Decision Making in a Complex and Uncertain World on FutureLearn platform

Decision Making

In our complex world many problems simply can’t be solved with one perspective in mind only, they require an approach from many different angles. Following this principle a course Decision Making in a Complex and Uncertain World was created.

The instructor calls this course a “multidisciplinary course”. Many different multidisciplinary teachers from the Netherlands collaborated to bring this course together. The main instructor, Lex Hoogduin, has been involved in the sphere of professional decision-making for a long time; he has even been an advisor to the first president of the European Central Bank.

The course  is first set to explain to you what complexity and uncertainty are about. Then it moves on to cover some basic tools and methods that will help you through the complex world. It doesn’t matter what position you are currently taking, the course is aimed at teaching you to enhance your decision-making skills in various spheres, for example, in the sphere of business, policy, supervision or privately.

Lex Hoogduin explains that the field of uncertainly and complexity requires approach from the angles of:

  • network theory
  • agent based modelling
  • emergent behaviour
  • evolutionary dynamics
  • cellular automata
  • history
  • ethics
  • leadership
  • entrepreneurship

The course will consist of lectures, interviews and debates. It will include literature, discussions, quizzes and tests as well as assignments to help you comprehend the basics of the course material.

The guest teachers will try to explain  complexity to you by providing the examples from their fields of study, you will even see complexity explained to you “by the use of insects and brains and many other natural and social phenomena”.

All the material covered in the course will be connected to the two case studies at the end of the course:

  1. Financial crisis of 2007/2008.
  2. Growth and development of cities.

You’ll be able to receive a Statement of Participation at the end of the course. The Statement of Participation is a printed document that you can purchase to show that you’ve taken part in a course on FutureLearn.

The course is designed for anybody who’s interested in the topic, however, some basic knowledge of economic, financial institutions, mathematics and logic will be helpful. The course will be taught at undergraduate level.

You can enroll in the course on its FutureLearn page.

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