welcoming and Introduction

Welcoming and introduction (15 min)

Procedural and methodological notes (5 min)

09:20-09:45 (EDT) 14:20-14:45 (GMT+1):

Framing presentations

Overview of the outcomes of the 1st edition and legacy questions 09:20-09:35 (EDT time zone) (10 min)

Framing presentation 1 (5 min)

Framing presentation 2 (5 min)

Framing presentation 3 (5 min)

09:45-10:15 (EDT)/ 14:45-15:15 (GMT+1):

Invited Keynote presentation I (20 min + 5 Q&A)

Combing innovative inclusive methods: systems thinking, complexity science, the arts, humanities, and beyond

Pete Barbrook-Johnson,

Department of Arts and Sciences, UCL; Institute for New Economic Thinking, University of Oxford; Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford; Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus, University of Surrey

10:15-10:30 (EDT)/15:15-15:30 (GMT+1)

Break

10:30-11:30 (EDT)/15:30-16:30 (GMT+1)

Contributing talks

Contributing talk 1 (15 min + 3 min Q&A)

Contributing talk 2 (15 min + 3 min Q&A)

Contributing talk 3 (15 min + 3 min Q&A)

Contributing Lightning talks

11:30-11:45 (EDT)/ 16:30- 16:45 (GMT+1)

Lightning talk 1 (5 min)

Lightning talk 2 (5 min)

Lightning talk 3 (5 min)

Invited Talk/Contributing talk

11:45-12:00 (EDT)- 16:45-17:00 (GMT+1)

12:00-13:00/ 17:00-18:00

Break (coinciding with Lunch break at main conference)

13:00-13:20(EDT)/ 18:00-18:20

Poster session

13:30-14:30 (EDT)

[Break/ Keynote at the main conference, cf. Conference main program]

PART II

FACILITATED COLLECTIVE EXPLORATORY DIALOGUE

14:30-17:45/ 19:30-22:45

Overview of the Relatoscope Method and guidance (10 min)

Facilitated focused discussion* with the Relatoscope Method (80 min)

16:00-16:30/ 21:00- 21:30

Break

16:30-17:30 (EDT)/21:30-22:30 (GMT+1)

Facilitated focused discussion *with the Relatoscope Method (cont) (60 min)

17:30-16:45 (EDT)/ 22:30- 22:45 (GMT+1) Closing

Integration and next steps (15 min)

*Focus questions for the dialogue:

What kind of difficult and challenging questions call for new methodological developments and how can qualitative approaches and creative interactions and mixings between qualitative, quantitative and AI methods be explored to promote novel insights and abductive leaps leading to more complex knowledge, capable of guiding actions?
What qualities and features of complex systems pose particular methodological challenges and/or call for new approaches and how can they be best captured by qualitative and synergetic/mixing-methods approaches?
What is “slipping” through or remaining invisible with mainstream methods and approaches that calls for methodological alternatives and innovations and of what kind?
How can we increase the methodological coherence of our research with the nature of complex systems with qualitative and interacting or “mixing”-methods approaches?
What guiding principles and meta-methodologies or frameworks can guide the exploration of synergies in the interaction between methods?
How can qualitative approaches inform complexity informed methodologies?
How can different philosophical approaches, and ontological and epistemological perspectives, inform different kinds of approaches to qualitative or mixing methods research on complex social systems?
How can synergetic, interacting or “mixing”-methods approaches reveal that which escapes our habitual methods and how can it support abduction? How can abduction inform the process of exploring methodological synergies?
What is the role of the researcher in complex methodological creativity?
What are the challenges of training for methodological complexity? What distinctive methodological challenges arise when studying complex social and human systems, compared with non-human or physical complex systems?
What kinds of methodological issues do complex social systems bring that may be different to non-social/human complex systems?

Important dates

Submission Deadlines: 25th of May

Notification to authors: 1st of June

Sign-up & Consent: Sign-up and consent before the event is strongly encouraged; acceptance on the day is subject to availability, as the workshop is limited to 20 participants.

Contributions & submissions

We are now accepting contributions for the Satellite. Contributions can be submitted in the following modalities:

Oral presentations (15 min presentations)
Lightning talks (3 min presentations)
Poster presentations (note: if slots are available, poster presenters will be invited to also perform a 3 min lightening talk in addition to the poster session which will take place during the coffee break.

All contributing talks are expected to provide insights and input that will feed into the large group discussion to tale place during Part II of the event. Hence, they should directly relate to the topics of the workshop, namely the target questions and challenges organising it (cf. Aims and Focus). Examples of applications of different qualitative, interactive and "mixing"-methods methods are welcomed but authors are invited to take a meta-reflexive methodological position about their work and connect it with our core focuses.

Deadlines: Submissions for posters and lightening presentations remain open and will be evaluated on a case by case basis.

Format of submission

Please submit a pdf containing the following information: title of the presentation, name of authors and affiliations, name of presenting author, and corresponding contacts; an abstract up to 1 page (tables, images and references are optional and allowed on a second page); 3 keywords.
Also attach a short statement of motivation for participating in this workshop. Please note that presenting authors will be required to participate in the entire workshop.

Send your submission by email to: complexthinking.project@gmail.com

Sign-up & consent

Conference Registration: Participants for this Satellite Workshop are required to register for the main Conference on Complex Systems 2026 - either the full programme or the satellites only. Please note you can register for the Satellite or the Online only option. You may be asked for proof of registration.

Workshop Sign-up: Unlike other satellites, this workshop requires a sign-up (using this form) which also describes the conditions for participation and records your informed consent. There are no additional costs for the satellite

Capacity: The workshop is limited to 20 participants. Acceptance will be considered by (i) order of registration AND (ii) short expression of motivation for participation.

Partial Participation: Please note that participation in Part I is highly encouraged, but is not a prerequisite for Part II (subject to space limitations).