Cultural Evolution in Spatially Structured Populations (three-day
conference)

Date: 13th September to 15th September 2010
Location: University College London, London, UK.

Open Call for Papers

Online abstract submission deadline 28th May 2010.
Pre-registration also now available online.

Conference website: http://www.cecd.ucl.ac.uk/events/?go1=2010conf_index

Confirmed speakers: Alex Bentley (Durham Uni.), Richard Blythe (Edinburgh Uni.), Dirk Brockmann (Northwestern Uni.), Tom Currie and Ruth Mace (UCL), Tim Evans (Imperial College), Sergei Fedotov (Manchester Uni.), Dirk Helbing (Zurich Uni.), Anne Kandler (UCL), Tim Kohler (SFI & Washington State Uni.), Kevin Laland and Luke Rendell (St Andrews Uni.), Luke Premo (MPI-EVA), James Steele (UCL), Mark Thomas (UCL), Peter Turchin (U. Conn.), Alan Wilson (UCL).

The aim of the meeting is to demonstrate the usefulness and explanatory power of spatially explicit models of cultural evolution. By cultural evolution we mean the dynamics of change in frequencies of alternative languages, social systems, settlements, material cultural traditions, and their various constituent elements. Spatial explicitness may be conceived in terms of aggregations and their distribution, of mobility and interaction patterns, or of the effects of spatial environmental heterogeneity.

We are looking for situations where mathematical models can be demonstrated both to be theoretically tractable, and to have substantial explanatory power in a detailed analysis of a case study. The focus of papers should be on demonstrating firstly the applicability of the model and secondly (most
importantly) what we can learn from such models that we did not know before.

Spatial dependence may be represented in models as effects of distance and/or environmental heterogeneity on movement or interaction rates, or on interaction modality (e.g. co-operative versus hostile; trade-based versus diplomacy-based; etc.). We are particularly interested in models that explore the spatiotemporal evolution of bounded social units (defined by language or polity), and their size distribution on a multi-unit landscape.

Papers are also invited that apply novel statistical techniques to address inverse problems. We are interested in inverse models that estimate model parameters from empirical data, particularly where these relate to the historical evolution of spatially-structured populations, their cultural repertoires, and their aggregation patterns.

Conference organizers: Anne Kandler (UCL) and James Steele (UCL)
Contact: j.steele@ucl.ac.uk