Teaching of/with Agent-Based Models in the Social Sciences

April 8th-9th, 2010

Paris, France

Aims and topics of the Conference

A two-day conference dedicated to communication and pedagogy of or with agent-based models in the Social Sciences.

• Methods concerning the teaching of agent-based modelling and simulation. • Methods concerning the use of modelling and or models in a more general teaching purpose (e.g. modelling resource-users interactions to teach renewable resource management,...). • Methods for the communication of agent-based models (e.g. methods to describe and communicate around models towards the scientific community, media or the society). • The use of agent-based models in a communication purpose (e.g. serious games to sensitize a population to environmental issues).

Organization

The MAPS group (Multi-Agent modelling applied to Spatial Phenomena) is concerned by the teaching of ABM in social sciences to junior scientists and PhD students. Since 2008 an innovative training format is tested which alternates between intensive collective workshops (conferences on theory and practice of ABM and teamwork) and long period of distance teamwork (using various web technologies). Each trainees group develops its own project model. MAPS2 conference aims at sharing this pedagogic experience and confronts it to other teaching practices as well as to applications of ABM for communication purpose.

Partners

RNSC (Complex System French National Network) S4 (Spatial simulation for the Social Sciences) / European Modelling Tour, SIMBAAD CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University Laboratoire PRODIG, UMR 8586. ESSA (European Social Simulation Association)

Agenda

8st April 10:00-12:00 The MAPS experience - Trainees’ groups present their project model – 3 presentations - Trainers present the pedagogic format used and its outputs 12:00-14:00 Lunch break 14:00-15:00 Keynote speaker : Uri Wilensky (Centre for Connected Learning, USA) “NetLogo: a Multi-Agent platform for education and research” 15:00-17:00 Conference speakers – Part 1 4 presentations with questions

9nd April 9:00-10:00 Keynote speaker : Volker Grimm (Centre for Environmental Research, Germany) “Protocols and methods to communicate with and about models” 10:00-12:00 Conference speakers – Part 2 4 presentations with questions 12:00-14:00 Lunch break 14:00-15:00 Keynote speaker : COMMOD group member: “Co-learning and mediation through models: a companion modelling approach” 15:00-17:00 Round table : “Modelling and pedagogy in social sciences” Animated by Dawn Parker (University of Waterloo, Canada) a

Proposed keynote speakers

Volker Grimm, UFZ Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle (Germany). Uri Wilensky, Centre for Connected Learning, Northwestern University (USA). COMMOD group member.

Proposed round table participants (to be confirmed)

Chairman: Dawn Parker, School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Canada

Michel Etienne, Ecodevelopment Unit, INRA (France) Volker Grimm, UFZ Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle (Germany) Lena Sanders, Géographie-Cités, CNRS (France) Uri Wilensky, Centre for Connected Learning, Northwestern University (USA)

Submitting a conference proposal

Please send before 15 January 2010 an short paper (4 to 5 pages, times 12) in English to arnaud.banos@parisgeo.cnrs.fr. Eight conferences will be selected. Final papers will be evaluated by the scientific committee for a collective publication in Journal of Artificial Society and Social Simulation (http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS.html)

Scientific Committee (to be confirmed) Luis Antunes, Department of Informatics, University of Lisboa (Portugal) Olivier Barreteau, UMR G-EAU, Cemagref (France) Edmund Chattoe, Department of Sociology, University of Leicester (UK) Eric Daudé, UMR IDEES, CNRS (France) Nigel Gilbert, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey (UK) Tim Kholer, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida (USA) Matthias Meyer, Institute of Management Control and Accounting, Hamburg University (Germany) Gary Polhill, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (UK) Alex Smajgl, CSIRO (Australia) Flaminio Squazzoni, University of Brescia (Italy)

Important dates Short paper submission: 31th January Acceptance notification: 15th February Final paper due: 31th March Conference: 8-9 April 2010

Contacts Event organization pierre.gautreau@univ-paris1.fr

Conference submission arnaud.banos@parisgeo.cnrs.fr Organizers - Frédéric Amblard, IRIT (UMR 5055 CNRS/ Toulouse University) - Arnaud Banos, Géographie-Cités (UMR 8504 CNRS/ Paris1 University) - Nicolas Becu, PRODIG (UMR 8586 CNRS/ Paris1 University) - Pierre Gautreau, PRODIG (UMR 8586 CNRS/ Paris1 University)