Post by Romina Martin from the Stockholm Resilience Centre

For 6 days, an amazing group of people (SPACES project members and friends) met in Diani Beach to learn some modelling techniques and to develop models together that represent the main aspects from coastal ecosystems and their use. One particular challenge was to discuss not just one modelling paradigm but two. We started with a system dynamics view, identifying relevant dampening and reinforcing feedbacks that might drive the dynamic development of the systems under study. The alternative approach we discussed was the agent-based view describing more explicit human decisions and particular sequences of events happening. Another challenge was to introduce participants to little pieces of coding for model implementation. We worked with NetLogo to use an interface that […]

The ESPA-SPACES team is holding a modeler training workshop at the Leopard Beach Hotel in Diani, Kenya from 20th to 25th April, 2015. The workshop brings together researchers and students from the Kenyan Marine Fisheries Research Institute and Wildlife Conservation Society Coral Reef Conservation Project, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambique), Stockholm Resilience Centre (Sweden), the University of Exeter (UK), and the University of British Colombia (Canada). Romina Martin from the Stockholm Resilience Centre is leading the training.

The training aims to train both the SPACES team, and collaborators from institutions in Kenya and Mozambique on the potential and practical limits of modelling to investigate the systems in which they are doing research. This involves considering how to frame the question and purpose of the model and conceptualizing how the […]