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This lecture will be held in physical format at the CCSS Living Room (Min. 4.16) with lunch and refreshments provided. The overarching topic of the CCSS Lunch Meetings of the academic year 2025/2026 is Tipping behavior in Natural and Societal Systems.

Speaker Overview
 is an Assistant Professor at the Mathematical Institute and the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU) at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ. Robbin holds an MSc in Applied Mathematics from Leiden ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ, where he also earned his PhD in Applied Mathematics in 2019. His doctoral research on the role of pattern formation in desertification earned him the C.J. Kok Jury Award. Since then, he has contributed to several research consortia focused on climate change and tipping points. His research interests include dynamical systems, climate and ecosystem dynamics, pattern formation, asymptotic analysis, and tipping points. 

In June 2025, Robbin joined the Daily Board of the Centre for Complex Systems Studies (CCSS), and as of September 2025, he will take on the role of Education Coordinator for the Bachelor's minor Complex Systems and the Master's profile Complex Systems.

Lecture Overview
In this first talk of this academic year's CCSS lunch meetings about 'Tipping Behaviour in Natural and Societal Systems', I will give a brief non-exhaustive overview of the theory of tipping points and tipping dynamics. These concepts are often used to describe and understand the abrupt severe system-wide irreversible transitions that can occur in complex systems, such as dieback of Amazon rainforest, financial crises, electric grid blackouts, changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation and social norm changes. In this talk, I will give a 'classic' introduction to tipping from a dynamical systems perspective based on the theory of simple models, in which I will highlight different ways that can trigger these transitions. After this, I will indicate how this classic theory might need some refinement when dealing with tipping in more complex systems, such as in systems that have dynamics on multiple time scales, spatial scales or constitute of heterogeneous elements. In all these situations, tipping dynamics could be more nuanced – that is, more complex – and transitions might be less abrupt, less severe, less global, or less irreversible.

There will be 45-min lecture from the speaker, followed by a 15-min discussion session.

To attend the lecture, please signup below before 15:00 on Wednesday September 10.