Welcome to ESSA
Welcome to the ESSA Homepage
The European Social Simulation Association was formed in 2003 in order to promote the development of social simulation research, education and application in Europe. ESSA works closely with its American equivalent, NAACSOS and the Pacific Asian Association for Agent-based Approach in Economic & Social Complex Systems, PAAA.
The objectives of ESSA are to:
Encourage the development of social simulation in Europe and more widely.
Promote international cooperation among those working in the field while recognizing the distinctiveness of European social simulation research
Promote and support the development of European post-graduate courses and qualifications in social simulation
To liaise with other groups to reduce unnecessary clashes in the scheduling of conferences, meetings and workshops relating to social simulation
Support and organize regular regional and international conferences
ESSA was founded on the basis of a manifesto signed by many social simulation researchers. These founding members also drafted a constitution which forms the basis of ESSA's constitution.
Welcome address of Rosaria Conte, ESSA's new president
First ESSA Conference, held in Groningen, The Netherlands, September 18-21, 2003
Second ESSA Conference, held in Valladolid, Spain, September 16-19, 2004
Third ESSA Conference, held in Koblenz, Germany, September 5-9, 2005
First World Congress on Social Simulation, held in Kyoto, Japan, August 21-25, 2006
Fourth ESSA Conference, held in Toulouse, France, September, 10-14, 2007
Second World Congress on Social Simulation, held in Fairfax VA, USA, July 14-17, 2008
Fifth ESSA Conference, held in Brescia, Italy, September 1-5, 2008
Sixth ESSA Conference, held in Guildford, United Kingdom, scheduled for September 14-18, 2009
Third World Congress, held in Kassel, Germany, scheduled for September 6-9, 2010
Interested? Then register your interest now!
To register your interest to join ESSA use this online form (the registration form for new members can be reached via "New user?" in the menu on the left-hand side of the start page, just on the same level as this line!). Once registered you will be sent an e-mail with your login name and password, and from then on you will be able to use this portal and all information therein. Note that the annual fees are 50 € (students, including postgraduate, bot not including postdoctoral students, pay only 30 €). These fees are mainly used for subsidising students’ participation in international conferences (provided that their papers were accepted) and, to a lesser part, for subsidising simulation workshops. Fees can be paid either
- via PayPal to essa@uni-koblenz.de or
- to the ESSA bank account (IBAN DE89 2004 1111 0176 3168 00, BIC: COBA DE HD XXX), for transfers from German banks: account no. 1763168, BLZ 200 411 11.
Special Interest Groups
Several SIGs were already founded covering the following topics:
For proposing others, see here.ESSA promotes Workshops in Social Simulation !!!
The Management Committee of the European Social Simulation Association has instituted a programme to promote social simulation and especially to support the organization of workshops on social simulation.
Applications for support will be examined by the ESSA Management Committee twice a year, normally in November and May (but for this first round, the deadline for applications will be December 15th, with decisions to be made in January 2006). The allocation will be based on a rating of the workshop proposal based on its relevance and its contribution to the field of social simulation.
If you plan to organize a workshop dedicated to subjects linked to social simulation, are an ESSA member, and want financial support from ESSA, please provide to the ESSA Secretary (Kees Zoethout):
a brief description of the event,
its location and dates
a list of the possible participants,
the total cost of the workshop and the main items of expenditure ,
any other source of funding applied for
the amount requested from ESSA.
ESSA will fund no more than 50% of the total costs of the workshop up to a maximum of 1500 euro.
Send any comments, queries and suggestions to Kees Zoethout, the secretary of ESSA k.zoethout@rug.nl
Management Committee:
(see here)
Past Presidents:
- Scott Moss (2003-2004)
- Nigel Gilbert (2004-2006)
- Wander Jager (2006-2008)

