Events

Current Events

Doctoral & Early Career Research Workshop - 30th September - 2nd October, 2009

Opening of CRiCS Laboratories - 12th November, 2009

Writing Retreat 30th November - 2nd December, 2009

Complex Systems Research Summer School - 6-11th December, 2009

Special Session at WAMS - April 2010

Past Events

Conferences, workshops and summer schools are a fundamental part of the groups activities.

In December 1998, the inaugural Complex Systems Summer School was held on the Bathurst campus, largely funded by the Australian Research Council under its Special Research Initiatives Program.

In October 1999, the Spatial Metadata and Online GIS conference was held on the Bathurst campus. Over 60 delegates attended which included four international speakers.

The second Summer School took place in December, 2000, with the theme: Interactive Virtual Worlds and Computer Games.

National Science Week was held in Bathurst from 7th to 11th May, 2001. Presentations were held each night starting at 6pm. Biodiversity Challenges was the topic for discussion, with talks being held on platypus, animals and mistletoe also environmental problems in Nepal, dinosaurs, disasters, diversity and animal games were all covered during this week long celebration of science.

During December 2002, the third Complex Systems Summer School was held on the Bathurst Campus. This year, the theme: Grand Challenges of Complex Systems Science was explored. This week long school was attended by approximately 50 delegates/ speakers with a number of researchers/scientists from CSIRO attending.

In December 2005, the fourth Complex Sytems Summer School was held on the Bathurst Campus. The theme of this summer school was the interface of mind and complexity and the theoretical foundations of the human mind and the potential for large scale artificial minds. Summerschool.html

Frontiers of Games Research Workshop was held in December 2006 at the Bathurst Campus. The purpose of this workshop was to look at games research from a range of perspectives. The purpose was not so much to present existing research, but more to discuss where the field is going and the major research challenges. Frontiers.html

Dr Inman Harvey from Univeristy of Sussex visited the Centre in February 2007. Dr Harvey conducted a seminar on Evolutionary Robotics: A case study in Humanoid Walking at Bathurst Campus.

Complex Systems Summer School 2007

Agent Based Modelling in Socio-Economic Systems

Agent based modelling (ABM) has become established as one of the key methodologies for understanding complex socio-economic systems. It determines overall behaviour of a system, constructed of many individual entities, the agents, some or all, intelligent and adaptive, representing individual behaviour and interactions and allowing computer simulation through time to determine system outcomes. The methods of building the agent behaviour and the connectivity of the agents as a population are crucial elements. The summer school will cover these topics in detail, with extensive hands-on experience with an agent-based model. Participants will have the opportunity to present their own models or problems during the event.

Modelling individuals lies in principle in the cognitive/science and/or artificial intelligence domains. But game theory, widely used in economics also provides a strategy metric, when choices are simple and easy to define. Some relevant ideas of game theory will be described.

The networks by which agents are linked and the evolution of networks are also important components of a socio-economic system, and we include an introduction to analytical tools and models in this domain as well.

Intricately linked to ABM is collective intelligence, the cooperation of individuals to achieve a common goal. Frequently the pursuit by individuals of their own ends leads to system deterioration or failure, the tragedy of the commons. The ways in which competition for common, finite resources can be controlled are of widespread interest across many domains.

Finally the summer school will bring all of these ideas together in a widespread discussion of the future trends in simulation and control of complex systems.

The Summer School is sponsored by COSNet, the ARC Complex Open Systems Research Network.

Confirmed Speakers

David Wolpert, Stanford University Aeronautics and Astronautics Dept.
is internationally known for the No Free Lunch Theorem and his theoretical formulation of collective intelligence. He now works in multi-agent systems and game theory in economics.

Eve Mitleton-Kelly, London School of Economics
runs the complexity in management and organisation programmes, with research areas including the development of complex social systems theory and how this can be applied in restructuring organisations.

Bob Marks, University of New South Wales
specialises in issues regarding the social impact of economic theory, including the use of illicit drugs, the environmental impacts of energy use, and strategic behaviour in markets with small numbers of sellers.

Andrew Smith, Leximancer
works in information science and text analysis. He is the developer of the Leximancer system.

Pip Pattison, University of Melbourne
develops mathematical models for social and behavioural phenomena, particularly for social networks and network-based social processes, with her current research focusing on the development of dynamic network-based stochastic models for social processes.

Ian Wilkinson, University of New South Wales
has experience researching interfirm relations and networks in domestic and international markets and their implications for strategy and policy, but also has interests in modeling market system structure, dynamics, evolution and complexity.

Louise Young, University of Technology Sydney
has research and teaching interests in the area of business relationships and networks, including customer and supplier loyalty and channels of distribution.

Luis Izquierdo, University of Burgos
is a complex-systems modeller with a strong background in mathematics, computer modelling, and economics. His main area of expertise is game theory and the analysis of complex systems.

Conference Programme

Scholarships

A limited number of scholarships are available for full-time research students to subsidise registration costs, with some limited funding to cover accommodation for students. If you would like to apply for a scholarship please email CRiCS admin with a one page CV, including up to 100 word statement of interest and relevance of the summer school. While we have several scholarships available for registration, the funding for accommodation is more limited, please indicate in your application whether you are also applying for funding to cover the cost of accommodation.
For further information on either of the above contact CRiCS admin.

Also, please note that there are reduced summer school registration rates for members of COSNet - ARC Complex Open Systems Research Network.

For further information please email either Terry Bossomaier or Kate Parsons.

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© 2007- CRiCS - Centre for Research in Complex Systems Contact : Kate Parsons