Collective Decision-Making

Gordon Firestein

7th Programme (since 2019)

Originally the term collective stands for a social structure of living beings. The term is also used in scientific areas in order to include properties that are not restricted to living beings, e.g. living cells or quantum materials. One noticeable term is that of swarm intelligence, which is used in the most perceptual disciplines. A question that has to be fixed in terms of subject matter is the development of decision-making processes in the collective. A topic that finds itself delimiting each in the natural sciences and medicine as well as in social and human sciences and initiates the development of current research approaches. A more detailed analysis however allows the hypothesis that generally applicable rules of conduct can be shown across all areas, which lead to decisions by the respective collective.

Since 2019, the interdisciplinary research groups have been dealing with different aspects of this thematic area.