Interdisciplinary Physics and system Dynamics

Research group

Francesco Gonella, Full Professor

Research topics

Integrated sustainability

The activity is focused on the study of the sustainability of complex systems, both environmental and socio-economic, with particular attention to the systems for the production of energy and for social services. The analytical approach is based on Systems Thinking and System Dynamic principles, using tools and techniques derived from the Emergy (spelled with "m") Analysis, where emergy is the concept quantifying the energy "memory" of the resource flows that determine the operation of the system at issue.


Systems Medicine

The activity proposes a novel approach to the description of complex pathologies that are still poorly understood, in particular, incurable forms of blood cancer (Multiple Myeloma) and self-immune degenerative diseases. The study is based on the realization of dynamic simulators of the evolution of the disease, able to determine the structural configurations responsible for the pathological state by analyzing the feedback network which rules its dynamics.


Urban metabolism and circular economy

A foundational re-thinking of the socio-economical structures appears urgent and mandatory, due to the pressure brought by the present climate and ecological emergencies. Circular Economy may be an essential tool for facing these challenges at the urban scale. System dynamics and Emergy analysis are applied for building up computational models of urban metabolism suitable for the realization of city simulators.

Last update: 19/02/2025