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Dr Gary Polhill

Gary Polhill did a degree in Artificial Intelligence and a PhD in Neural Networks before spending 18 months in industry as a professional programmer. Since 1997 he has been working at the Macaulay Institute on agent-based modelling of human-natural systems.

Research Interests

His work has been primarily focused on the FEARLUS agent-based model of land-use change and associated projects. He is interested in complex systems, social dilemmas, coupled human-natural systems modelling, semantic grid tools for facilitating and describing social simulations, and best practice in agent-based modelling, programming and design.

Journal, Refereed paper | Reviewed paper | Conference paper | Conference poster/ abstract | Technical/ contract reports | Books/ chapters/ theses | Oral presentations |

Gary’s highlighted publications

  • Supporting simulations on the grid using workflows and virtual machines., Pignotti, E.; Edwards, P.; Polhill, G., (2009) UK s-Science All Hands Meeting 2009: Past, Present and Future, 5th IEEE International Conference, Oxford, UK, 7 - 9 December 2009.

Journal, Refereed paper

  • Size matters: large-scale replications of experiments with FEARLUS., Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G., (In press) Advances in Complex Systems, Special issue of revised papers from ESSA 2009.

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Reviewed paper

  • Is your model susceptible to floating point errors? - and if so... does it really matter?, Izquierdo, L.R.; Polhill, J.G., (2005) In: Representing Social Reality, (ed. Klaus G. Troitzsch). European Simulation Association, 3rd Annual Conference, Koblenz, Germany 5-9 September 2005, pp345-355.

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Conference papers

  • Adaptive control of landscape biodiversity., Polhill, J.G.; Jarvis, A.; Gimona, A.; Gotts, N.M., (In press) Modelling for Environmnet's Sake, International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 5th-8th July, 2010.
  • Analysis of incentive schemes for biodiversity using a coupled agent-based model of land use change and species metacommunity model., Polhill, J.G.; Gimona, A.; Gotts, N.M., (2010) Modelling for Environment's Sake. International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 5th-8th July 2010.
  • Size matters: Results from large-scale replications of experiments with FEARLUS., Polhill, G.; Gotts, N.M., (2009) European Social Simulation Association (ESSA), 6th Conference, University of Surrey, Guildford, 14th -18th September 2009. On cd-rom.
  • An OWL (Web Ontology Language) representation of the MR POTATOHEAD agent-based land-use change meta-model., Parker, D.; Polhill, G.; Mussavi, M., (2008) Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, 15-19 April, 2008.
  • A model for exploring human-natural system interactions in the context of agricultural biodiversity., Polhill, G.; Gimona, A.; Davies, B.; Gotts, N.M.; McCracken, D.; Catalan, A.; Dury, G.; Decorps, D., (2008) European Social Simulation Association Conference, 5th, Brescia, Italy, September 2008.
  • Using Collective Rewards and Social Interactions to Control Agricultural Pollution: Explorations with FEARLUS-W., Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G., (2007) In: Interdisciplinary approaches to the simulation of social phenomena. (ed. F. Amblard). Conference of the European Social Simulation, Association, 4th, Toulouse, France, 10th-14th September 2007, pp253-262.
  • Semantic workflow management for eSocial Science., Pignotti, E.; Edwards, P.; Preece, A.; Polhill, G.; Gotts, N.M., (2007) Third International Conference on e-Social Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, 7-9 October 2007.
  • Evaluating a prototype self-description feature in an agent-based model of land use change., Polhill, J.G.; Gotts, N.M., (2007) In: Interdisciplinary approaches to the simulation of social phenomena. (ed. F. Amblard). Conference of the European Social Simulation, Association, 4th, Toulouse, France, 10th-14th September 2007, pp711-718
  • Simulating socio-techno-ecosystems., Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G., (2006) Proceedings of the First World Congress on Social Simulation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 21-25 August 2006, Vol 1. pp119-126.
  • A new approach to modelling frameworks., Polhill, J.G.; Gotts, N.M., (2006) Proceedings of the First World Congress on Social Simulation, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 21-25 August 2006, Vol 1. pp215-222.
  • Social dilemmas: What if not everybody knows that everybody knows that everybody is rational?, Izquierdo, L.R.; Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G.; Edmonds, B., (2005) Working Paper Series,12, Graduate School of Business, Manchester Metropolitan University.
  • Integrating agent-based social models and biophysical models., Matthews, R.B.; Polhill, J.G.; Gilbert, N.; Roach, A.,, (2005) Proceedings, MODSIM Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 9-12 December, 2005.
  • An ontology for experimentation with a social simulation of land use change., Polhill, J.G., Pignotti, E., Gotts, N.M., Edwards, P. and Preece, A., (2005) In: Representing Social Reality, (ed. Klaus G. Troitzsch). European Simulation Association, 3rd Annual Conference, Koblenz, Germany 5-9 September 2005, pp324-330.
  • Introducing land markets to an agent based model of land use change: a design., Polhill, J.G.; Parker, D.C.; Gotts, N.M., (2005) European Simulation Association, 3rd Annual Conference, Koblenz, Germany.
  • FEARLUS-G: a semantic grid service for land use modelling., Pignotti, E.; Edwards, P.; Preece, A.; Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G., (2004) International Workshop on Semantic Intelligent Middleware for the Web and the Grid, Valencia, Spain, 23rd-24th August, 2004.
  • Dynamics of imitation in a land use simulation., Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G.; Law, A.N.R.; Izquierdo, L.R., (2003) In: Proceedings of International Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artefacts, 2nd, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 7th-11th April 2003, pp39-46.
  • Combining object-orientated programming and relational databases for multi-scale spatially integrated agent-based models., Polhill, J.G.; Gotts, N.M.; Law, A.N.R., (2002) Biennial Meeting of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (IEMSs 2002), University of Lugano, Switzerland, 24th-27th June 2002. pp251-256.
  • Modeling land-use change using agents in the FEARLUS project., Polhill, J.G.; Gotts, N.M.; Law, A.N.R., (2002) In: Agent-Based Models of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change: Report and Review of an International Workshop (ed. D.C. Parker, T. Berger, S. M. Manson, W. J. McConnell). Irvine, California, USA, October 4-7 2001. LUCC Report Series No. 6. pp35-40.
  • FEARLUS: an agent-based model of land use change., Polhill, J.G.; Gotts, N.M.; Law, A.N.R., (2001) National Academy of Sciences Arthur M Sackler Colloquium on Adaptive Agents, Intelligence and Emergent Human Organization: Capturing Complexity Through Agent-Based Modeling.

