** 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/

** Paper submission deadline: May 28, 2012 **

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)

General Program Committee
Nuno David, ISCTE
Gennaro Di Tosto, Utrecht
Bruce Edmonds, Manchester
Andreas Ernst, Kassel
Maria Gini, University of Minnesota
Gertjan Hofstede, Wageningen University
Wander Jager, Groningen
Bogumil Kaminsky, Warsaw
Maciej Latek, George Mason University
Seyed Mussavi Rizi, George Mason University
Igor Nikolic, TU Delft
Pablo Noriega, IIIA
Julian Padget, University of Bath
Pascal Perez, University of Wollongong
Jens Pfau, University of Melbourne
Maryam Purvis, University of Otago
Jaime Sichman, University of Sao Paulo
Alex Smajgl, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences
Liz Sonenberg, Melbourne University
Flaminio Squazzoni, Università di Brescia
Tiberiu Stratulat, LIRMM, UM2
Yao-Hua Tan, Delft University of Technology
Dirk Van Rooy, Australian National University
Javier Vazquez, UPC
Tim Verwaart, Wageningen UR

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