Knowledge Systems for Coalition Operations 2012
15th to 17th February 2012 at IHMC in Pensacola, Florida

Conference Programme and Resources

A directory is available in which various conference resources can be found, including a PowerPoint introduction to the KSCO Community [KSCO-2012 Resources Directory]

The preliminary programme for the conference is now available [MS Word Doc] [PDF Format]

Conference Venue, Locale and Events

The weekend after KSCO-2012 will be the main Mardi Gras celebration (including a parade on the Saturday). For more details see http://www.pensacolamardigras.com/.

For tourist information on Pensacola and the nice white sand beaches see http://www.visitpensacola.com/ and http://www.visitpensacolabeach.com/.

Conference Information

KSCO - Knowledge Systems for Coalition Operations is an international community of interest exploring research in Knowledge Systems for Coalition Operations. KSCO regularly organizes a technical conference where practitioners and key decision makers in coalition operations meet and discuss with researchers from areas of knowledge-based systems, planning and multi-agent systems, exchange experience and ideas, share inspiration and suggest novel concepts. It can also lead to joint project proposals.

After successful events in Edinburgh UK, Toulouse France, Prague Czech Republic, Waltham MA USA, Southampton UK, and Vancouver, BC, Canada, the KSCO conference in 2012 is to be held at IHMC in Pensacola, Florida, USA.

KSCO-2012 welcomes submission of original research and application papers related to coalition operations management. A coalition includes, but not limited to, military, inter-agency and cross organization alliances engaged in a cooperative endeavour and joining forces together for a common cause.

Topics may be related to knowledge systems requirements and knowledge systems potential or actual use for coalition and inter-agencies operations (i.e., multi-national and multi-agency, civil authorities, home land safety and security, expeditionary or domestic operations). Both full-length (10 page) and position paper (4 page) submissions are welcome. We will review theoretical, experimental, methodological papers, but we are especially interested in case studies, prototype evaluations and application reports. KSCO organizers particularly encouraged submission of reports presenting larger coalition and inter-agencies related national and international projects and programs. Authors wishing to present emerging efforts, especially student projects, were encouraged to submit position papers.

Key KSCO topics include:

• Innovative theory and techniques for formation of coalitions and similar "virtual organizations"
• Requirements for knowledge-based coalition planning and operations
• Knowledge-based approaches to command and control
• Knowledge-based approaches to coalition logistics
• Knowledge-based approaches to inter-agency and domestic operations
• Knowledge-based approaches to safety and security operations
• Knowledge-based decision support
• Coalition and inter-agencies modelling
• Applications and requirements for knowledge-based coalition planning
• Knowledge-based approaches to Operations-Other-Than-War
• Multi-agent systems and the concept of agency in coalitions
• Tools and techniques for knowledge-based simulation and modelling of coalition operations
• Security and maintenance of private information or knowledge in coalition operations
• Autonomous vs. centrally managed coalition operations
• Mobility, agile and autonomous computing in coalition operation
• Cyberspace issues for coalitions
• Complexity issues and scalability in coalition operations
• Cross-cultural issues in coalition operations
• Deployed systems, case studies

Contacts

• Conference Chair: Dr. Jitu Patel <jmpatel@dstl.gov.uk> Dstl, UK
• Program Chair: Dr. James Lawton, EOARD, London for USAF, USA
• Local Chair: Dr. Niranjan Suri, IHMC, Florida, USA
• Other Conference Committee Members:
• Dr. Liz Bowman, ARL, USA
• Dr. Jeff Bradshaw, IHMC, Florida, USA
• Dr. Adel Guitouni, DRDC, Canada
• Mr. Justin T Henley, Dstl, UK
• Mr. Don Sofge, NRL, USA
• Prof. Austin Tate, AIAI, University of Edinburgh, UK
• Web Site Changes: Austin Tate <a.tate@ed.ac.uk> AIAI, Edinburgh, UK