Jobs and Appointments

The School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) at the University of Michigan is seeking applications from qualified, motivated, prospective PhD students to work on dissertation research related to the SLUCE II project (Spatial Land Use Change and Ecological Effects.) This is a collaborative, interdisciplinary research project involving six faculty members in the area of coupled human-natural systems. The project links agent-based modeling of human behaviors driving land use / land cover change (LULCC), preferences for vegetation cover and vegetation management, land market modeling, field work, remote sensing, and ecosystem modeling of landscape carbon balance in low-density human-dominated landscapes (suburban and exurban residential landscapes). The project uses 13 townships in southeastern Michigan as a model system and seeks to explore thresholds in land use / land cover change and landscape carbon balance that could potentially be altered with policy levers. Two new PhD student positions are available, one working with Prof. Dan Brown and the other with Assoc. Prof. Bill Currie. Both students will work in the broad areas of geographic information science, land use / land cover change, coupled human-natural systems, modeling, and landscape carbon balance. The student working closely with Dr. Brown will focus more directly on understanding and modeling patterns and drivers of LULCC, especially with agent-based modeling, while the student working closely with Dr. Currie will focus more directly on measuring and modeling vegetation management and landscape carbon balance.

For more information about this research see http://www.cscs.umich.edu/research/projects/sluce/, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~danbrown/, and http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wcurrie/. If you are interested, contact Dr. Brown or Dr. Currie via email with a letter of interest, describing your research interests and how they fit with our overall scholarly themes.

SNRE has a fully funded PhD program, so the School can guarantee a mixture of financial support through research assistantships, fellowships, and teaching assistantships. This is a highly competitive program, accepting about 6 to 8 new PhD students per year across the entire School. Normally, students do not enter this program without having first completed a Masters degree, although there are exceptions. Students must apply by January 5 to be considered for admission in fall 2009; see for more information http://www.snre.umich.edu/prospective_students/apply_now.

A six month post-doctoral fellowship starting as soon as possible in 2009 is offered at Telecom-Bretagne as a part of a project on "multi-agent systems and cognitive finance". The general topic is on market simulations and rationality in financial markets. The project is part of a larger one which aims at developing a multi-agent platform.
It is a joint project between TELECOM-Bretagne, department LUSSI and the university of Lille, CISCo and is sponsored by the INSTITUT TELECOM.
Candidates should have recently finished their PhD and be working in one of the following areas: Multi Agent systems or behavioral economics and psychology, both possibly applied to finance.
The applications should contain a CV with a list of publications and a short description of the past research of the candidate.
The applications should be sent by mail to:
roger.waldeck@telecom-bretagne.eu. The deadline for applications, December 16th 2008 . For additional information please contact Dr. Roger Waldeck Technopôle Brest-Iroise - CS 83818 - 29238 Brest Cedex 3 France ; phone
0033 (0)2 00 11 17.

National Heart Forum

Research Associate (Computational Modelling)

The National Heart Forum has recently secured a contract to further develop the micro-simulation model originally developed for the Foresight Obesity Programme.

We are now looking for a person/persons to support the existing team of three, currently comprising a Professor of Epidemiology, mathematician/computer expert and project manager/public health policy researcher.

We anticipate that the ideal person should be a post-graduate have an interest in public health particularly though not essentially in primary prevention. It is essential that candidates should be able to write computer code ideally in C++ but someone with significant aptitude in other languages may be considered. They should have a good working knowledge of statistical and/or epidemiological methods and to be able to work flexibly as part of a small team. The position is initially funded for two years and will, we anticipate offer significant opportunities for journal publication/career advancement.

We offer attractive terms and conditions and a salary of £30-35k, depending on qualifications and experience.

The National Heart Forum (NHF) is a UK alliance of national organizations working with and through our members to the prevention of avoidable coronary heart disease and related conditions,

If you wish to apply please send a covering letter and a cv to tim.marsh@heartforum.org.uk or by post to Tim Marsh, National Heart Forum, Tavistock House South, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9LG by December 12th.

