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Decision Making in a Complex and Uncertain World

This course will teach you the first principles of complexity, uncertainty and how to make decisions in a complex world.

64,182 enrolled on this course

Complexity and uncertainty
  • Duration

    6 weeks
  • Weekly study

    6 hours

Leaders must be able to act in a complex world and under uncertainty. This course is a first step to develop yourself into one of the future’s key decision makers or to enhance your decision-making skills.

First, this course will address what complexity is and will define uncertainty. Next, we cover a number of tools and methods to understand and be able to navigate through the complex and uncertain world.

The need for a multidisciplinary approach will be emphasised throughout the course. Guest lecturers from different faculties will explain, provide applications and examples from their respective fields of study for a more comprehensive understanding of the different elements of complexity. For example, complexity can be beautifully explained by the use of insects and brains and many other natural and social phenomena. The same ideas can be applied to economic and financial systems.

After introducing the first principles, guest lecturers will cover interdisciplinary aspects of complexity. These are graph theory and networks, emergent behaviour, agent-based modeling, evolutionary dynamics, cellular automata and self-organisation, complexity in history, decision making under uncertainty, heuristics and biases and subsequently leadership and entrepreneurship. Finally, relating this all back together in two case studies will conclude the course. The first case study is financial stability and crises and the latter is growth and development of cities.

By completing this course you will have developed skills and knowledge that will enhance your decision-making skills in order to act in a complex world and under uncertainty.

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Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

Who is the course for?

Anyone should be able to participate in course. However, basic knowledge of economic, financial institutions, mathematics and logic will be helpful. The course will be taught at undergraduate level.

What do people say about this course?

"Thank you so much for the course! Very interesting and thought provoking. I liked the two case study sections, they helped bring the concepts to life. I think some of the concepts covered will stay with me a long time."

The best MOOC I have taken so far.

"This was an amazing experience, probably the best MOOC I have taken so far. The lecturers were extremely engaging and explained their subject in a very clear and simple way. "

Who will you learn with?

I am professor at the university of Groningen (Complexity and Uncertainty). I have also a number of supervisory functions and have been advisor to the first president of the European Central Bank.

Who developed the course?

University of Groningen

The University of Groningen is a research university with a global outlook, deeply rooted in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands.

Learning on FutureLearn

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  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control

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