ARC Complex Open Systems Research Network

ARC Complex Open Systems Research Network

www.complexsystems.net.au
Dr David Batten

Dr David Batten

 
Coordinator, CSIRO Agent-Based Modelling Working Group

Address: CSIRO Centre for Complex Systems Science and
CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship Research Program
Private Bag No.1
Aspendale, Victoria 3195
Australia

Phone: +61 3 9239 4420
Fax: +61 3 9239 4444
Email: david.batten@csiro.au
Webpage: http://www.cse.csiro.au/research/cabm/
Research Node: CSIRO/CSS
 
 

Role in Network

Theme 5 Joint-Coordinator
Government - Researcher


COSNet Research Themes

    1. Irreversibility and Emergence in Nonequilibrium Systems
    3. Dynamics and Statistics of Multi-Scale Systems
    4. Network Theory
    5. Cellular Automata, Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation

COSNet Application Areas

    1. Complex Physical Systems
    2. Complex Biological Systems
    3. Complex Computational Systems
    4. Complex Socio-Economic Systems
 

Research Topics

Dr David Batten joined Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in 1970 – as part of the Systems Research Team at the Division of Building Research. During his sixteen years at CSIRO, he was promoted to Principal Research Scientist and Leader of the Regional Economic Development Team. In 1983-84, he also worked on regional issues and international trade modelling at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria.

In 1986, David moved to Sweden to take up a Chair in Infrastructure Economics – initially at the University of Umeå then later at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. From 1991-1995, he held the concurrent position of Professorial Fellow at the Swedish Institute for Futures Studies, a scientific think-tank located in Stockholm. During his years in Sweden, David’s work stressed evolutionary approaches to infrastructure systems development, including energy and transportation. He specialized in substitution analysis of new for old technologies, including transport networks, vehicles, fuels and stationary energy. Also, he managed several teams analysing complex systems in the fields of energy, transport, water and community planning. A common feature of this work was that it required a multi-disciplinary perspective and the use of system-analytical tools. Using the computer as an experimental laboratory still underpins his research today.

In 2002, David was invited to return to CSIRO to lead a research team developing system-analytical tools for complex infrastructures. He was appointed Coordinator of CSIRO’s Agent-Based Modelling Working Group and Team Leader of the NEMSIM project. NEMSIM (National Electricity Market Simulator) is an agent-based simulation model representing Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) as an evolving system of complex interactions between human behaviour in several markets, technical infrastructures and the natural environment. It is the first simulator of its kind in Australia, and users of NEMSIM can explore various evolutionary pathways of the NEM under different assumptions about supply, trading and investment opportunities, institutional or environmental changes and technological futures. Under realistic trading conditions, the simulated system displays some emergent properties that are both unexpected and undesirable.

In recent years, David's work has focused on adaptive learning, memes, self-organization and emergence in complex adaptive human ecosystems. This work was funded by CSIRO's Centre for Complex Systems Science. He is also engaged in several projects for CSIRO's Energy Transformed Flagship Research Program.  

Publications

1. Batten, D. (2008) 'Fostering industrial symbiosis with agent-based simulation and participatory modeling', Journal of Industrial Ecology, in press.
2. Batten, D., Salthe, S. and F. Boschetti (2008) 'Visions of evolution: self-organization proposes what natural selection disposes', Biological Theory, in press.
3. Batten, D. and R. Bradbury (2008) 'Simple memes and complex cultural dynamics', Chapter 6 in A.E. Andersson, P. Cheshire, C. Karlsson and R. Stough (eds.) Innovation, Dynamic Regions and Regional Dynamics, Springer, in press.
4. Batten, D. and G. Grozev (2008) 'Managing energy futures and greenhouse gas emissions with the help of agent-based simulation', Chapter 8 in M. Ruth and B. Davidsdottir (eds.) Dynamics of Industrial Ecosystems, MIT Press, in press.
5. Batten, D. (2007) 'Are some human ecosystems self-defeating?', Environmental Modelling and Software, 22, 649-655.
6. Perez, P and Batten, D., eds. (2006) Complex Science for a Complex World: Exploring Human Ecosystems with Agents, ANU ePress, Canberra.
7. Batten, D. and G. Grozev (2006) 'NEMSIM: finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using multi-agent electricity modelling,' Chapter 11 in P. Perez and D. Batten, eds: Complex Science for a Complex World, ANU ePress, Canberra.
8. Batten, D. (2001) 'Complex landscapes of spatial interaction', The Annals of Regional Science, 35, 81–111.
9. Batten, D. (2001) 'Agents, interactions, and coevolutionary learning', in Knowledge, Complexity and Innovation Systems, eds M.M. Fischer & J. Froehlich, pp. 297–316, Springer–Verlag, Berlin.
10. Batten, D. (2000) Discovering Artificial Economics: How Agents Learn and Economies Evolve, Westview Press, New York.
11. Batten, D. (1998) 'Coevolutionary learning on networks', Chapter 17 in Knowledge and Networks in a Dynamic Economy, eds M.J. Beckmann, B. Johansson, F. Snickars & R. Thord, pp. 311–332, Springer–Verlag, Berlin.
12. Batten, D. and C. Karlsson, eds (1996) Infrastructure and the Complexity of Economic Development, Springer–Verlag, Berlin.
13. Batten, D., Casti, J. and R. Thord, eds (1995) Networks in Action, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
14. Batten, D. and R. Thord, eds (1989) Transportation for the Future, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
15. Andersson, A., Batten, D., Johansson, B. & P. Nijkamp, eds (1989) Advances in Spatial Theory and Dynamics, North-Holland, Amsterdam.
16. Batten, D. (1982) ‘On the dynamics of industrial evolution,’ Regional Science and Urban Economics, 12, 449-462 (republished in SEARCH - the Journal of the Australia-New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science).  

Awards and Distinctions

2005 - One-CSIRO Award, CSIRO Centre for Complex Systems Science
1991 - Japan Society for Promotion of Science Scholarship, Kyoto University
1990 - 10th Annual Kemsley Oration, Royal Australian Planning Institute
1966 - Commonwealth Scholarship, University of Melbourne