Cost Effective Interventions in Complex Networks Using Agent-Based Modelling and Simulations

The problem of promoting cooperative behaviour in a complex dynamical network of interacting individuals (e.g. social and epidemic networks or networks of opinion) has been intensely investigated across diverse fields of behavioural, social and computational sciences. In most studies, cooperation is assumed to emerge from the combined actions of participating individuals within the population, without taking into account the possibility of external intervention and how it can be performed in a cost-efficient way. The problem of cost-efficient external intervention is important in a wide range of application domains, ranging from drug prevention programmes and wildlife conservation initiatives to environmental governance or safety compliance in developing technology. International institutions, such as the UN or the EU, also often need to make investments to promote a certain population state such as peace and social diversity, at a minimal cost.