i). BDC Seminar Series | 13th March 2019

Title:

“Agent-Based Modelling of the Spread of Extremist Ideology”

Abstract:

The spread of ideology over social media follows many of the same patterns as the spread of an infection throughout a community, and in many cases can be modelled using many of the same methods. However, the differences between a biological epidemic and an epidemic of radicalisation mean that many of the usual risk mitigation practices are either ineffective or impossible. Atop this, the progressive manner of radicalisation offers many different challenges for modelling than the binary infected/healthy model common within epidemiology. Finally, ethical and practical matters restrict the type and magnitude of intervention techniques that can be performed on a social network against speech, as opposed to in a real community against disease. This presentation demonstrates the application of agent-based modelling techniques to this area, and explores lightweight intervention techniques that arrest the progression of radicalisation without unduly altering the network structure or its functionality to innocent users.

Author:

Adam Coates is a final year PhD student at Manchester Metropolitan University, supervised by Liangxiu Han and Anthony Kleerekoper, after completing his BSc in Computer Science at the same university. His current work centres on the application of network intervention techniques to prevent the spread of extremist ideology over social media. He also has a strong academic interest in computer security and programming.