Using agent-based models as a simulation tool to generate synthetic data
| Dates: | 18 February 2026 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 16:00 |
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| What is it: | Workshop |
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| Organiser: | Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research |
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| How much: | Free |
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This free online workshop explores the intersection of two computational social science ideas, synthetic data and agent-based models:
1. Synthetic data – which is generated data rather than observed data. This can be useful when balancing research needs with data availability or security.
2. Agent-based models (ABM) – which simulate interactions and can produce synthetic data for diverse or even counterfactual scenarios.
This workshop will cover:
- why create synthetic data using ABM
- when it would be appropriate to do so
- how to create the data using open source software NetLogo
- what the resulting data can be used for
We will be using NetLogo for the live software demonstration, which is an open-source programming language and integrated development environment for agent-based modelling.
Workshop details
The workshop is structured into four parts:
- Introduction to synthetic data
What is and is not synthetic data? What is it good for? What are some common ways to generate it?
- Introduction to top-down versus bottom-up
What do top-down and bottom-up mean? How do these relate to research problems and data generation methods?
- Introduction to agent-based models
What are agent-based models? How do they work? What data do they generate? This part includes demonstrations of free and user-friendly agent-based modelling software.
- Q&A session
Participants can engage directly with the content, ask questions related to the presentation or live coding demonstration, and get links to useful resources.
There will be a comfort break during the workshop.
Presenter: Jools Kasmire, UK Data Service
Travel and Contact Information
