MABS 20201 is part of the AAMAS 2021 conference taking place in London, UK on 3rd-7th of May 2021

MABS 2021 is part of the AAMAS 2021 conference taking place in London, UK on 3rd-7th of May 2021. The meeting of researchers from Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) engineering and the social, economic and organisational sciences is extensively recognised for its role in cross-fertilisation of agent-technology applications in multiple domains, and it has undoubtedly been an important source of inspiration and helped develop a growing body of knowledge in the MAS area. The MABS workshop series continues with its goal to bring together researchers interested in MAS engineering, with researchers focused on finding efficient solutions to model complex social systems, in such areas as economics, management, organisational and social sciences in general. In all these areas, agent theories, metaphors, models, analysis, experimental designs, empirical studies, and methodological principles, all converge into simulation as a way of achieving explanations and predictions, exploration and testing of hypotheses, better designs and systems and providing decision-support in a wide range of applications.

Relevant topics

The range of technical issues that MABS has dealt with, and continues to deal with, is quite diverse and extensive. Topics relevant to this workshop include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Simulation methodologies
    • standards for MABS
    • methodologies and simulation languages for MABS
    • simulation platforms and tools for MABS
    • visualisation and analytic tools
    • approaches for large-scale simulations
    • scalability and robustness in MABS
    • future challenges in MABS
  • Simulation of social, economic and organizational behaviour
    • formal and agent models of social, economic and organizational behaviour
    • cognitive organizations and social simulation
    • game theory and simulation
    • social structure, social networks and simulating organizations
    • simulating social complexity (e.g. structures and norms, social order, emergence of cooperation and coordinated action, self-organisation, the micro-macro link)
  • Applications / Empirical work
    • MABS in environmental organizations
    • MABS and cloud computing
    • agent-based experimental economics
    • participative-based simulation
    • MABS and games
    • MABS in governance and policy-making

Moreover, in this edition, we will encourage submissions that address the theme simulation analytics. In particular, we want to address new methods for sense-making from the results of large complex multi-agent simulations. These topics are important for the MAS/AI/machine learning communities and for economic/social/organizational scientists using simulations. If you are not sure if your work is suitable for MABS please feel free to get in touch with the organisers, providing a working title and short abstract.

Target audience

The workshop will provide a forum for social scientists, MAS and AI researchers and developers, and simulation researchers to: (1) assess the current state of the art in the modelling and simulation of social systems and MAS, (2) identify where existing approaches can be successfully applied, (3) learn about new approaches and explore future research challenges, and (4) exchange ideas and knowledge in an inter-disciplinary environment and to help build new collaborations.

The workshop will be of interest to researchers engaged in modelling and in analysing multi-agent systems, and those interested in applying agent-based simulation techniques to real-world problems. In addition, it will attract researchers committed to cross-cutting research that is complementary to more orthodox modelling and simulation approaches.

MABS intends to be a place where researchers can exchange ideas about their work and we are looking forward to the community meeting once again in person. At the same time, we are also planning for the possibility that the global public health situation might require us to run the workshop as a partly or fully virtual event. In such a context, we will adapt the program and provide the tools so that researchers from all around the world can participate to the event. Even in an online workshop we will endeavor to create the space for informal exchange of ideas and to get to know each other, for example in panel discussions or digital break-out rooms on topics identified during the workshop by the participants

Submission of papers

Submissions are limited to 12 pages formatted according to the Springer LNCS and must be electronically submitted before the submission deadline through the workshop conference system, which is available at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mabs2021

All contributions will be peer-reviewed by two or three independent PC members. The evaluation criteria of contributions will be based on originality, quality, clarity, and its relevance to the workshop.

All accepted papers will be printed in the AAMAS workshop proceedings. In addition, following the tradition of the previous MABS workshops, we intend to publish the accepted papers, after a further reviewing process, in Springer-Verlag’s Multi-Agent-Based Simulation book series, LNAI.

Contact

For any questions related to the workshop please email mabs2021@easychair.org.