Geoffrey Nigel Gilbert (born 21 March 1950) is a British sociologist and a pioneer in the use of

agent-based model An agent-based model (ABM) is a computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents (both individual or collective entities such as organizations or groups) in order to understand the behavior of a system and ...

s in the

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

. He is the founder and director of the ''Centre for Research in Social Simulation'' (

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

), author of several books on computational social science,

social simulation Social simulation is a research field that applies computational methods to study issues in the social sciences. The issues explored include problems in computational law, psychology, organizational behavior, sociology, political science, econom ...

and

social research Social research is research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative. * Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable ...

and past editor of the '' Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation'' (JASSS), the leading journal in the field.

Career

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

engineering graduate ( Emmanuel College), he turned to the

sociology of scientific knowledge The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing with "the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity." The sociology ...

for his PhD under the direction of Michael Mulkay. He was a lecturer at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

(1974–76) and then joined the

where he became a professor in the Department of Sociology in 1991. At the University of Surrey he founded the Social and Computer Sciences research group in 1984 with a grant from the Alvey Programme. The group focused on applying social science to the design of intelligent knowledge-based systems. Later he established the Centre for Research in Social Simulation (1997), and the Digital World Research Centre (1998). He served as a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the

(1998–2005) and he is the current Director of its Institute of Advanced Studies. He served as a member of the Council of the

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...

. from 2017 to 2020.

Work

Sociology of scientific knowledge

Gilbert and Mulkay (1984) is a key contribution on the use of

discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, spoken, or sign language, including any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse analysis (discourse, writing, conversation, communicative sy ...

methods in the

. By applying discourse analysis to extensive qualitative data on a scientific dispute in the field of chemistry, Gilbert and Mulkay account for the social processes that underpin knowledge production, especially when consensus has not yet been established within the scientific community.

Secondary analysis of large government datasets

With Sara Arber, he was a pioneer in the use for academic analysis of computer files of survey data collected by the

Office of Population Censuses and Surveys The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) was created in May 1970 through the merger of the General Register Office and the Government Social Survey Department. It was a forerunner and constituent, with the UK Central Statistical Off ...

, a data source that has now become commonplace in sociology.

Access to social security information

The regulations determining what claimants of UK welfare benefits are entitled to (e.g.

income support Income Support is an income-related benefit in the United Kingdom for some people who are on a low income, but have a reason for not actively seeking work. Claimants of Income Support may be entitled to certain other benefits, for example, Housin ...

tax credits A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "disc ...

Disability Living Allowance Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a social security benefit in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off ...

) are complicated and often very difficult for claimants to apprehend unaided. With the growing availability of personal computers in the 1980s, he realised that an interactive program, designed for claimants themselves to use, could be helpful. He developed a prototype, which was taken up by both the then

Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a Ministry (government department), ministry of the Her Majesty's Government, British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed b ...

and

Citizens Advice Bureau Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this natio ...

x, and which was the forerunner of the systems nowadays routinely used in advice centres. This work also contributed to understanding the interface requirements for publicly accessible computer systems, using graphical interfaces and, later, speech dialogue interfaces .

Social simulation

Nigel Gilbert is one of the founders of modern

computational sociology Computational sociology is a branch of sociology that uses computationally intensive methods to analyze and model social phenomena. Using computer simulations, artificial intelligence, complex statistical methods, and analytic approaches like soc ...

, a discipline that merges social science research with simulation techniques with the goal of modelling complex policy issues and fundamental aspects of human societies. His first work in this area was a project on modelling the emergence of organised society in prehistoric France, with Jim Doran . While this was only moderately successful, it led him to organise in 1992 the first of an influential series of workshops on 'Simulating Societies’ Later he established: * th
SIMSOC
mailing list. In January 2024 the list had 1331 subscribers. * the '' Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation'' (JASSS), which was launched in 1998 to provide a publication outlet for simulation-based research. Professor Gilbert was the editor until 2014. JASSS is an online no-fee Open Access journal. In 1997, CRESS received funding from the FAIR programme of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

for a project called IMAGES: Improving agri-environmental policies–a simulation approach to the role of the cognitive properties of farmers and institutions (1997–2000). This was the first of many

Commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

funded projects using social simulation to which he contributed, such as SEIN, FIRMA, SIMWEB, EMIL, NEMO, NEWTIES, PATRES, QLectives, ePolicy, TellMe, GLODERS and P2Pvalue . In 1999, Nigel Gilbert and Klaus G. Troitzsch published ''Simulation for the social scientist'', the first "how to" text book on social simulation and, in 2008, ''Agent-based Models'', now one of the standard references on agent-based modelling.

Policy evaluation

In 2016, he became the Director of a newly established Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN). The centre, funded by the

and the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British Research Councils UK, research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several envir ...

with the support of DECC, DEFRA, the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

and the

Food Standards Agency The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is led by a board appoin ...

, pioneers, tests and promotes innovative evaluation approaches and methods across

nexus NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members of the program can avoid waits at border ...

problem domains, such as biofuel production or climate change, where food, energy, water and environmental issues intersect. The Centre authored ''Handling Complexity in Policy Evaluation'', a Supplementary Guide to the 2020 edition of

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

's ''Magenta Book'', its handbook on policy evaluation. He founded a spin-out company
CECAN Ltd.
in 2019 to provide consultancy services to decision makers on innovative policy evaluation approaches.

Other research and advisory activity

In 1993, Gilbert founded the journal ''Sociological Research Online''. This pioneered the use of the web as a medium for academic publication. He is founding editor of ''Social Research Update'', a quarterly publication of the University of Surrey. He and Stuart Peters created a journal management system
epress
originally to make running ''Sociological Research Online'' and ''JASSS'' easier, but now available commercially. Beside his research activity, he has served on a number of government and national committees: as the Deputy Chairman of the Manufacturing, Production and Business Processes Foresight Panel (1994–99), Deputy Chairman of the

's Research Priorities Board (1997–2000) and on the Advisory Group of the Foresight Intelligent Infrastructures Project, as well as on many research council boards, both in the UK and abroad. As Chairman of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

's Group on Privacy and Surveillance, he published ''Dilemmas of Privacy and Surveillance: Challenges of Technological Change'' (2007). He was a member of the Sociology sub-panel for the 2001 and 2008

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British ...

s (RAE). From 2012 to 2016, he was a member of the Social Science Expert Panel for DEFRA and DECC. The panel's purpose was to bring high quality, multi-disciplinary social science advice to both departments. In 2016, it was replaced by the Social Science Expert Group (SSEG), a sub-group of the DEFRAbr>Science Advisory Council
on which he served until 2023. He was a member of the

's Advisory Group for the Future and Emerging Technologies programme from 2013 to 2018.

Awards and scientific recognitions

In 1999, he was appointed

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in United K ...

in recognition of his work as "a pioneer of the application of computer modelling to social science", becoming the first practising social scientist to become a Fellow. He was awarded a

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

degree by the University of Cambridge in 2003. He is also a Fellow of the British Computer Society and of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences (for which he served as a Council Member). From 2004 to 2006, he was President of the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA). Gilbert was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to engineering and the social sciences.

Selected works on social simulation

* * * * *

Other works

* * * *

References

External links

Nigel Gilbert, University of Surrey (Sociology)

Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS)

* ttp://www.essa.eu.org/ European Social Simulation Association (ESSA)
SIMSOC mailing list

Transcript of biographical interview at Archives of IT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Nigel 1950 births Living people Academics of the University of Surrey Academics of the University of York Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge British sociologists Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Commanders of the Order of the British Empire