Ricard Solé

I am ICREA research professor (the Catalan Institute for research and Advanced Studies). I am now at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra , where I'm the head of the COMPLEX SYSTEMS LAB. Since 1997, I am External Professor of the Santa Fe Institute (New Mexico, USA), a great place to do research in a truly interdisciplinary environment, full of smart people. I am also member of the Council of the European Complex Systems Society. I am member of the editorial board of several international peer reviewed journals. I completed a five-year degree in Physics and another 5-year degree in Biology at the University of Barcelona and received my PhD in Physics in the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya.

My research explores general laws underlying the origin and evolution of complex adaptive phenomena, from the emergence of life to cognition. I study liquid brains, with a focus on mapping the structure of cognitive spaces, and investigate universal constraints shaping the logic of living matter. My work combines theoretical approaches with experimental designs based on synthetic biology, including projects on ecosystem terraformation grounded in emergent bioengineering.