We are an interdisciplinary team of scientists working on an ambitious three-and-a-half year project titled "Spatially Embedded Complex Systems Engineering" (or SECSE). We are a research cluster spanning neuroscience, artificial intelligence, geography, and complex systems, brought together to understand the role of the spatial organization and spatial processes in complex networks within the domains of neural control, geo-information systems and distributed IT systems such as those implicated in air-traffic control. A key driver for the project is IT's current "network transition": from traditional systems comprising relatively isolated hierarchically organised computational elements to large-scale, massively interconnected systems that are physically distributed and affected by local conditions yet must remain secure, robust, and efficient. The project involves several world-class research groups in the U.K., and takes a highly interdisciplinary approach, bringing together experts in spatial processes, adaptive processes, biosystems and design processes, employing 6 post-doctoral researchers and involving two further doctoral research students.