2nd CfP: AgentcitiesUK.net Challenge Day on Agents and Pervasive Computing

[Tom Crick]

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                          CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

      AgentcitiesUK.net Challenge Day 6: Agents and Pervasive Computing
                           University of Bath, UK
                          29th -- 30th August 2007

            REGISTRATION NOW OPEN: http://agentcitiesuk.net/ 


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This is a call for participation in the sixth AgentcitiesUK.net
Challenge Day on Agents and Pervasive Computing, to be held on 29th-30th
August 2007 at the University of Bath, UK.

Aims and Scope
--------------

This is the sixth and final meeting in a series that has previously
investigated issues in e-Health provision (CD1), e-Government (CD2),
e-Transportation (CD3), Disaster Response and Management (CD4) and
Agents and Grids (CD5).

The purpose of this "Challenge Day" is both to explore and extrapolate
from current research and to brainstorm on completely new possibilities
for the use of agent technologies in pervasive computing, as well as
introduce non-specialists to the possibilities agents can offer. The
focus will be on how agents can help us with tasks that we are unable to
do now -- not just automating existing practices. The aims are to
identify real agent added-value and develop sustainable arguments that
autonomy is an opportunity, not a threat.

The goal of the sixth AgentcitiesUK.net Challenge Day is

(i) to provide a forum for projects that are attempting to bring these
technologies together as well as
(ii) an opportunity for established researchers in either area to find
out more about the other, with the objective of
(iii) building a consensus for a joint research agenda.

Some possible discussion themes include:

-healthcare and assisted living (e.g. Healthcare at Home)
-social spaces (e.g. Cityware)
-differences in living (supporting people) and external applications
(looking after environment)
-sensors and monitoring
-ubiquitous computing (e.g. UbiNet)

We invite applications for participation from UK-based researchers
(including postgraduate students) from the agent and pervasive
computing communities, along with stakeholders from the industrial
and public sectors.

Structure
---------

The meeting will take place over two days, starting in the morning of
day one and finishing mid-afternoon on day two.  Dinner will be
provided on the evening of day one.

The discussion leaders will outline particular problems for which
agent technology might offer solutions: this will be interactive -- a
mixture of brainstorming and requirements elicitation. A session
during the first day will be spent working in groups focussing on
specific problems/scenarios followed by reporting back to the workshop
as a whole. The dinner in the evening will provide a context for
further exploration of the ideas generated earlier.

The second day will comprise further talks plus a discussion mediated
by the rapporteurs from the groups of the previous day.  After lunch
we will conclude by looking at potential future directions for
research and follow-up actions.

Networking and internet access facilities will be provided throughout
the meeting.

Application Procedure
---------------------

We invite applications for participation from UK-based researchers,
including postgraduate students with interests in the applications
development in fields relating to multi-agent systems and pervasive 
computing.

All places will include funded accommodation at the University of Bath
on the night of the 29th August, along with subsistence
and travel support. FUNDING IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO UK PARTICIPANTS AND
UK-BASED RESEARCHERS. However, it may possible to fund the UK portion
of overseas participants' travel.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN: To apply for a place please visit
http://agentcitiesuk.net/ and fill out the CD6 event registration form.
We ask that potential participants prepare a paragraph detailing their
research interests and potential discussion topics for the Challenge
Day.

Important Dates
---------------

17th August 2007:         Registration deadline
20th August 2007:         Notification of places and grants
29th/30th August 2007:    Challenge Day

For further information, visit the AgentcitiesUK.net website or contact
cd6-registration at agentcitiesuk.net.

CD6 Steering Committee:
Julian Padget, University of Bath (jap at cs.bath.ac.uk)


About AgentcitiesUK.net
-----------------------

AgentcitiesUK.net is an EPSRC-funded project which exists to continue
and extend the lines of research and development initiated by the
EU-funded agentcities projects within the United Kingdom. Specifically,
the project goals include:

- Establish a support network for UK agents research - diffusion of EU
    agentcities outputs
- Create and maintain a body of experience in agent-based services
- Provide a national/European context for masters and doctoral
    research in agent-based services
- Develop infrastructure and framework for a distributed laboratory
    for agent experiments
- Liaison with AgentLink and other EU agent activities