Since January 2011

Place: Institut de la Francophonie pour l’Informatique (IFI), Hanoi, Vietnam
Research group: Modeling and Computer Simulation (Modélisation et Simulation Informatique (MSI))
Collegues: Pr. Alexis Drogoul, Pr. Jean-daniel Zucker
Length: 10 month
Project: GIS and Agent-based Modelling Architecture (GAMA)

Context: GAMA is an open-source agent-based modeling and simulation platform developed since 2007 in the MSI-UMMISCO. Designed in order to transparently integrate GIS data into agent-based models, GAMA is the support of a growing number of thematic applications developed in partnership with Vietnamese research institutes, in the field of EDSS (Environmental Decision Support Systems). To cite some of them: role of the environment in the propagation of the H5N1 virus in North-Vietnam, models for decision aid in the organization of rescue after urban catastrophes in Vietnamese mega-cities, models for decision aid against plant brown hoppers invasion in the Mekong Delta, and so on. In these different collaborations, the growing complexity of the needs expressed by experts and scientists has underlined the necessity to provide them with tools allowing for multi-viewpoints, multi-scale representations of the systems modeled. Several research directions are being currently explored in MSI in order to ease their design: modeling language dedicated to multi-level representation, dynamic coupling of aggregated mathematical models and agent-based models, abstraction mechanisms, etc. The goal of this postdoctoral position is to strengthen this dynamics, both in terms of basic research and implementation within the GAMA platform.

Mission: In this context, my role is to participate to the evolution of the GAML modeling language in order to allow for multi-scale modeling. Some other interesting related topics must be investigated: computer-aided exploration of the parameter space of models, better integration with the GIS systems, improvements to the integrated modeling environment or the use of 3D models...