This course is intended for students from physics or the life sciences who want to understand living systems with models and simulations. If you are physics student, you have a strong background in computational physics, which you have used to solve problems in statistical mechanics, solid state physics, electromagnetism and so on. But these skills can extend far beyond traditional physics. If you on the other hand come from the life sciences, you have scientific training in biology, biotechnology, or medicine. If you integrate that training with modelling and simulation skills, you have a unique competence to address biological problems in new ways. In this course, we will study a collection of models and methods to describe gene regulatory networks, geographic epidemic spreading, species competition, and much more. Apart from giving a deeper understanding of these problems, the models can inspire and help you to craft new ones in future challenges. Moreover, as this this course targets students with diverse educational backgrounds, it will help bridge interdisciplinary communication between students from different fields within the natural sciences. Overcoming this is crucial in industry as well as in research.