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Conference poster/abstract

  • Lessons learned and prospects for agent-based modelling of land use effects on ecosystem processes and services., Aspinall, R.; Polhill, G., (2009) GLP Symposium on Agent Based Modelling of Land Use Effects on Ecosystem Processes and Services, US-IALE Symposium, Snowbird, Utah, 12th-16th April 2009.
  • Informing the development of measures to address lowland biodiversity concerns., Long, D.; Hawes, C.; McCracken, D.; Polhill, G.; Gimona, A., (2009) Science-Policy-Success. Knowledge Scotland Conference and Workshop, Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, 7th-8th October 2009.
  • Supporting simulations on the grid using workflows and virtual machines., Pignotti, E.; Edwards, P.; Polhill, G., (2009) UK s-Science All Hands Meeting 2009: Past, Present and Future, 5th IEEE International Conference, Oxford, UK, 7 - 9 December 2009.
  • Supporting distributed simulation experiments on the eScience infrastructure., Pignotti, E.; Edwards, P.; Polhill, G.; Gotts, N.M., (2009) UK s-Science All Hands Meeting 2009: Past, Present and Future, 5th IEEE International Conference, Oxford, UK, 7th - 9th December 2009.
  • Using a virtual machine environment to support simulation on the grid., Pignotti, E; Polhill,G.; Edwards, P., (2009) European Social Simulation Association, (ESSA), 6th Conference, University of Surrey, Guildford, 14-18 September 2009.
  • An introduction to agent-based modelling of coupled human-natural systems., Polhill, G.; Parker, D., (2009) GLP Symposium on Agent Based Modelling of Land Use Effects on Ecosystem Processes and Services, US-IALE Symposium, Snowbird, Utah, 12th-16th April 2009.
  • MR POTATOHEAD goes onto OWL: An ontological rendition of agent-based models of land use and cover change., Mussavi Rizi, S.; Parker, D.; Polhill, G., (2008) World Congress on Social Simulation 2008 (WCSS-08), George Mason University, Fairfax, July 14-17, 2008.
  • Semantic workflow management for social simulation., Pignotti, E.; Edwards, P.; Polhill, G.; Gotts, N.M., (2008) UK e-Science All hands Meeting, Edinburgh, 8-11 September 2008.
  • Modelling the influences of policy and land management decisions on biodiversity: Considerations for coupling models., Polhill, J.G.; Gimona, A.; Davies, B.; Catalan, A., (2007) In: Framing Land Use Dynamics II. International Conference (ed. E. Addink, A. Barendregt, D. Ettema, D. Karssenberg, and T. de Nijs) 18-20 April 2007, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, pp153-154.
  • Exploring environmental policy with coupled natural and human system modelling., Polhill, J.G.; Gimona, A.; McCracken, D.; Davies, B., (2007) Making Scotland's Rural Environment More Sustainable, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 25th June 2007.
  • Using social interactions in the control of diffuse agricultural pollution: modelling with FEARLUS-W., Polhill, J.G.; Gotts, N.M., (2007) C2007: 2007 Annual International Conference at the Royal Geographical Society with IBG, London, 29th-31st August 2007.
  • Integrating agent-based social simulation and biodiversity modelling., Gimona, A.; Polhill, G.; Izquierdo, L.; Davies, B., (2006) British Ecological Society, General Meeting, Oxford, September 2006.
  • Designs for coupling an agent-based model of land use change with a spatially-explicit hydrochemical model., Polhill, J.G.; Koo, B.; Izquierdo, L.R.; Dunn, S.; Gotts, N.M.; Rothman, D.S.; Ferrier, R.C., (2004) LUCC/EFEIA/WOTRO Joint International Workshop. Integrated assessment of the land system: The future of land use. Institute for Environmental Studies, Amsterdam, 28-30 October 2004.
  • FEARLUS - W: an agent-based model of river basin land use and water management., Izquierdo, L.R.; Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G., (2003) In: Framing Land Use Dynamics, (M. Dijst, P. Schot and K. de Jong). Reviewed abstracts International Conference, Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 16th-18th April 2003. pp163-165.
  • Land use change - a challenge for integrated modelling., Aalders, I.H.; Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, G.; Law, A.; Birnie, R.V.; Aspinall, R.J., (2001) Challenges of a Changing Earth, Global Change Open Science Conference (IGBP), Amsterdam, 10-13 July 2001.

