Prof. Leonidas Sakalauskas,
Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania
Operational Research behind modeling and simulation of social-behavioural phenomena in creative societies
The application of computational models to study issues in the social sciences and humanities has been undergoing rapid development during the last decades. OR was heavily and effectively used throughout the many historical courses, emphasizing the role of game theory and rational decision making in shaping the strategic thinking in politics and business. It is natural to assume that in the current historical time, when many delicate socio-political challenges have to be dealt with once again, it is important to resort to OR to overcome those challenges.
The operationalisation of social-behavioural phenomena, appearing in nowadays life, in order to develop a paradigm of rational choice for the efficient understanding of their nature and relevant decision making, enables bridging OR with social sciences and humanities. The creation of such a paradigm on the basis of the theory of structural equation modelling (SEM), multi-agent modelling and game theory, together with data science and mathematical sociology methods, allows the development of data-driven operationalisation for evidence-based solutions.