DIAGNOSING VULNERABILITY, EMERGENT PHENOMENA, and VOLATILITY in MANMADE NETWORKS
Man-made interdependent infrastructures are strategic assets and commodities, whose secure, reliable and affordable supply are essential to Europe’s socio-economic development and stability. The scope of the project covers the mathematical methods required to understand the dynamics of the network of networks that comprise Europe’s critical infrastructure; concentrating primarily on energy supply, emergency response systems and subsidiary key infrastructures (such as transport) that are either directly dependent on them, or are critically relied on in times of crisis.
NEST Pathfinder MANMADE project factsheet
The MANMADE Project Description of Work
Web address : www.manmadenet.eu
Project News
6 November 2009: Workshop on Women in Science [a MANMADE deliverable], Queen Mary University of London
A MANMADE "deliverable", this workshop for London school students will show how science can be used for social impact. It will be led by three scientists: Dr Delilah Al-Khudairy (Head, Institute for Protection and Security of the Citizen at the European UnionJoint Research Center, Ispra, Italy) , Dr Rosemary Harris (School of Mathematical Sciences, QMUL) and Dr Karmen Poljansek (Joint Research Center, Ispra)
24-25 September 2009: Workshop on Deregulated European Energy Market [a MANMADE deliverable], Collegium Budapest, Hungary
A MANMADE "deliverable", this workshop presented an overview of the recent changes in the European energy market, such as the consequences of the deregulation, increasing percentage of renewable energy, risks induced on the energy networks, energy supply and price fluctuation. The event was hosted by the Collegium Budapest, in Hungary, and included presentations from members of the Collegium, the EC Joint Research Centre, E.ON of Hungary, and Queen Mary University of London. For more information, please see the session presentations.
25-June 2009: MASA hosts 6th MANMADE Management Committee Meeting
The Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts, MASA, hosted the 6th meeting of the MANMADE Management Committee, held in Skopje, Macedonia..
As the project is now 30 months into its 36 month duration, the focus areas for this meeting were assessment of project work to date, plans for disseminating project results, and planning for the final project management report. Fourteen team members attended, representing all of the project science partners.
For more information, see the agenda and minutes from this meeting.
24 June 2009: MASA hosts workshop on "natural and man-made vulnerabilities of EU Grid"
The Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts, MASA, hosted the workshop "Natural and man-made vulnerabilities of the EU Grid". A MANMADE project deliverable, this workshop included nine presentations ranging from the role of GIS in modern network analysis to structual, topological, and mathmatical analyses of networks. The workshop brought together attendees from across the Manmade project and Macedonia. See the program, abstracts, and session presentations for more information on this event. .
12-January 2009: JRC hosts 5th MANMADE Management Committee Meeting
The JRC hosted the 5th meeting of the MANMADE Management Committee, held in Ispra, Italy.
With eighteen team members attended, the meeting began with a review of the feedback on the project's Month 18 Periodic Management Report, submitted in August 2008. At the time of this meeting, the report had been accepted by the EC Project Science Officer, and the Project Finance Officer noted that the report should be accepted shortly following a final external financial review [note: the report was accepted in full shortly after this meeting].
Dr. David Arrowsmith, the project coordinator, led an extended review of the project in terms of the project's original science objectives, including network vulnerability, volitility, and emergent behaviour. The team's consensus was that the project has made good progress to date against the original project objectives, while continuing efforts should be directed to topics such as emergent behaviour. A full account of the discussion can be found in the minutes of the meeting.
Dr. Arrowsmith also led the team through a review of remaining project deliverables, including workshops, outreach, and planned publications.
For more information, see the agenda and minutes from this meeting.
09-June 2008: NESA hosts 4th MANMADE Management Committee Meeting
NESA, the National Emergency Supply Agency of Finland and a member of the project stakeholder group, hosted the 4rd meeting of the MANMADE Management Committee in Helsinki. Mika Purhonen, Director of NESA, opened the meeting by noting that international grid interconnections are very costly and a key research output of the project would be find the strategy on how many such connections optimised.
With twenty-one team members attended, the meeting included an update on science to date and planned work, with presentations by the JRC, QMUL, COLB, MASA, and LIUC.
The team used the 2nd day to review the project feedback and guidance provided by the project science advisors following the 3rd Management Committee Meeting. The discussion centred around focusing research topics, continuing work on coordinating team efforts, and outreach.
For more information, see the agenda and minutes from this meeting.
21-January 2008: COLB hosts 3rd MANMADE Management Committee Meeting
The Collegium Budapest hosted the 3rd meeting of the MANMADE Management Committee. Twenty team members attended, including the project science advisor Dr. Maria Carla Calzarossa and two representatives from the project's stakeholder group, Finland's National Emergency Supply Agency, Hannu Sivonen and Matti Jauhiainen.
This meeting supported the team's focus on collaboration, scientific progress, and stakeholder feedback. Representatives from each participating institution presented updates on research progress and plans. The nine presentations addressed topics including the analysis of spot electricity market data, a framework for impact of the electric power supply on a logistic-production system, wind power networks over Europe, and a "social" network analysis of the communication between project team members.
For more information, see the agenda, minutes, and presentations from this meeting.
16-November 2007: International Journal of Production Economics accepts papers
Researchers at the Università Carlo Cattaneo (LIUC) and the EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) have prepared two papers accepted by the International Journal of Production Economics. Both papers address the "bullwhip effect" in supply chains. More information is available under Publications.
12-September 2007: 2nd International Workshop on Recurrence Plots
Dr. Fernanda Strozzi presented "Recurrence Quantification Analysis and State Space Divergence Reconstruction for Financial Time Series Analysis" (F. Strozzi, J.M. Zaldivar, J. Zbilut) at this workshop, held at the University of Siena. The conference website can be found at http://www.recurrence-plot.tk/ws.php. The presentation is available here.
28-June 2007: LIUC hosts 2nd MANMADE Management Committee Meeting
The Università Carlo Cattaneo (LIUC) hosted the 2nd meeting of the MANMADE Management Committee. In addition to reviewing the progress on the project, the group shared several presentations on a variety of science topics, including mathematical analyses of energy spot price markets and the potential distribution of wind energy across Europe. The meeting brought together representatives from all participating institutions and a stakeholder representative (Hannu Sivonen representing Finland's National Emergency Supply Agency).
For more information, see the meeting agenda and minutes.
To view the presentations and materials from the meeting, see the publications section of the the MANMADE site.
7-May 2007: MASA hosts forum on Complex Systems
The Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts (MASA), a MANMADE Consortium member, recently hosted the forum Complex Systems - from theory to application. Several members of the MANMADE Project Team presented at this event. The conference proceedings and these presentations can be viewed under Publications.