The Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS), based in the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at the University of Surrey, is a multidisciplinary centre bringing together the social sciences, software engineering and agent-based computing to promote and support the use of social simulation in research in the human sciences.

What is Social Simulation?

There is growing interest in using computer simulation to explore issues in the social sciences. Simulation is a novel research method in most parts of the social sciences, including sociology, political science, economics, anthropology, geography, archaeology and linguistics. It can also be the inspiration for new, process-oriented theories of society.

If you would like more information on CRESS research and activities, or to learn more about collaboration with CRESS, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it us.

For more information see Agent-based social simulation: dealing with complexity (PDF), by Nigel Gilbert

Although collective quality assessment processes are a very widespread and important characteristic of human societies, they have rarely been treated as a topic for empirical enquiry. CRESS and the Centre d'Analyse et Mathématique Sociales (EHESS/CNRS, France) are hosting an interdisciplinary workshop to discuss research questions about the emergence of collective quality definitions. Click here for details. To apply for registration click here. To know more about presentations and invited speakers click here. The workshop programme can be found here.

CRESS successfully organised the sixth annual conference of the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA) in September 2009 at the University of Surrey. Please visit the ESSA 2009 website for details.