Dr. (HDR) Laura Hernandez

I’m a physicist and since 1993 I'm associate professor at Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation (LPTM), a laboratory of CNRS- Cergy Pontoise University. I did my undergraduate studies at Buenos Aires University, I have obtained my PhD in Physics in 1992 at the Institut Nationale des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) Toulouse, France and my HDR (“Habilitation to Conduct Research” French diploma) in 2015, at Cergy Pontoise University. I think that true interdisciplinarity, where specialists of different disciplines put together their expertise in order to create new knowledge, is the key of the understanding of many open problems. For this reason I participate in different organizations that act for development of Complex Systems studies: besides the CSS, I've been  member of the Direction Board of the Institute of Complex Systems of Paris-Ile-de-France (ISCpif) (2014-2022) and I'm memeber of the Executive Committee of the French Local Chapter of CSS. I’m interested in the study of Complex Systems not only in my own discipline, but also in other fields like Ecology or Social Sciences, where I apply the point of view of Physics, using the tools and the concepts of Statistical Physics and Dynamical Systems. For instance I work on a complex network approach of Mutualistic Ecosystems, (like plant-pollinators or plant-frugivores networks), and also in problems of Cultural and Opinion Dynamics, both using a data based approach and also a by the study of theoretical models. I work on numerical simulations, using advanced Monte Carlo methods and multi-agent simulations. I’m very concerned about the transmission of this way of working to young students, in this respect, in collaboration with a colleague of LPTM, I have created and co-directed, since 2010 to 2015, the Master in Theoretical Physics and Applications (fully taught in English) of the Cergy Pontoise University, where in particular, I was responsible for the Complex Systems Path of that master program. 

Keywords: Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena, Disordered Materials, Complex Networks, Mutualist Ecosystems, Cultural and Opinion Dynamics, Agent-based Model, Monte Carlo Simulations.