3 Greg Paperin Suzanne Sadedin 2009 10th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL’09) Budapest Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science 13/09/2009 Dual Phase Evolution, complexity, network, criticality, phase change, connectivity Evidence from several fields suggests that Dual Phase Evolution (DPE) may account for distinctive features associated with complex adaptive systems. We review empirical and theoretical evidence for DPE in natural systems and examine the relationship of DPE to other complexity theories such self-organised criticality and adaptive cycles.