The study and understanding of the collective movement of animals is a topic of interdisciplinary interest that has long attracted the attention of many scientists (in statistical physics, hydrodynamics, ethology, biology, sociology and now even in the strongly emergent field of robotics). Indeed, the ubiquity of the phenomenon and the range of observational scales are striking: it occurs when bacteria or plankton cells move collectively and of course, it is observed for a large number of living individuals such as insect swarm, fish school, flocks of birds, crowds of pedestrians, and even larger animal herds. Furthermore, another intriguing feature of the phenomenon is the appearance of collective order without any leader or external gradient fields or geometric confinements. In addition to the obvious biological and ethological interests, technological applications of the knowledge obtained by the study of swarms in fields such as robotics are increasingly envisaged. As a matter of fact, swarms of drones are increasingly being developed because of the needs to carry out missions that cannot be completed by a single drone. Particularly in the field of civil security, numerous applications emerge in terms of surveillance and observation of hostile, distant or extended areas. In view of the widespread interest and applications of the phenomenon it is desirable to organize a workshop that covers the topic which allows scientists of different fields to meet and discuss together.

List of speakers

Gil Ariel (Israel), Cécile Cottin-Bizonne (France), Julien Pettre (France), Kirstin H. Petersen (USA), Bertrand Maury (France), Alexandre Nicolas (France), Iker Zurigel (Spain), Leticia Cugliandolo (France), Guy Theraulaz (France), Ramiro Godoy-Diana (France),  Radhika Nagpal (USA), Hamid Kellay (France), Franck Ruffier (France), Marina Papadopoulou (UK), Stefania Melillo (Italy)

Registrations and practical details :  click here.