If you wish to discuss this post please contact Tim Marsh on 020 7383 7638

As the leader in multidisciplinary research, SFI has no formal programs or departments and we accept applications from any field. Research topics span the full range of natural and social sciences and often make connections with the humanities. Most research at SFI is theoretical and/or computational in nature, although some research includes an empirical component in collaboration with other institutions.

For more information:
http://www.santafe.edu/education/fellowships-postdoctoral.php

The deadline for applications is November 14, 2008.

For a EU project (PRIMA) on changes in land use we are hiring a post-doc
or a PhD for modelling consumer demand for agricultural products.

For a post-doc position we are looking for an experienced agent-based
modeller with a proven interest in marketing/consumer behaviour issues.
The candidate is expected to contribute to our teaching programme,
preferably in the domain of methodology (statistics). A half-time job
focussing only on the modelling part is also an opportunity.

For a PhD we are looking for an experienced agent based modeller with an
interest in marketing/consumer behaviour issues.

Candidates will collaborate with other researchers working with
agent-based models in the same domain.

This challenging project is scheduled to start in the beginning of 2008.

Groningen provides a great scientific environment as well as pleasant
living conditions.

Interested? Please contact Wander Jager for more details: w.jager@rug.nl

The Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University seeks candidates to fill a junior-level tenure track position in computational modeling, complexity, and social systems. Candidates should have a PhD or equivalent before starting employment. Candidates must demonstrate a strong research track record and have research interests related to the computational modeling of complex social systems with strong quantitative and analytic skills. Joint appointments are possible with other units on campus.
The department is interdisciplinary, including economists, psychologists, political scientists, engineers, and historians. It has particular research strengths in behavioral decision theory, policy analysis, industrial organization, technological change, and computational social science. (Current projects and faculty are described at the website: http://www.hss.cmu.edu/departments/sds/).

Carnegie Mellon University is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity employer. We encourage minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities to apply. Applicants should send a CV, samples of research, 3 or 4 letters of recommendation, a statement of research interests, and a cover letter to: Prof. John H. Miller, Social Systems Search Committee, Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890.

Applications received before December 1, 2008, will receive priority.

George Mason University, Department of Computational Social Science seeks to fill a tenure-track Assistant Professor position.

Duties include teaching graduate courses in computational social science, developing an externally-funded research program, and participating in M.S.
theses and Ph.D. dissertations. The department is housed in new facilities within Research 1, the first dedicated research building on Mason¹s Fairfax campus. Currently, department members have several active, long-term research projects underway through the Center for Social Complexity
(http://socialcomplexity.gmu.edu), an interdisciplinary research center within the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University.

A Ph.D. is required by the starting date, August 2009. Experience with one or more of the following computational methodologies is required:
agent-based modeling /multi-agent systems, social network analysis, complexity science, socioinformatics, visualization, or spatial social science. Computational social scientists from any discipline (i.e., anthropology, economics, geography, political science, social psychology or
sociology) or interdisciplinary area (i.e., computational finance, geospatial science, computational statistics/econometrics, or computational organization theory) are encouraged to apply.

George Mason University (www.gmu.edu) is located in the Fairfax County area of Northern Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. The university is rapidly growing and was recently ranked in "U.S. News & World Report" as the #1 "Up-and-coming" university in the nation.

For more information on this position please contact Karen Underwood at kunderwo@gmu.edu. To apply for position F6561z, go to http://jobs.gmu.edu/ and electronically submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, statements of research and teaching interests, up to three publications, and the names and contact information of five references along with the faculty application. Review of applications will begin November 1, 2008, and continue until the position is filled.

