SFI Professor J. Doyne Farmer will lead the complexity economics program at INET@Oxford, a collaboration announced today between the James Martin School for the 21st Century at Oxford University and the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET).

INET founder George Soros announced the creation of the major new interdisciplinary center today during the INET annual conference in Berlin. 

With more than 40 leading academics in economics, INET@Oxford builds on an existing research program at the Oxford Martin School. Supported by funding from INET and grants from a number of other institutions, the center will "stimulate innovation and debate in economics, support visionary interdisciplinary research, and contribute to the education of the next generation of economists as well as business and government leaders," according to Oxford Martin School news release.

“Fresh thinking in economics is urgently needed to mitigate many global challenges, not least systemic financial crises, the creation of sustainable jobs and employment, and the wide-ranging challenges of development," said Soros.

Farmer, a physicist who has been a major figure in pioneering and leading the development of econophysics and complexity economics at SFI since the late 1980s, will lead an interdisciplinary group of INET@Oxford scholars working on applying insights from complex systems theory, network theory, and evolutionary theory to economic issues ranging from containing financial contagion, to spurring economic growth, to better managing systemic risks.

Other new INET@Oxford programs will address economic modeling, the ethics of economics, global economic development, economics of employment and equity, new models of economic growth, and curriculum development in economic theory.

Farmer will also will hold a professorship in Oxford's Department of Mathematics.

Says SFI President Jerry Sabloff: "SFI is very sad to lose Professor Farmer to Oxford, given his great contributions to the Institute over many years, but we are delighted for him that he is embarking on such an exciting opportunity with the new INET institute at Oxford. We also are pleased that he will continue his association with SFI as an External Professor."

Say Farmer: "I'm very sorry to leave SFI but I am looking forward to regular visits and some exciting new possibilities."

Farmer's appointment is contingent on his being granted a visa.

Read the INET@Oxford news release (April 12, 2012)

Read the Oxford Martin School news release (April 12, 2012)