Prof. Dr. Pawel Romanczuk
The main research objective of the Romanczuk Group is the development and analysis of individual-based mathematical models of collective behavior. In their research they combine methods from statistical physics, stochastic processes to computational biology, to investigate the following interconnected research questions:
- Do schools, flocks & crowds – from cellular aggregates to animal groups (incl. humans) – share common functional features as a collective information processing system?
- How does collective behavior emerge from sensory inputs? Here, they focus on the question of how individuals integrate visual social information and use it to coordinate their actions.
- How do animal groups perform collective decisions under sensory constraints? Here, the central question is how animal groups are able to perform near-optimal and robust collective decisions despite sensory constraints and highly variable environments.
- What is the interplay between the self-organized structure and dynamics of collective systems and their collectively intelligent (or not so intelligent) behavior?
- Agent-based models
- Stochastic Differential equations / Fokker-Planck equations
- Complex networks
- Numerical simulations und computational analysis of experimental data
Current position
| 2022 - present | Full Professor of Theoretical Biophysics & Theoretical Biology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE) |
| 2019 - present | Member and Principal Investigator of the research cluster of excellence, 'Science of Intelligence' |
Positions held
| 2016 - 2022 | Emmy Noether Junior Group Leader at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin |
| 2014 - 2016 | DAAD P.R.I.M.E. postdoctoral fellow Princeton University & Humboldt Universität zu Berlin |
| 2014 - 2014 | Postdoctoral Researcher at Leibniz Institute für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei, Berlin |
| 2013 - 2014 | Postdoctoral Researcher at Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt |
| 2011 - 2013 | Postdoctoral Researcher at Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems |
| 2006 - 2010 | Manager of the collaborative research center (Sfb) 555 “Complex Nonlinear Processes” |
Academic Education
| 2006 - 2011 | Doctoral Degree in Physics at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE) |
| 1999 - 2006 | Diploma in Physics at the Technische Universität Berlin (DE) |
| 2001 | Bachelor in Physics, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UK) |
DFG-funded projects
| 2019 - present | EXC 2002 - 'Science of Intelligence (SCIoI)' |
| 2016 - 2023 | Independent Junior Research Group - 'Collective Information Processing - From Individual Sensory Inputs to Collective Motion and Decision Making' |
Selected publications
- Gómez-Nava L, Lange RT, Klamser PP, Lukas J, Arias-Rodriguez L, Bierbach D, Krause J, Sprekeler H, Romanczuk P. Fish shoals resemble a stochastic excitable system driven by environmental perturbations. Nat. Phys. 2023 Feb 6;19:663–669. doi: 10.1038/s41567-022-01916-1.
- Davidescu MR, Romanczuk P, Gregor T, Couzin ID. Growth produces coordination trade-offs in Trichoplax adhaerens, an animal lacking a central nervous system. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Mar 14;120(11):e2206163120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2206163120.
- Bastien R, Romanczuk P. A model of collective behavior based purely on vision. Sci Adv. 2020 Feb 5;6(6):eaay0792. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aay0792.
- Sosna MMG, Twomey CR, Bak-Coleman J, Poel W, Daniels BC, Romanczuk P, Couzin ID. Individual and collective encoding of risk in animal groups. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Oct 8;116(41):20556-20561. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1905585116.
- Romanczuk P, Bär M, Ebeling W, Lindner B, Schimansky-Geier L. Active Brownian particles: From individual to collective stochastic dynamics. Eur Phys J Spec Top. 2012 Mar 30;202:1–162. doi: 10.1140/epjst/e2012-01529-y.