Overview
In 2023, Washington University in St. Louis proudly hosted the fourth annual SSSI from July 31 to August 4, 2023. A group of 29 doctoral students, fellows, researchers, and community partners from across the U.S. and the world joined together for training in systems science and its applications for social impact. Participants came from as far as Australia, Chile, and Luxembourg to join us in St. Louis.
The Institute was a 5-day program that offered in-depth systems science methods training for health and social science scholars. Participants received training in either agent-based modeling, group model building, system dynamics, or social network analysis.
Participants learned about major systems science concepts and analytic best practices, and applied the methods to their own real-world data.
Having the workshops and panels that grounded the different approaches in real-world application was really great and I appreciated this “brain space” to step out of the theory and skills mode, to think about what this looks like in various sectors/contexts.
SSSI 2023 Participant
Group model building co-instructors Ellis Ballard and Kelsey Werner lead a GMB session 
Class is in session 
SSSI 2023 participants listen to the plenary lecture 
Plenary presenter David Lounsbury 
Social Network Analysis co-instructor Sara Malone 
Plenary presentation 
SSSI 2023 participants listen to the plenary lecture 
Agent-based modeling co-instructor Ross Hammond 
Listening intently 
Networks 
SSSI participants in deep discussion 
Group model building is a group effort 
SNA co-instructor Doug Luke 
SSSI participants in deep discussion 
Sharing ideas 
Listening intently 
Special guest Archie joined the Institute this year 
SSSI 2023 at the Missouri Botanical Garden 
Systems science at work 
Group model building is a group effort 
System Dynamics co-instructor Nasim Sabounchi 
ABM co-instructor Matt Kasman 
Listening intently
This has been an excellent opportunity. It felt welcoming, like it had multiple ‘points of entry’ in terms of background knowledge, and has so much potential to be useful for my work.
SSSI 2023 participant