Activities of the IIGSS

 

Since its inception in the mid-1990s the International Institute for General Systems Studies has organized various scholarly events including:

  1. The Inaugural Workshop of the International Institute for General Systems Studies

 

·        The first workshop was held July 13 - 15, 1995, at Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania, USA, and marked the official kickoff of the IIGSS. This workshop was sponsored by Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (United Arab Emirates) and by Slippery Rock University.

·        The Second Workshop of the IIGSS was held January 9 - 11, 1997, at San Marcos, Texas, USA. This workshop was sponsored by Southwest Texas University.

·        The Third Workshop of the IIGSS was held July 26 - 28, 1998, at Beidaihe, Qinghuangdao, China. This workshop was sponsored by Natural Science Foundation of China, Tianjing University, Nankai University, Tianjing Import and Export Bureau, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

·        The 4th IIGSS Workshop on Recent Progress in Systems and Cybernetics, Pittsburgh, March 24 - 26, 2002. This workshop was held jointly with the 12th International WOSC Congress and was partially sponsored by the United Nations.

  1. Branches of the IIGSS

 

·        China Branch of the IIGSS. This branch was officially organized in China in 1996 with a quarterly publication named "Advances in Systems Science and Applications" (China Edition). This branch has organized three national conferences to date.

·        Japan Branch of the IIGSS. This branch has officially been in existence since 1997. A national communication network connects all the members and colleagues interested in systems research in Japan.

·        The IIGSS Branch of Uncertainty Systems. This branch was officially organized in 1997 for the study of uncertainty systems and unascertained information.

·        The IIGSS branch on Natural Disaster Predictions. This branch was organized in 1999 for the studies in natural disaster predictions and related theory. The goal of this branch is to produce real-life predictions of forthcoming disasters in a timely fashion.

  1. Official Publications of the IIGSS.

 

·        In 1995 the first volume of the IIGSS journal Advances in Systems Science and Applications was published under the title "General Systems Theory- Approaches and Applications."

·        In 1996 the second volume of the IIGSS journal Advances in Systems Science and Applications was published under the title "Systems Research in

China."

·        In 1997 the third volume of the IIGSS journal Advances in Systems Science and Applications was published as the proceedings of the second workshop of the IIGSS.

·        In 1999 the IIGSS Academic Publisher published a monograph entitled "An Introduction to Grey Systems: Foundations, Methodology and Applications," by S. F. Liu and Yi Lin (ISBN: 0-9665908-0-5 (hardcover) and 0-9665908-1-5 (paper cover)).

·        Since the year of 2000, the journal Advances in Systems Science and Applications (ASSA) has been published initially biannually and then quarterly.

·        Starting in 2006, the IIGSS will revive the famous journal “Science Exploration,” founded by the father of pansystems methodology in 1980, Wu Xuemou, under the new title “Scientific Inquiry.”

  1. The IIGSS Publisher.

 

·        In 1998 a scholastic publisher was officially established as a division of the International Institute for General Systems Studies, Inc., under the name IIGSS Academic Publisher.

  1. Special Projects.

 

·        Theory of anomaly. In this project, we plan to generate a collection of works about anomalies appearing in all areas of scientific research. If you have a related idea, please drop us a note.

·        Challenges Facing General Systems in Practice. This project focuses on various challenges facing general systems studies and challenges facing classical object-oriented sciences. The outcomes of this project have been published as special issues of various international journals.

·        Mystery of Nonlinearity and Lorenz's Chaos. The outcome of this project has been published as a special double issue of "Kybernetes: The International Journal of Systems and Cybernetics," vol. 27, nos. 6 & 7, 250 + pages.

Call for ideas of special projects:

Your ideas for special projects are always welcome, so please send your comments to the IIGSS.