My research is focused on autonomous agents and multiagent systems. Specifically: Trust and reputation models, cognitive architectures, cognitive models and social simulation.
Agent-based models of human behaviour, from cognitive modelling through to cognitively-rich social simulation.
social-ecological modelling; cognitive modelling; agent-based modeling&simulation; data science; smart city modelling; artificial intelligence; large-scale simulation
IRPact - An integrated agent based modeling approach in innovation diffusion
Goal: The goal of IRPact is to develop a flexible and generic innovation-diffusion ABM (agent-based modelling) framework, based on requirements derived from a literature analysis. The aim of IRPact is to allow for modeling a large number of application contexts and questions of interest.
It provides a formal model (framework) as well as a software implementation in order to assist modelers with a basic infrastructure for their own research.
Conceptually it is thought to be part of the IRPsim (https://irpsim.uni-leipzig.de), with the vision to bring together rational approaches and cognitive modeling in an integrated approach within the context of sustainable energy markets.
In my research I focus on understanding human behaviour in group(s) as a part of a complex (social) system. My research can be characterised by the overall question: ‘How does group or collective behaviour arise or change given its social and physical context?‘ More specifically, I have engaged with: ‘How is (individual) human behaviour affected by being in a crowd?’, ‘Why do some groups (cooperatively) use their resources sustainably, whereas others do not?‘, ‘What is the role of (often implicit simplistic) assumptions regarding human behaviour for science and/or management?’
To address these questions, I use computational simulations to integrate and reflect synthesised knowledge from literature, empirics and experts. Models, simulation and data analysis are my tools for gaining a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying such systems. More specifically, I work with agent-based modelling (ABM), simulation experiments and data analysis of large datasets. Apart from crowd modelling and social-ecological modelling, I also develop methodological tools to analyse social simulation data and combining ABM with other methods, such as behavioural experiments.