Call for Papers: MABS 2022 (The 23rd International Workshop on Multi-Agent-Based Simulation)

MABS 2022 is part of the AAMAS 2022 conference taking place in Auckland, New Zealand on May 9-13, 2022. 

The meeting of researchers from Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) engineering and researchers from the social, economic, and organisational sciences is extensively recognised for its role in cross-fertilisation. It has undoubtedly been an important source of inspiration for the body of knowledge that has been produced in the 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 areas such 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, conducting exploration and testing of hypotheses, as well as investigating better designs and systems. 

We welcome your paper submissions from all areas of multi-agent-based simulation and particularly also of work in early stages, which can benefit from active discussions!

List of 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 and Intelligent behaviour
  • Formal and agent models of social behaviour
  • Cognitive modelling and 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 and 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
• Simulation Analytics
  • Application of data analytics and machine learning methods to the analysis of large-scale simulations

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought about renewed interest in modelling of disease (and measures to control it) in societies. We intend for 2022 to include a special session on simulations related to the crisis, e.g., Modelling of transmission processes, societies, or effects of interventions. We especially encourage the submission of novel and original approaches that are not fully developed and can benefit from discussions.

One of the ten areas of interest in the main conference in 2022 is modelling and simulation of societies. This aligns closely with this workshop, but the purpose of the workshop is to allow more active discussion, particularly of work which may still be in early stages and not ready for presentation in the main conference. The workshop has run alongside the main conference since AAMAS was first held in Bologna in 2002 and continues to attract a diverse and enthusiastic group of participants.

Target Audience

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

The workshop will be of interest to researchers engaged in modelling and analysis of 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 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 Guidelines

Submissions are limited to 12 pages formatted according to the Springer LNCS style and must be electronically submitted before the submission deadline through the workshop conference system, which is available at: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mabs2022

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 the Springer Multi-Agent-Based Simulation book series, LNAI.

Important Dates

• Submission deadline: Jan 30, 2022 (submission closed)
• Notification of acceptance or rejection: Feb 28, 2022
• Camera ready versions: Mar 6, 2022
• Preliminary program will be published: Mar 20, 2022
• MABS 2022 will take place: May 9-10, 2022
• Preparation of post-proceedings (Springer LNAI): 2nd half of 2022

Committees

Program Chairs

• Fabian Lorig (Malmö University, Sweden)
• Emma Norling (University of Sheffield, UK)

MABS Steering Committee

• Frédéric Amblard (University of Toulouse, France)
• Luis Antunes (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
• Paul Davidsson (Malmö University, Sweden)
• Emma Norling (University of Sheffield, UK)
• Mario Paolucci (National Research Council, Italy)
• Jaime Simão Sichman (University of São Paulo, Brazil)
• Samarth Swarup (University of Virginia, USA)
• Takao Terano (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
• Harko Verhagen (Stockholm University, Sweden)

Publication

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 the Springer Multi-Agent-Based Simulation book series, LNAI.

Venue

MABS 2022 will be hosted at AAMAS 2022 (21st International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems), which will take place in Auckland, New Zealand on May 9-13, 2022.

Contact

For more information, please also visit the website of the workshop: https://mabsworkshop.github.io/