Logic List Mailing Archive

AMPLE 2012: Agent-based modeling for Policy Engineering, Montpellier (France), August 2012

Call for Papers

 	AMPLE'12
2nd International Workshop on Agent-based Modeling for PoLicy Engineering
with a special track on Sustainability
co-located with ECAI 2012 (Montpellier, August 27-31, 2012)

 	 http://ample2012.tudelft.nl/ [http://ample2012.tudelft.nl/]

 	Workshop Description Socio-technical systems are complex adaptive 
entities in which social systems and technologies co-evolve. To attain 
policy goals in such an environment, social and technical elements require 
to be put to use in a combined way. In order to understand, analyze and 
design such complex systems, advanced tools are required. One of the major 
tools for understanding socio-technical systems is agent-based modeling. 
In recent years, social scientists from all domains, including economists, 
political scientists and sociologists, and policy makers have been using 
agent-based models to develop a better understanding of their problem 
domains and make better decisions. Building artificial societies by 
combining multi-agent systems with domain knowledge is, however, a 
challenge, not least because of the complexity involved.

 	A particularly important and timely aspect of this work is the 
design of sustainable policies. We will therefore have a special track 
focusing on sustainability in agent-based modeling for policy engineering. 
Policies for sustainable development require complex decisions about 
resource management, balance of economic, environmental and societal needs 
and involve many countries, interest groups and individuals. Especially 
for sustainable societies we are interested in simulations that can 
capture the behavioral patterns, changes and interactions in a society. 
This requires large scale simulations with relatively rich cognitive 
agents.

 	Topics of interest for AMPLE 2012 include, but are not limited to:
* Tools and methods for implementing policies in agent-based models (with a special interest in sustainability)
* Agent-oriented models for decision support:
- Social networks: influence in decision making; representation; models for simulation
- Culture and social norms: influence in decision making; representation; models for simulation
- Participatory design for sustainable policies
- Integration of normative and social aspects (design for values, in particular: sustainability)
* Rich cognitive agent models for policy analysis
* Formal methods for specifying policies in coordination and organizational structures
* Models for verification, validation and visualization of simulations for policy analysis
* Connection of tools and methods for policy analysis (agent-based modeling, game theory, gaming, system dynamics)

 	Workshop Goals The goal of the AMPLE workshop is to connect 
research in agent-based social simulation and computational social science 
with policy making, institutional analysis and tools like system dynamics 
and gaming. This combination will have benefits for further enrichment and 
real-life applicability of agent-based modeling and simulation. By 
gathering different perspectives, we aim to explore how agent-oriented 
research can be used or improved to assist policy making in the social 
sciences.

 	AMPLE BACKGROUND AMPLE'12 is the follow-up of the first 
AMPLE-workshop co-located with AAMAS'11 (Taipei, Taiwan). AMPLE?12 joins 
forces with the congenial ABSSS-workshop (Agent Based Simulations for a 
Sustainable Society), which held its first edition in November 2011, as 
part of the PRIMA conference (Wollongong, Australia).

 	INSTRUCTION FOR AUTHORS Authors are invited to submit full papers 
of 15 pages in Springer-LNCS style. Submissions will be reviewed by at 
least three reviewers in a single-blind review process. Paper should be 
submitted through our Easychair site: 
www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ample2012. At least one author of each 
accepted paper is required to register for the workshop and for ECAI. 
Workshop notes including all accepted papers will be distributed to ECAI 
2012 registrants in electronic form and made available on the ECAI 
website.

 	Important Dates
Paper Submission: 28 May 2012
Notification: 28 June 2012
Camera-ready submission: 15 July 2012
AMPLE Workshop: 27 or 28 August 2012

 	AMPLE organizers
Organizing Chairs
Amineh Ghorbani (TU Delft, NL)
Neil Yorke-Smith (American University Beirut, LB)
Tony Bastin Roy Savarimuthu (U of Otago, NZ)

 	_Program Chairs_
Francien Dechesne (TU Delft, NL)
Armando Geller (Group W and George Mason University, USA)

 	_Steering committee_
Rosaria Conte (IRC, Rome, IT)
Frank Dignum (Utrecht University, NL)
Virginia Dignum (TU Delft, NL)
Catholijn Jonker (TU Delft, NL)
Pablo Noriega (IIIA Barcelona, ESP)
Julian Padget (University of Bath, UK)

 	Consult our website http://ample2012.tudelft.nl 
[http://ample2012.tudelft.nl] for more information!