Again this year, ThéMA was present at the "Fête de la science" from 9 to 12 October 2025, alongside about 30 other laboratories as well as museums' and associations' representatives. During this edition, at the booth of the ThéMA laboratory, people could discover the SandBox and the serious game CityPlanner. The SandBox is a geospatial technology modelling fields in augmented reality. It consists of a machine connected to a computer, which carves a landscape in a sand box before numerising the topography of the obtained field. The ThéMA SandBox was developed by Damien Roy. During the...

The examination for the Thesis prize Complex Systems 2025 helded on the 10th of October in Besançon. Among the twelve presentations of the candidates, four were particularly appreciated. The committee deliberated for a long while before awarding three theses: Oscar DUFOUR : Enhanced agent-based models for pedestrian crowds : insights from empirical data at the Festival of Lights and refinements of mechanical interactions, pedestrian shapes, and decisional aspectsLaetitia BORNES : Méthodes et outils systémiques concrets pour faire face à la complexité environnementale et aux effets rebond...

"The ThéMA laboratory is seeking a post-doctoral researcher to work on the coupled modelling of population genetic structure and metacommunity dynamics in habitat networks. The project will start in early 2026 (flexible start date), for a duration of 24 months. The candidates must have completed a PhD in ecology or population biology by January 2026, ideally specialized in community ecology, landscape ecology, urban ecology, population genetics, or landscape genetics. Solid skills in geomatics and programming (QGIS, R, optionally : PostGIS, Julia, Git, use of computation cluster) will be...

  This event will take place on Friday, October 10, 2025, from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Maison des Sciences Humaines et Environnementales Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, 1 rue Charles Nodier, in Besançon. This national award is intended for theses in the field of complex systems. This field is transdisciplinary and encompasses subjects ranging from computer science to geography, including linguistics, history, physics, biology, epidemiology, and ecology. What unites them is the way in which systems are organized: interacting elements that give rise to emerging phenomena. This symposium...

Digital data, graph theory and spatial modeling allow us to apply the concepts of centralities and hierarchies to a wide variety os spatial situations. The authors of this book offer insight into centralities and hierarchies within networks and territories at different scales and temporalities and for different socio-economic phenomena. The first part of the book explores the contribution of data from cell phones and social networks to understanding centralities and hierarchies of urban space within a circumscribed temporality. The second part uses network analysis – ecological networks,...

  The energy transition necessitates a rapid electrification of urban transport systems. This PhD project aims to design and experiment with an innovative digital modeling of electrified transport networks, leveraging digital twin technologies. The project fits within a large-scale prospective simulation perspective, using 3D spatial data, territorial indicators, and multi-agent or geosimulation approaches. The objective is to propose operational electrification scenarios adapted to the territories of the Bourgogne Franche-Comté region. Research laboratories involved are ThéMA,...

    A survey is launched to gather accounts from a large panel of Besançon's inhabitants. This survey is part of the research project CAPBIOMET carried out by Manon Kohler and supported by the regional council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and the local agency Grand Besançon Métropole. Accounts gathered via the survey will enable a better understanding of local practices to adapt to summer heat. Access to the survey registration form: https://thema.univ-fcomte.fr/enquete2/index.php/785683?lang=fr Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript...

  Bahija Hani has begun a doctoral research under the co-supervision of Prof. Thomas Buhler. The title of her research is: Discursive strategies and spatial development in Fès (Morocco): critical and textual data analysis of planning documents related to the emerging local centres of Ouled Tayeb and Ain Bida.   Bahija Hani is architect and urban designer. Her PhD thesis at ThéMA laboratory is under the joint administrative supervision of the University Ibn Tofail (Kénitra, Morocco) and the University Marie et Louis Pasteur (Besançon, France). The aim of her research is to...

  The 17th Théo Quant Meetings will take place in Besançon, from the 4th to the 6th of February 2026   The spirit of the Meetings "Theo Quant" Meetings take place in France every two years. They are intended to be an intermediary between big symposia, where only completed work is presented, and conferences dedicated to specific themes. The "Theo Quant" Meetings aim to further methodological and theoretical investigation in the field of theoretical and quatitative geography. One of their main interests is to allow the exchange of points of view and ideas between researchers...

  A Café Géo, organized by the Association of Geographers of Franche-Comté, will take place on Wednesday the 2nd of April from 18:00 to 20:00 at the bar La Fontaine (Place de la Révolution, Besançon). This talk about biodiversity will be held by Paul Savary, Assistant Professor at Université Marie et Louis Pasteur (ThéMA laboratory). Better understanding biodiversity for sustaining all life forms Life takes all kinds of forms and we use the term biodiversity to characterize this complexity. Humans impact biodiversity to such an extent that limiting this impact has become central to...