Modelling behavioural complexity in the energy transition

Topic

Starting from the question of how and when diverse groups of people are able to learn their way out of wicked problems, I present examples of social dynamics in projects aiming at climate resilience and tipping points in the energy transition. The importance of social dynamics and situated behaviour (which is triggered by and following situational cues) is something I studied not only empirically but also addressed with agent-based modelling. Here, representing human behaviour in models is both promising (to better understand social dynamics and tipping points) and challenging (selecting and formalizing social science theory). In my talk, I provide an overview on the challenges and opportunities of  including social science theory in simulation models. The talk ends with an outlook on my current work on enhancing the use of theory in models by providing research for identifying, selecting, formalizing, and incorporating theory from the social sciences.