Environmental Science & Policy Program, Michigan State University - AST PROFESSOR
Posting Date: Sep 10, 2008
Posting Number: SSC-047
Tenure System, 9-month basis, 100% time.
DUTIES: The Department of Sociology and the Environmental Science and Policy Program of Michigan State University seek a tenure stream Assistant Professor in the area of environmental policy or population and environment. The appointment will be joint between the Department of Sociology and the Environmental Science and Policy Program. Sociology will be the tenure home for the position. Ph.D. or equivalent is required at the time of appointment. Candidates should have strong quantitative skills and rigorous theoretical focus. International experience or demonstrated interest in international issues is an advantage as is a background in modeling. We also have a special interest in researchers studying coupled human and natural systems. The successful candidate will be expected to develop externally funded research. For more information about Environment Science & Policy Program, please visit our website at http://environment.msu.edu
QUALIFICATIONS: Ph.D. or equivalent is required at the time of appointment. Doctorate or other terminal degree. Candidates should have strong quantitative skills and rigorous theoretical focus.
APPLICATIONS: Due October 1, 2008. Late submissions will be considered if a suitable candidate pool is not identified by the deadline. MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. MSU is committed to achieving excellence through cultural diversity. The university actively encourages applications and/or nominations of women, persons of color, veterans and persons with disabilities. Application should refer to position 38-047. Please send curriculum vitae, samples of written work, a short statement of professional goals and at least three letters of recommendation to: Sociology/ESPP CHANS Search Committee, Environmental Science and Policy Program, Michigan State University, 274 Giltner Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1101. Electronic applications should be sent to ESPP@MAIL.MSU.EDU and directed to Search Committee.

Assistant Professor (Tenure-track) in the resilience, adaptation, and modeling of human-environment systems

The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage invites applications for a tenure track faculty position in the resilience and adaptation of human-environment systems. The appointment is supported by a new interdisciplinary program focusing on resilience in Northern regions (http://www.alaska.edu/epscor/edfs/AK-EPSCoR-Project-Summary.pdf).
Applicants must be committed to contributing to a research program in resilience, adaptation, and/or modeling of human-environment systems and to the development of a teaching program in geography and environmental studies. The applicant must also be committed to conducting interdisciplinary research, seeking external funding on their own or as part of a team, and publishing in their area of specialization. The successful candidate will teach introductory and upper division undergraduate courses in the Geography and Environmental Studies program.

The successful candidate must have an awarded doctorate at the time of appointment in human geography (candidates with a doctorate in other social science disciplines with research experience in human-environment interactions will also be considered); a demonstrated record of scholarly achievement and publications in appropriate journals; communication skills; experience working effectively in an interdisciplinary setting; record of excellence in teaching, and evidence of or potential to secure research funding.

Desired qualifications are demonstrated experience in one or more of the following areas: modeling of human-environment systems (e.g., agent-based modeling), other methodological approaches for integration between social and biophysical systems (e.g., GIS-based methodologies); experience working in Pacific Rim or Arctic human-environment systems, including economic, environmental or political geography.

Review of applications begin November 1, 2008.

Further details are available online at https://www.uakjobs.com under Faculty Jobs, then scroll down to Assistant Professor of Geography - Resilience Social Scientist.

Research Associate
Department of Sociology

Salary Grade 7 - £29,138 to £33,780 per annum

Available from 1 December 2008 until 31 August 2011

Ref: R3890

SIMIAN is a three year project funded by ESRC as a node in their National Centre for Research Methods, led by Professor Nigel Gilbert and Dr Edmund Chattoe-Brown and starting on 1st July 2008. The project is based around a core research theme of simulating innovation and social change by means of agent-based modelling. Within this general theme, three specific topics have been selected. Each topic is represented by a sub-project that will be the main focus for one of the three researchers to be employed in the project team.

