Description:
There is increasing interest in social network analysis within the social sciences, primarily because it is a way of examining the structures of interactions between actors. While earlier forms of social network analysis were mainly concerned with building a static picture of networks recorded at one moment in time, attention has now turned to more dynamic analyses, in which the development of network structures is attended to.

Concurrently, agent-based modelling, which enables the interactions between agents to be represented in a straightforward way, has become more interested in network structures. However, modellers tend to stick with a few archetypical and probably unrepresentative network forms in designing their models, such random, small world and preferential attachment networks.

In this advanced course, we shall discuss the possible linkages between social network analysis and agent-based modelling, reviewing current ideas in both areas and considering how agent-based modelling might benefit from work in social network analysis and vice versa.

Participants:
To join the course, you should have had some prior experience with either (or both) agent-based modelling or social network analysis.

Programme:
* Introduction (Nigel Gilbert, University of Surrey)
* Social network analysis: current developments (Martin Everett, University of Manchester)
* Using agent-based modelling to explore social networks (Christina Prell, University of Sheffield)
* An alternative model of social networks (Lynne Hamill, University of Surrey)
* Other directions and ideas (all participants)
* Panel session: Should social network analysts become agent-based modellers? (Chair: Edmund Chattoe-Brown, University of Leicester)

The presenters:
Edmund Chattoe-Brown’s research addresses decisions with significant social components. Flows of information/influence through networks are obvious examples. He is interested in how agent-based modelling can systematically be informed by data routinely collected in social science, steering between data free “toy” models and “number crunching” for existing theories.

Martin Everett gained a DPhil in social networks from Oxford University in 1980 under Clyde Mitchell. He has published over 100 papers mainly on social networks and is one of the developers of the software package UCINET. Martin has been president of the International Network of Social Network Analysts and still serves on the board; he currently holds a chair in Social Network Analysis at the University of Manchester.

Nigel Gilbert is professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey and editor of the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. He has written on the methodology of agent-based modelling and authored two textbooks on social simulation, as well as directing a number of large projects that used agent-based models.

Lynne Hamill is in the Centre for Research in Social Simulation at the University of Surrey. She is using agent-based modelling to investigate the interaction between social, communication and transport networks. Previously she worked in the Digital World Research Centre, University of Surrey and the UK Government Economic Service.

Christina Prell is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests concern social networks and network analysis; in particular, the role social networks play in discussions of social capital and social learning, as well as their role in shaping actors’ views of the environment. She is currently involved in two funded projects; one in relation to stakeholders and land management and the other pertaining to simulating social networks to explore the links between social capital and small-worlds. She is also completing a book on social networks for SAGE.

Registration:
To register, please visit http://www.simian.ac.uk/courses
Places are limited, so you should register as soon as you can.