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Technical/contract reports

  • CAVES: Complexity, agents, volatility, evidence and scale., Sutherland, L.A.; Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G., (2006) Grampian Region Field Research Report. CAVES EU F6 Project.
  • Development of a rural economy and land use simulation modelling strategy., Matthews, R.B.; Gilbert, N.; Roach, A.; Polhill, J.G.; Gotts, N.M.; Izquierdo, L.R., (2005) Final Project Report of RELU Development Activity RES-224-25-0102, Macaulay Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB158QH, UK.

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Books/chapters/theses

  • Sinks, sustainability and conservation incentives., Gimona, A.; Polhill, G.; Davies, B., (In press) In: Sources, Sinks and Sustainability (Liu, J., Hull, V., Morzillo, A., and Wiens, J). Cambridge University Press.
  • Illustrating a new "conceptual design pattern" for agent-based models of land use via five case studies - the MR POTATOHEAD framework, Parker, D.C.; Brown, D.G.; Polhill, J.G.; Deadman, P.J.; Manson, S.M., (2008) In: Agent-Based Modelling in Natural Resource Management (ed. A. Lopez Paredes and I. Hernandez). INSISOC, Valladolid, Spain, pp.23-51.
  • Effects of land markets on competition between innovators and imitators in land use: results from FEARLUS-ELMM., Polhill, J.G.; Parker, D.C.; Gotts, N.M., (2007) In: Social Simulation: Technologies, Advances and New Discoveries (ed. Edmonds, B., Hernandez Iglesias, C., and Troitzsch, K. G.), Chapter 7, Idea Group Inc. Ch. 7, pp81-97.

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Oral Presentations

  • Agent based modelling in GILDED and at Macaulay land Use Research Institute., Gotts, N.M.; Polhill, J.G.; Gimona, A.; Davies, B.; Matthews, R., (2009) University of Groningen, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Institute of Political Science, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, 6th July -13th July 2009.
  • Assessment of potential biodiversity impacts of future policy changes: Identifying and prioritising future scenarios., Polhill, G.; Gimona, A.; McCracken, D., (2009) Biodiversity Consultative Group Meeting, Consultation Room 9, Victoria Quay, Leith, Edinburgh, 10 March 2009.
  • Ontologies for agent-based modelling., Polhill, J.G., (2009) Center for Social Complexity, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University Seminar, Friday 17th April 2009.
  • Agent-based modelling of socio-economic processes related to the environment: Example of land-use change., Polhill, J.G., (2008) Uncertainties in environmental modelling and consequences for policy-making, NATO Advanced Study Institute, 1-11 October 2008.