Animal Comparative Economics lab

Agent Based Modelling (ABMs) is an intuitive modelling technique in which individual units (the agents) are given explicit instructions, and then allowed to interact with each other and their environment according to the instructions. They are ideal for studying complex systems (e.g. sand dunes, insect colonies, telecommunication networks and ecosystems), in which the behaviours of individual agents result in group level patterns.

 

This workshop will consist of a series of 3 sessions of maximum 2 hours each, with a piece of homework between day 2 and 3. In the workshop  we will learn to create our own ABMs using the program Netlogo. Netlogo is freely available online, and is very intuitive. No knowledge of programming or mathematics is required for this course. The course is in English.

 

The workshop plan is as follows:

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Day 1: (Tuesday, 10th January): an introduction to ABMs and Netlogo

Day 2: (Wednesday, 11th January): learning to program Netlogo

Day 3: (Thursday, 12th January): Directed, semi-independant programming

HOMEWORK: make your own ABM

Day 4 ( (Friday, 13th January): presentation of models, sharing ideas

 

The course is limited to 15 participants. Teams of two may work together in this course.

 

For the workshop you will need to bring a laptop, with the modelling software (netlogo) already installed on it. The program can be downloaded for free at http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/

The workshop is based on the tutorials which comes with the program (because they are very good!). Feel free to play around with the program, but if you do the tutorials you might get a bit bored in the workshop.