Timeline of Events

Since its inception in the mid-1990s, the International Institute for General Systems Studies has organized various scholarly events, including those listed below. Please note that this list is incomplete, as too many events have been organized to be individually recorded.

 

  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 the 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 the Natural Science Foundation of China, Tianjing University, Nankai University, the Tianjing Import and Export Bureau, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
  • The Fourth IIGSS Workshop on Recent Progress in Systems and Cybernetics took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 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. In 1996, this branch was officially organized in China with a quarterly publication named “Advances in Systems Science and Applications” (Chinese Edition). They have organized three national conferences to date.
  • Japan Branch of the IIGSS. This branch has officially been in existence since 1997. A national communications network connects all the members 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 of Natural Disaster Predictions. This branch was organized in 1999 for studies in natural disaster predictions and related theories. The goal of this branch is to produce real-life predictions of approaching disasters in a timely fashion.

 

  1. Official Publications of the IIGSS.
  • 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.”
  • 1996: The second volume of the IIGSS journal Advances in Systems Science and Applications was published under the title “Systems Research in
  • 1997: The third volume of the IIGSS journal Advances in Systems Science and Applications was published as the proceedings of the second IIGSS workshop.
  • 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 (paperback)).
  • 2000: The journal Advances in Systems Science and Applications (ASSA) is initially published biannually but is later published quarterly.
  • 2006: The IIGSS revived the famous journal “Science Exploration,” founded in 1980 by the father of pansystems methodology 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 work 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 classic object-oriented sciences. The results 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.

 

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