On June 30th, 2017 in Southampton the kick-off meeting for the project "Bayesian Agent-Based Population Studies (BAPS): Transforming Simulation Models of Human Migration" took place. The project is founded by the European Research Council. BAPS is led by Jakub Bijak (Professor in Demography, University of Southampton). Further team members are
- Jon Forster (Head of Mathematics, University of Southampton),
- Philip Higham (Reader in Cognitive Psychology, University of Southampton),
- Peter WF Smith (Professor of Social Statistics, University of Southampton), and
- Adelinde M Uhrmacher (Professor of Computer Science, University of Rostock).
The aim of BAPS is to develop a ground-breaking simulation model of international migration, based on a population of intelligent, cognitive agents, their social networks and institutions. The project aims to transform the study of migration – one of the most uncertain population processes and a top-priority policy area – by offering a step change in the way these processes can be understood, predicted, and managed. Therefore, computational modeling and simulation methods developed in Rostock shall be refined and applied. Further information about the project can be found here: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/demography/research/projects/bayesian-agent-based-population-studies.page#project_overview