One of the researchers will be based at the University of Leicester for the sub-project “Understanding repeated strategic interaction” working primarily with Dr Chattoe-Brown. The other two will be based at the University of Surrey for the sub-projects “Models of genuine novelty” and “The cognitive bases of normative behaviour” working primarily with Professor Gilbert. Please contact Louise Ellesley of the University of Surrey’s Personnel Services on + 44 (0)1483 689646 or via l.ellesley@surrey.ac.uk if you are interested in the second position. The third vacancy has already been filled.

The University of Leicester are currently looking to recruit a researcher for the sub-project “Understanding repeated strategic interaction” (Ref R3890). They will be expected to undertake a range of activities including reviewing the state of the art in their respective areas, developing ideas about where a synthesis of current work is required, designing simulations that would advance the understanding of the topic and preparing a monograph to report the work.

Knowledge of relevant social science, experience of developing agent-based simulations and experience of writing papers for publication are essential.

Downloadable application forms and further particulars are available from www.le.ac.uk/personnel/jobs. If you require a hard copy, please contact Personnel Services - tel: 0116 252 2435, fax: 0116 252 5140, email: recruitment4@le.ac.uk. Please note that CVs will only be accepted in support of a fully completed application form.

Closing Date: 13 October 2008

It is anticipated that interviews will take place 24 October 2008

One or two studentships are available at the Centre for Policy Modelling
(CFPM), starting immediately (or when the candidates can start). The
Studentship will be £12K pa plus fees for 3 years. Only EU students can
apply. The course of study will be centred around agent-based social
simulation, which is the core of the CFPM's work. Preference will be
given to those who already have some research experience (e.g.
research-based masters), but other candidates will be considered. To
get a flavour of our work see the CFPM's website at cfpm.org, especially
the discussion papers. Past PhD students have include: Luis Isquierdo,
Shah Jamal Alam, Olivier Barthelemy, Richard Taylor, and Oswaldo Terán.

If you are interested, in the first instance contact either Bruce
Edmonds (bruce@edmonds.name) or Scott Moss (scott@cfpm.org). We hope to
fill these positions by December 2008.

Departmental PhD Scholarship

The department is offering one three year PhD Scholarship which provides £3,000 per annum towards fees and an annual stipend of £9,000. In order to be eligible, candidates must meet the following criteria:

• Home/EU fee status.
• Intending to start their PhD in January, April, July or October 2009.
• For each intended start date, in order to be considered for the scholarship the candidate must have provided all relevant documentation to satisfy conditions of offer (and otherwise completed all application procedures) by a date approxmately two months prior to arrival. These dates are therefore 1st November 2008, 1st February, 1st May and 1st August 2009. There is no separate application process for the scholarship and all candidates who satisfy these conditions will be considered.
• Submission of a two A4 page research proposal providing as much detail as possible about the intended research (summary of existing knowledge, research question, intended methods and so on). This proposal will form a key part of the assessment process for the scholarship and the topic of the research must be clearly relevant to the expertise of one or more members of the department who will be asked to supervise the successful applicant.
• Good Masters level qualification in a relevant social science with a recognisable research methods component.

In order to be considered for this scholarship, please apply in the normal way for one of the start dates above, providing all requested material (including research proposal) by the relevant deadline. The department will consider all eligible candidates as soon as possible after each deadline and inform the successful candidate. The department reserves the right not to award the scholarship if no sufficiently well qualified candidate presents themselves.

See http://www.le.ac.uk/sociology/pg/sophd.html for further details of application procedure.

PhD and postdoc positions available at urban Planning Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

Applications are invited for several Phd and postdoc positions at the Urban Planning Group of the TU/e. Positions are vacant as part of new national and European research programs in the field of transportation (dynamic activity-based models; ITC and activity-travel behaviour).

We are looking for highly motivated young scholars with high-level computer science qualifications and skills, especially in the area of agent-based modelling and an interest in transportation problems.

The salary will start with about 24000 Euro and increase every year. Positions can be granted for 4 years.

Candidates should submit their CV, picture, academic transcripts, copies of papers, if any, motivation letter to Professor Harry Timmermans (h.j.p.timmermans@tue.edu).

