The MABS international workshop series has started in 1998. From 1998 to 2000, the workshop was organized every two years, and it was associated with the International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems (ICMAS).Since 2002, the workshop has become an annual event, associated with the International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS).
The first MABS workshop (MABS 1998), held in Paris at ICMAS 1998, had as its aim to develop stronger links between those working in the social sciences, for whom agent based simulation has the potential to be a valuable research tool, and those involved with multi-agent simulation, for whom the social sciences can provide useful theories and exemplars . A revised version of the papers were published by Springer Verlag, in LNAI series, volume 1534, in a volume called Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation.
The second MABS workshop (MABS 2000), held in Boston at ICMAS 2000, extended this development, and provided substantial discussions. The presentations focused on lessons of social simulation for DAI, on the supporting and reporting of social simulation modelling and on social simulation based software applications. Also for this workshop submissions were subject to peer review and revised versions of the accepted papers were published by Springer Verlag in LNAI series, volume 1979, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation.
The third MABS workshop (MABS 2002), held in Bologna at AAMAS 2002, has as its focus research results on interactions between people and agent based methodology. Revised versions of the accepted papers were published by Springer Verlag in LNAI series, volume 2581, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation II.
The fourth MABS workshop (MABS 2003), held in Melbourne at AAMAS 2003, extended this development, and provided substantial discussions. The presentations focused on lessons of social simulation for DAI, on the supporting and reporting of social simulation modelling and on social simulation based software applications. A revised version of the accepted papers were published by Springer Verlag in LNAI series, volume 2927, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation III.The fifth MABS workshop (MAMABS 2004), held in New York at AAMAS 2004, extended the scope of the workshop scientific interests. As there has been increasing interaction between social scientists and agent researchers wishing to simulate larger and more complex multi-agent and social systems, and simulation researchers who find in the simulation of agents a challenging new domain requiring the development of new theories and techniques, the workshop has provided a forum for these communities to assess the current state of the art, identify where existing approaches can be successfully applied, present new approaches and explore future research challenges. A revised version of the accepted papers was published by Springer Verlag, in LNAI series, volume 3415, in a volume called Multi-Agent and Multi-Agent-Based Simulation .
The sixth MABS workshop (MABS 2005), held in Utrecht at AAMAS 2005, was focussed on ideas related to the definition of new multi-agent systems (MAS) to address real complex issues, as well as ideas coming from social sciences to MAS as new metaphors to provide insights into MAS theory. Theories, models, analysis, experimental designs, empirical studies, methodological principles, all converge into simulation as a way of achieving explanations and predictions, but also exploration of new hypotheses and conjectures. A revised version of the accepted papers was be published by Springer Verlag, in LNAI series, volume 3891, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation VI.
The seventh MABS workshop (MABS 2006), was held in Hakodate at AAMAS 2006, and its aim was to continue to promote a cross-influence, focusing on both the ideas coming from computer science as a new technology to provide insights into ABSS community and the ideas coming from social sciences as new metaphors to provide insights into MAS community. A revised version of the accepted papers was be published by Springer Verlag, in LNAI series, volume 4442, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation VII.
The eighth MABS workshop (MABS 2007), was held in Honolulu at AAMAS 2007. This workshop was focussed to promote a higher cross influence between ABSS (Agent Based Social Simulation) and MAS (Multi-Agent Systems), presenting new and exciting ideas coming from computer science as a new technology to provide insights into ABSS community and the ideas coming from social sciences as new metaphors to provide insights into MAS community. A revised version of the accepted papers was be published by Springer Verlag, in LNAI series, volume 5003, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation VIII.
The nineth MABS workshop (MABS 2008), was held in Estoril at AAMAS 2008. Relevant topics to MABS 2008 included, but were not limited to, simulation methodologies, simulation of social and economic behaviour and applications. All of these topics are important for both the MAS community doing simulation, and for economic, social, and organisational scientists doing simulation. Without limiting the range of traditional topics addressed in this area, in this workshop we also expected to challenge the community to submit the latest results in one additional area: MABS in education: opportunities and challenges. A revised version of the accepted papers was be published by Springer Verlag, in LNAI series, volume 5269, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation IX.
The tenth MABS workshop (MABS 2009), was held in Budapest at AAMAS 2009. Besides the usual topics related to the workshop, like simulation methodologies, simulation of social and economic behaviour and applications, MABS 2009 has asked for contributions in a specific topic: data driven simulations. The focus on this topic is the cross-methodological research that aims to relate models to empirical data in several fields: including biology, sociology, political science, economics, and up to studies done with new media and communication technologies. A revised version of the accepted papers was be published by Springer Verlag, in LNAI series, volume 5683, in a volume called Multi-Agent-Based Simulation X.
The eleventh MABS workshop (MABS 2010), was held in Toronto at AAMAS 2010. This workshop continued to pursue MABS series goal to bring together researchers interested in MAS engineering, with researchers focused on finding efficient solutions to modelling complex social systems, in such areas as economics, management, and organizational and social sciences in general.