34 Self Organisation in Multi Agent Systems (SOMAS) 27-28 July 2000 BT conference Facility in Milton Keynes, UK Interest in large-scale systems of agents is growing, fuelled, in part, by recent advances in mobile telecommunications and the spread of the Internet. As these systems grow in complexity the density and diversity of the interconnections between the components (or agents) that make up the system increase rapidly. The global behaviour of these complex systems can be considered to be an emergent property of the interactions between the different agents that go to make up the whole system. Moreover, since such systems are required to provide a flexible service, which can easily be adapted to particular user, needs the practical control of such systems is starting to become beyond the capability of centralised management methods. An alternative way to manage this form of agent-based system is to utilise its emergent properties to make it self-organising and self-regulating. Desirable self-organisation is observed in many biological, social and physical systems. However, fostering these conditions in artificial systems has proved to be difficult and offers the potential for the emergence of undesirable behaviours. It is therefore essential to be able to understand and shape appropriate emergent behaviours in these systems. Current mathematical and empirical tools give only a partial insight into emergent behaviour in large, agent-based, systems. The goal of this Workshop is to promote an open a dialog among interested researchers from diverse fields, including: * agent-based systems, * complex systems, * artificial intelligence, * evolutionary computation, * biology, * and computer science. The Workshop will focus on the means of measuring, understanding, and shaping emergent behaviour in large distributed systems. It is intended that this Workshop will provide an important opportunity for those active, or interested, in emergent behaviour research, to hear about current work, discuss future directions and priorities, and form invaluable research contacts. A number of interesting research talks will be presented at the meeting. An outline of these is given below. Interested researchers are invited to register for the workshop. Registration The SOMAS Workshop will take place on the July 27th and 28th at the BT Training Centre in Milton Keynes. Those interested in attending are invited to register for the Workshop by mailing Dr Paul Kearney at [EMAIL PROTECTED] giving name, affiliation and contact details. Numbers are limited and registration will be on a "first come first served basis". The registration cost of �50 will be payable on the day. Note, however, that once the registration deadline has passed, all bookings will be considered binding. This registration fee is heavily subsidised by EPSRC and will cover Workshop attendance, meals and accommodation. As one of the functions of the Workshop is to promote extensive informal discussions, all delegates are expected to be residential. The closing date for registration is July 9th. Bursaries Bursaries are available for registered UK research students. The will cover the cost of registration, meal, and accommodation. Help with travel cost will be given at the discretion of the organising committee. Such students should be engaged on an appropriate research project. If you wish to apply for a bursary please include with your registration request brief details of your PhD project, why it would benefit you to attend this Workshop and contact details for you supervisor. Workshop Schedule 1st Day 12.00-13.00 Register 13.15-13.30 Introduction 13.30-14.30 Invited talk Self-organising multi-agent societies Nigel Gilbert 14.30-15.00 Break for Coffee 15.00-15.30 A theory of complex adaptive systems based on co-operative self-organisation. Demonstration in electronic commerce. M.P. Gleizes, J.P Georg�, and P. Glize (Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse) 15.30-16.00 Decentralised management of business process networks. P. Kearney 16.00-16.30 Engineering emergence. J. Stark (BT) 16.30-17.00 Break Coffee 17.00-17.30 Emergent behaviour in behaviour-based multi-agent control system. J.M. Fernandes, J. Paulo, and C.E Oliveira (IEETA / Universidade de Aveiro) 17.30-18.00 A Game Theoretic Approach to Emergence In Multi-Agent Systems W.A. Wright (BAE SYSTEMS) 18.00 Finish 1st Day 2nd Day 9.00-10.00 Invited Talk (Title TBA) Eve Mitleton-Kelly (LSE) 10.00-10.30 Community Learning and Data Management S.J. Lynden and O.F. Rana (University of Wales, Cardiff) 10.30-11.00 Break for Coffee 11.00-11.30 Market Computation - A Data Physics C. Hoile (BT / University of Sussex) 11.30-12.00 Spontaneous Group Formation in Multi-Agent Systems R. Ghanea-Hercock (BT) 12.00-12.30 Measures of Emergence in Self-Organizing, Multi-Agent Systems M. Danek, R. Smith (University of West of England) and W.A. Wright (BAE SYSTEMS) 12.30-13.30 Lunch 13.30-14.00 To Buy or to Contract Out: Self-Extending Agents in Multi-Agent Systems R.P. Clement (University of Westminster) 14.00-14.30 A Java Based Framework For Dynamic Agent Organisations T. Kakoudakis, and M. Fisher (Manchester Metropolitan University) 14.30-15.00 An Agent-Based Middleware for Enhancing Mobile Communications Infrastructure and Provision of Services in Emerging Systems G.Le Bodic, D.Girma, J.Irvine, and J.Dunlop (University of Strathclyde) 15.00 Finish Emergent Computing Workshop Series This is the 6th workshop being organised by the `Emergent Computing' network, to bring together multi-disciplinary ideas from complex systems, AI, optimisation theory and non-linear systems, neural networks, neuro-biology and computer science. The workshops are: 1. Self-Organising Systems at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, UK 2. Spatially Distributed Nonlinear Systems at the University of Leeds, UK (December 1999) 3. Associative Computing at the University of York, UK (February 2000) 4. Emergent Computation in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Hertfordshire, UK (April 2000) 5. Strategies for Implementing Large Scale Emergent Computing Systems at the University of Wales, Cardiff, UK (June 2000) 6. Self-organisation in Multi-agent Systems (SOMAS) at The BT Conference Centre, Milton Keynes, UK (July 27-28, 2000).