Applications are invited for a doctoral researcher to work at the Institute for Management Control and Accounting. The successful applicant will be member of a young and motivated research team applying simulation techniques (in
particular agent-based models) to analyse theoretical and practical business problems. The successful candidate will work closely with Dr. habil. Matthias Meyer, the head of the newly founded institute, and his research group.

We are looking for a person with high-level computer science qualifications and skills, especially in the area of agent-based modeling. This would include expertise in object-oriented programming languages (ideally JAVA) and ideally a familiarity with agent-based modeling platforms (e.g. Mason, Repast,
Netlogo). Because a combination of relevant computer science skills and disciplinary knowledge can be rare, our primary focus is on the computing skills plus a willingness to apply these in the area of business.

The salary will be 2/3 of EGr. 13 TV-L (about 24000 Euro p.a.). The position can be granted for up to 4 years.

The TUHH is one of the youngest universities in Germany as well as one of the most successful. Research work started in 1980 and in 1982/83 lecturing followed. Today around 100 senior lecturers/professors and 1,150 members of staff (450 scientists, including externally funded researchers) work at the
TUHH. With an average of 5,000 students the TUHH offers a uniquely high ratio of staff to students. The fundamental principles of the TUHH are unique in Germany; priority is given to research, interdisciplinary studies and innovation. Also central to our approach is a close working relationship with
regional industries and, more recently, the achievement of international scale (http://www.tu-harburg.de/about/).

The successful candidate would be expected to commence the PhD beginning of October 2008 (ideally).

To apply, please submit your CV, academic transcripts, a summary of your research interests and strengths to Dr. habil. Matthias Meyer (Matthias.Meyer@whu.edu).

For further enquiries please contact Dr. habil. Matthias Meyer
(Matthias.Meyer@whu.edu).

ARC Agent-Based Modeling of Business Relations and Networks grant

School of Marketing, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Overview

Applications are invited for a scholarship to undertake a PhD in the School of Marketing at the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales. The research will form part of an Australian Research Council funded project to develop agent-based models of the development and evolution of business relations and networks in industrial markets.

The successful applicant will work under the supervision of the research project's Chief Investigators: Professor Ian Wilkinson of the School of Marketing and Professor Robert Marks of the Australian Graduate School of Management and School of Economics at the University of New South Wales and Professor Louise Young of the School of Marketing at the University of Technology Sydney. These are leading international researchers in the area of business marketing and economics with extensive backgrounds in the study of business relations and networks, as well as expertise in modeling. They have strong links with prominent researchers in the agent-based modeling field around the world.

Skills and Qualifications Required

We are looking for a person with high-level computer science qualifications (First or Upper Second Class honours or equivalent) and skills, especially in the area of agent-based modeling, to work on the project. This would include expertise in object-oriented programming languages, such as Java and/or C++, as well as familiarity with agent-based modeling platforms (e.g. Mason, Repast, Netlogo). We would give preference to an applicant who also had some high-level disciplinary-relevant knowledge and educational qualifications in marketing, business, economics or another relevant discipline. But, because a combination of relevant computer science skills and disciplinary knowledge is rare, our primary focus is on the computing skills plus a willingness to apply these in the area of business. This may mean that the successful applicant will be required to undertake a program of study to equip them with necessary disciplinary knowledge to undertake the research and to fulfill the requirements of a PhD in the School of Marketing. High-level communication and writing skills in English are also essential.

The scholarship is available for local and international students for three years full-time enrolment in the PhD program and provides the scholar with a tax-exempt stipend of up to AUD$30,000 per annum.

The successful candidate would be expected to commence the PhD beginning of 2009.

To apply, please submit your CV, academic transcripts, a summary of your research interests and strengths related to the research and two academic referee reports to Professor Ian F. Wilkinson (i.wilkinson@unsw.edu.au).

