Description of the Training Course

International Training on Multi-Agents Systems for Natural Resources Management

The objectives of the training course are:

to introduce multi-agents systems (MAS) and review the state of the art in applying MAS to several key scientific disciplines, with an emphasis on natural resources management (NRM) issues,
to enable participants to develop their own simple MAS application by constructing and operating a MAS on a topic of their choice,
to identify future opportunities for developing the use and application of the MAS approach to key NRM issues in the region.

Course Duration

The duration of the course will be for two weeks.

Course Outline

Introduction to the study of dynamics systems
Preliminary exercises on Smalltalk computer language
Introduction to the game theory
Introduction to cellular automata
Second range of exercises on Smalltalk language
Introduction to multi-agents systems (MAS)
Theoretical approach to MAS, Part 1
Presentation of the common-pool resource and multi-agents systems (CORMAS) platform
Theoretical approach to MAS, Part 2
Practical exercise on using CORMAS platform for MAS
Theoretical approach to MAS, Part 3
State of the art in MAS (Part 1): Ecology and geography
More practical exercises on CORMAS platform for MAS
State of the art in MAS (Part 2): Game theory
State of the art in MAS (Part 3): Economics
Construction of a prototype MAS
State of the art in MAS (Part 4): Agronomy
Practicing on MAS: Irrigated systems
The use of models
The "Shadoc" role playing game (irrigated systems)
Preparation of the prototype presentation
Presentation and discussion of the prototypes built by participants
Evaluation
Plan for future training and collaboration on MAS.

Course Approach and Structure

The course will be using a combination of lectures, practical exercises, presentations, and discussion.

Participants

The class will be limited to a maximum of 16 trainees. Participants should be professionals or graduate students working on complex issues in the field of integrated natural resources management at either conceptualization or implementation stages. They should be familiar with the PC environment, but no special skills in mathematics or computer programming are required, even if the training course is heavily computer-based.