A hands-on introduction to Agent-Based Modelling for
Social Scientists: Exploring Complex and Dynamic Social Processes
28th February & 1st March 2013, CCSR
Computer Lab, Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University of Manchester.
The Institute for Social Change, the Cathie Marsh Centre for
Census and Survey Research and the Centre for Policy Modelling will be running
a 2-day introduction to agent-based simulation. This workshop is funded by a
grant from the Methods@Manchester initiative (www.methods.manchester.ac.uk).
The course is free to attend and will be suitable for people without any
experience of computer programming, it is aimed at new
post-graduate social researchers, e.g. PhD students, post-docs, lecturers.
This workshop will introduce participants to the modelling
of dynamic social processes, such as group membership, influence, imitation collaboration
and innovation, through a series of agent-based simulations.
Participants will gain understanding of the simulation of
social processes by exploring working simulation models and by adapting these
models to describe different types of process.
It will give participants a first-hand experience of complexity science
including the ideas of emergence, self-organisation, chaos, ‘lock in’ and dynamic
systems. We will also consider the
limitations and difficulties of such techniques, and how they complement more
traditional approaches in the social sciences.
This will be a largely hands-on course, exposing
participants to a series of simulation models in the NetLogo simulation
language. It will include: brief introductions, simplified example
models, guided suggestions for interacting with them and assistants to help
when you get stuck. There will be some
summary sessions to bring out the lessons learnt and additional materials to
guide participants onto the next steps of simulation for those that are
interested.
Application process
There is no charge to attend the course and places are
strictly limited. If you wish to reserve a place, please apply on or before the
1st of December 2012. You must include in your application a
100-word piece that clearly and concisely explains how you anticipate your
research would benefit from attendance, without lapsing even once into
platitude or cliché.
Those securing a place will be notified on or before the 31st
of January 2012.
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