Further Enquiries

Please contact Professor Ian F. Wilkinson (i.wilkinson@unsw.edu.au), Professor Bob Marks (bobm@agsm.edu.au) or Professor Louise Young
(l.young@uts.edu.au) for further information. Additional information may be also be found on the University's and School of Marketing's websites (www.unsw.edu.au, www.marketing.unsw.edu.au).

Professor Ian F. Wilkinson
School of Marketing
University of New South Wales Australia
Sydney, NSW
Australia, 2052

Phone: 61-2-9385 3298
Fax: 61-2-9663 1985
Email: i.wilkinson@unsw.edu.au
webpage: http://www.marketing.unsw.edu.au/IanWilkinson

Location: Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Complexes, Cemagref, Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Duration: 24 months.

Beginning: January 2009.

Monthly salary is: 2150 €.

Context of the post-doctorate
The post-doctorate takes place in the PRIMA European project. More particularly, the work will be integrated in the following objectives of the project:

1. Develop models of municipality dynamics to analyse policy impacts on multifunctional land uses and on the economic activities on a set of municipality case studies. The municipality is the level of scale at which the main actors can be identified; they interact at this level; last many measures start at this level. The models will rely on micro-simulation and agent-based models, designed and validated at municipality level using input from stakeholders. The models will address the structural evolution of the populations (appearance, disappearance and change of agents) depending on the local conditions for applying the structural policies on a set of municipality case studies. The models will focus only on agriculture, forestry, tourism and biodiversity/ecology.

2. Extract from these case study models a set of virtual municipality prototypes, beyond the case studies, which show contrasted features and dynamics, and are relevant for the set of municipalities of each given regional case study. These municipality prototypes should show robust dynamics, and be relevant to the stake holders.

3. Build mappings between the available data on municipalities (census, FADN, …) and the municipality prototypes. This mapping will reflect the likelihood that a municipality, described with the available data, is a given mixture of the municipality prototypes, and will therefore provide an insight on its structural trends as well on the potential impact of the structural policies. Moreover, such a mapping will enable to aggregate the outputs of the model (land use, tourism, economic trends, ecosystem functions…) at the regional level.

Stemming from 6 countries, with three EU-15 members (United Kingdom, France, Germany), 2 new members (Czech republic, Bulgaria) and a candidate (Croatia), the selected regional case studies cover such a wide array of geographic, environmental and socio-economic backgrounds, thus making them particularly relevant for the assessment of rural development, cohesion and pre-accession policies. In these regional case studies, the project will consider subsets of municipalities from which we shall develop refined micro-simulation and agent-based models.

Objectives and scope of the post-doctorate

The post-doctorate will focus on point 2 of the previous section. This will include more precise objectives:

- Extract the main dynamical characteristics of the micro-simulation and agent-based models of municipalities, developed on the municipality case studies, by analysing systematically the impact of variations in parameters and hypotheses.

- Identify significant and robust differences between the municipality case study models,

- Develop, if relevant, hybrid or simplified models to get more contrasted prototypes, check their relevance with stake holders, and their generality on larger sets of municipality evolutions.

- Evaluate the uncertainties on future evolutions, depending on the uncertainties on the parameters and the dynamics.

The central part of the research is thus about building systematic simulation experiments on the models, in order to evaluate their sensitivity to the different parameters, but also to the different hypotheses on the dynamics, and how this affects their ability to account for available data. The post-doctorate will use SimExplorer, the software developed in LISC and devoted to such task. It is expected that he/she could develop new methods or variants, particularly adapted to the problem.

The post-doctorate will also contribute (in collaboration with other partners) to other parts of the project, which are closely connected to this central part:

- Development of the first micro-simulation and agent-based models,

- Evaluation of the relevance of the prototypes for the stake-holders,

- Definition of data to collect and their preparation for using them in modelling.

Application

If interested, please send CV and motivation letter to guillaume.deffuant@cemagref.fr before October 15, 2008.