Recent Developments and Future Directions in Agent-Based Modelling in Population Studies
Call for papers before January 31, 2014. Send an extended abstract (500 -1000 words) or a full paper with a short abstract to abm.workshop@soc.kuleuven.be
Since the publication of the ground-breaking volume edited by
Francesco Billari and Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz in 2003
(Agent-Based Computational Demography, Physica Verlag), an
increasing number of scholars have been advocating the use of
agent-based modelling (ABM) in population studies. The premise is
that ABM offers a number of benefits for the field, such as (1)
enhanced theory formation by better linking the micro-level with
the macro-level, (2) the ability to represent populations more
adequately as complex systems, and (3) providing laboratories in
which rare events and the implications of alternative mechanisms
can be studied.
The increasing number of ABM studies published in the main
scholarly journals in population studies shows that the merits of
the approach have received increasing recognition in the field.
Yet, at the same time new debates and questions have arisen that
still have to be resolved. Examples include things such as (1) how
multi-actor networks can be integrated in demographic models, (2)
the usefulness of ABM for forecasting, (3) how ABM can be injected
with empirical data to achieve a better match between model and
reality, (4) how geographic information can be fruitfully used in
ABM, and (5) how ABM results can effectively and correctly be
reported in a concise way.
The goal of this workshop is to see how we have proceeded in
applications of ABM in population studies over the last decade and
to discuss fruitful directions for the future. To this end, we
invite conceptual and applied research addressing topics such as
(but not limited to):
Conceptual
- The use of ABM for explanation and forecasting
- Injecting models with empirical population data
- The use of geographic information
- Combining ABM with micro- and macro-simulation
- Model verification and validation
- The representation of social networks
- Reporting of model details and resultsApplied
- Mate selection and union formation
- Fertility
- Mortality
- Ageing society
- (International) Migration