Answering the Regulator’s Prayer – What can we learn about the real world from experimenting with artificial societies? - Associate Professor Jason Thompson

Abstract

Policymakers and operators of some of Australia’s largest health and social systems increasingly look to data and technology to help them understand and overcome complex crises. But where can they turn when a crisis is either novel or the data doesn’t exist? In this seminar, Associate Professor Thompson will detail recent and current work on the development of agent-based models and application of computational social science to transport, public health, and large-scale injury rehabilitation systems. He will provide examples from case studies that have helped system operators make better use of the data they have available and make (arguably) better decisions as a result. 

Bio

Jason Thompson is an Associate Professor at Phoenix - The Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, within the Faculty of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne. Until recently he was Co-Director of the Transport, Health and Urban Systems (THUS) Research Laboratory of the Melbourne School of Design. Associate Prof Thompson is a computational social scientist, focusing on the translation of research into practice across the areas of post-injury rehabilitation, compensation system, and health system design. 

Associate Prof Thompson is a previous Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award (DECRA) Fellow and a current ARC Future Fellow. Among other roles, he is a Chief Investigator on the current NHMRC Centre of Excellence in Compensable Injury After Road Crashes. Epidemiological modelling Associate Professor led in 2020 underpinned the Victorian Government’s strategy for exiting its second wave of COVID-19 infections.