Dynamic Symmetry Across Scales

Balliol College, Oxford – Michaelmas Term 2026

Dynamic Symmetry Across Scales is a hybrid conference at Balliol College, Oxford, convened in partnership between  OXQ: The Oxford Quarterly Journal of Symmetry & Asymmetry and The Schweitzer Institute. It follows directly from the Royal Society seminar Edge of Chaos: Exploring Dynamic Symmetry Theory and the Science of Complexity, held in London on 15 May 2026 (see below).

Both meetings take as their starting point a shared observation: many of the most interesting phenomena in nature, mind and society seem to occur in narrow, shifting bands between rigidity and randomness. The Balliol conference asks whether this “edge of chaos” has a recurring structural form across very different systems – and, if so, how it might be modelled, measured and used.

Where Edge of Chaos introduced dynamic symmetry theory in broad outline, Dynamic Symmetry Across Scales is explicitly designed to be a critical, technically informed follow‑up. Speakers are invited to test, rather than simply adopt, two linked proposals:

• that many complex systems function best when stabilising processes (maintaining coherence, constraints, norms, architectures) remain tightly coupled to exploratory processes (introducing variability, noise, innovation), rather than one side dominating; and
• that this balance can sometimes be captured in a domain‑specific way using pairs of order/variation metrics, assembled into a Dynamic Symmetry Index (DSI).

Edge of Chaos: Exploring Dynamic Symmetry Theory and the Science of Complexity

The Royal Society, London – 15 May 2026

Edge of Chaos was the first in this two‑part series, bringing together leading physicists, biologists, ecologists, philosophers and policy thinkers to explore whether there are common structural principles linking living systems, physical processes and human institutions. The focus was on dynamic symmetry theory, the Dynamic Symmetry Index (DSI) and related work on self‑organised criticality, with direct implications for climate risk, health and governance.

Speakers included:

• Prof Daniela Bortoletto OBE (Head of Particle Physics, University of Oxford)
• Prof Tim Palmer FRS (Royal Society Research Professor in Climate Physics, University of Oxford)
• Prof Denis Noble CBE FRS (Emeritus Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology, University of Oxford)
• Prof Tim Lenton OBE (Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science; Founding Director, Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter)
• Prof Gianluca Gregori (Professor of Physics, University of Oxford)
• Prof Predrag Cicovacki (Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross)
• Prof Alexander Lvovsky (Professor of Physics, University of Oxford)
• Gisella Marinuzzi (Associate Director, The Schweitzer Institute)
• Dr Igor V. Ovchinnikov (UCLA)
• Benedict Rattigan FRSA (Director, The Schweitzer Institute)

Recordings the Edge of Chaos talks can be accessed here: https://schweitzer.institute/papers