16th March: John Realpe Gomez on "Finding the nodes that need defending in an attacked network - a statistical mechanics approach"

4pm Neils Bohr Common Room, Schuster Building.

All welcome.

9th March: James Sanders on 'Learning large games - too many players rock the boat'

4pm Neils Bohr Common Room, Schuster Building.

All welcome.

An Introduction to Social Simulation aimed at PhD students/researchers

An Introduction to Social Simulation, 16/17 April, 3/10/17 May 2012


Jointly run by:
• School of Geography, University of Leeds
• Centre for Policy Modelling, Manchester Metropolitan University
• Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester

Location: Room G11, Sackville Street Building, Manchester University.

Tutors
Mark Birkin, Bruce Edmonds, Andy Evans, Alison Heppenstall, Nick Malleson, Nick Shryane 
 
Suitability
This is primarily aimed at Social science postgraduates and research staff, but might be of
interest to anyone interested in social simulation models and methods, including those from
complexity science, ecology, geography, economics, organisational science and business.
 
Course Format 
This is a 5‐day course, which will be delivered in an initial two‐day unit, followed by three single
day units at intervals of approximately one to two weeks. There will be a course dinner on April
16th
 
Maximum Number of Places: 20
 
Description
Introduces the methods and techniques of social simulation, including microsimulation and
agent‐based simulation. The course will include pedagogic material on the full range of issues for
social simulation.  The tutors and demonstrators will discuss three detailed case studies ranging
across the social sciences, and which introduce the principles of social simulation from the
bottom up.  Participants will be encouraged to think through the possibilities for applying
simulation in the context of their own research, individually and in small groups.

Prerequisites 
This course assumes that you have basic IT skills but no previous knowledge of social simulation
or specific software packages will be assumed.  Participants are requested to bring and work
with their own laptop computers wherever possible.

Content Outline
What is social simulation? Using Existing Simulations; How to Plan and Build a Simulation;
Validation and Verification; Checking and Understanding Simulation Behaviour; Overcoming
Difficulties; Critical Assessment of Simulation Results; Future Directions for Social Simulation
and Agent‐based Modelling. Three particular examples will be discussed in detail: Demographic
Microsimulation; Agent‐based Simulation of Housing and Segregation; and a Simulation of
Economic Systems and Market Behaviour

Cost: No charge to students and staff of UK Academic Institutions

Enquiries, registration form: email info‐neiss@googlegroups.com

More information: https://sites.google.com/site/socialsimulationcourse/

PhD Position at the Centre for Policy Modelling on: Data-mining, Visualisation and Agent-Based Modelling

PhD Position at the Centre for Policy Modelling on:

Data-mining, Visualisation and Agent-Based Modelling

Stipend: £13,290 per annum + applicable fees for 3 years 

Centre for Policy Modelling
Manchester Metropolitan University Business School

Applications are invited to apply for this fully-funded doctoral position at the Centre for Policy Modelling, to investigate some of the potential synergies between data-mining, visualisation techniques and agent-based modelling.  This studentship is within the umbrella of the SCID project (scid-project.org), funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s Cross-disciplinary Interfaces Programme, 'Complexity Science in the Real World'.  This project is in association with the University of Manchester's Institute for Social Change and its Department of Theoretical Physics.  This is a high-profile and ambitious project that aims to develop a new approach to using simulations to gain understanding of important social issues.  The project is from September 2010 to August 2015 so the funding will end August 2015.

The period of study will involve the development of techniques to apply data-mining, visualisation and agent-based simulation in innovative and complementary ways drawing on the evidence and data from the SCID project, which is centered around 3 areas: diversity, homophily and social trust, socio-political integration, and socio-economic inequality.  Thus the data and target of the techniques and approaches developed would be to do with one of these areas.

The data and evidence will be provided by experts at the Institute for Social Change. The central challenge of the PhD will be to find synergies between data-mining, visualisation techniques and agent-based modelling, for example: visualising the output from simulations, using data-mining techniques to inform the specification of agent-based models, or using data-mining to locate “phases” in the behaviour of simulations. Depending on the exact area identified for investigation this studentship will be jointly supervised with the department for computer science.

Applicants should preferably have a Masters-level degree in a relevant discipline, preferably with an element of computer science or computational social science. The candidate should thus have a reasonable level programming and/or simulation experience. The candidate has to be an EU national and not already have a PhD.

The CPM is a world-leading research centre in social simulation.  Since its inception in 1992 it has developed its unique blend of trans-disciplinary research, crossing the areas of: artificial intelligence, complexity science, philosophy and computational social science (to get an idea of its scope browse its discussion papers).  It has built up a reputation and track-record over that time being involved in a number of EU and UK projects (Ocopomo, EMIL, Nania, NeWater, GIACS, CAVES, CCDEW, FIRMA, IMIS).  The CPM is a happy, informal but creative lab.  For more information about the work of the Centre see its website at http://cfpm.org

For informal discussions about the post, contact Bruce Edmonds on +44 (0) 161 247 6479 or email bruce@edmonds.name.  

To apply, send a CV with a covering letter to Bruce Edmonds, Centre for Policy Modelling, MMUBS, Aytoun Building, Aytoun Street, M1 3GH, UK.  Closing date for applications: 16^h March 2011.

The University is committed to an Equal Opportunities Policy.

Up-coming Informal Manchester Complexity Seminars

January 27th:  Joe Challenger "Nonnormality and noise: an investigation".

February 3rd:  Diana Garcia Lopez: "Bacteria and their inhabitants".

February 10th:  Tommaso Biancalani: "Noise-induced transition in the Kaneko-Togashi model".

All in the Neils Bohr Common Room, floor 6, Schuster Building.  All welcome.