From: Kurt Richardson (ISCE)
policyworkshop@isce.edu
Workshop on Complexity and Policy Analysis
Co-hosted by:
Department of Government University College Cork ETHOS Project
Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence, Boston
School of Public Affairs, Penn State, Harrisburg
Final Call
22-24 June 2005, Cork, Ireland
Key Note Presentations:
"Playing with C.A.R.S.: Perspectives on Management and Analysis in Complex
Contexts"
Graham Mathieson, dstl, UK
"Robust Policy Analysis for Complex Open Systems"
Steven E. Bankes, RAND, USA
"Systemic Intervention for Community Involvement in Complex Policy Analysis"
Gerald Midgley, ESR, NZ
We are pleased to confirm the upcoming two-day Complexity and Policy
Analysis workshop scheduled in June (2005) in Cork, Ireland and hosted by
The University College Cork Department of Government ETHOS Project
(http://www.ucc.ie/acad/govt/ethos ), the Institute for the Study of
Coherence and Emergence (http://www.isce.edu ), and Penn State - Harrisburg.
The aim of this meeting is to explore the benefits to policy analysts that
might be realized through the fledgling 'science' of complex systems.
Although the effects of policy actions on the future of society are
difficult to assess in today's globalized and complex political environment,
policy-makers still need to consider the long-term future when deciding how
to allocate private and public resources among different policies. This
predicament is an instance of decision-making in the presence of complexity
and deep uncertainty. Policies framed under such conditions are highly
vulnerable to failure or surprise and often made without an awareness of the
emerging nature of policy arenas and their environments. One of the
principle aims of this event is to discuss emerging analytic methods to help
decision-makers manage the complexity and uncertainty inherent in many (if
not all) policy challenges as well as to consider how larger social goals
are accommodated in long-range planning.
Complexity thinking is often associated with agent-based modeling (ABM)
approaches to policy analysis and decision-making. If not ABM specifically,
the central role of computer simulation is often how complexity ideas are
realized in policy analysis. The complexity (meta-) paradigm, however, is
rather broader than the computational perspective, and this workshop will
explore 'soft' applications of complexity, the relationship between `hard'
and `soft' approaches, and how hybrid approaches maybe synthesized in policy
formulation and research design. We are, of course, keen to have submissions
from computer simulators, but it is important to note that the event is not
purely an exploration of computing in policy analysis, but also seeks to
ground computation in a broader conceptual and methodological base in hopes
of teasing more from the new paradigm.
Full details of the event (including registration form, accomodation
details, and a list of accepted papers) can be found at:
http://isce.edu/ISCE_Group_Site/web-content/ISCE%20Events/Cork_2005.html
If you have other questions regarding this event please do not hesitate to
contact Caroline Richardson at
policyworkshop@isce.edu .
Kind regards
Kurt
______________________________
Kurt A Richardson
BSc(hons), MSc, PhD
MInstP, MIEE, AMIMA, AFORS
CPhys, CSci
http://kurtrichardson.com
http://isce.edu
http://emergence.org