The human society consists of a myriad of interconnected socio-technical systems. People, machines, organization, the environment, infrastructures, markets, laws and habits form a complex adaptive socio-technical system, evolving through constant parallel and distributed interaction of heterogeneous social and technical elements. Understanding and shaping this evolution is essential if we are to rise to the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, population growth and changing geo-political regimes. Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) is a bottom up, generative modelling technique, in which individual heterogeneous agents act, react on, and interact with each other and their environment. Examples include policies that may affect shifts from products to services, exploring the effects of different flood insurance options to land use development, decarbonisation policies for the electricity sector, and developments towards climate-resilient electricity networks.
Professor Nikolic trained as a chemical and bio-process engineer, and has worked as an environmental scientist at the Centre of Environmental Science, Leiden. He then joined the Energy and Industry group at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at the TUD. Currently he is involved in a wide array or research topics, ranging from smart-grids, regional industrial networks, e-waste markets, servicing systems, flood protection and development aid.
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