The goal of this project is to provide a well-sound methodological framework for the treatment of complexity by policy makers and social scientists, endowed with an updated theoretical body of knowledge, a set of tools that enable scenario simulation, and a collection of case studies to guide and demonstrate the applicability of the framework. This framework will be based on agent-oriented modelling and simulation methods and tools.

Agent oriented modelling provides a conceptual framework for analysis and simulation of complex social systems. This comes from the fact that agent related concepts allow the representation of organizational and behavioural aspects of individuals in a society and their interactions. This has motivated in the last years the development of a wide range of software languages/shells/libraries to simulate agent-based models.

However, all present two difficulties for being widely accepted by social scientists: the end-user should have certain programming skills, and these software frameworks have been implemented forgetting the social specifications.

Full name: Herramientas basadas en agentes para el modelado y simulación de sistemas sociales complejos
Identifier: TIN2008-06464-C03-01
Program: National R&D Projects
Duration: 01/01/2009 to 12/31/2011
Institutions: University of Valladolid, University Complutense of Madrid