University of Konstanz 2026 · Summer Semester Thursdays, 13:30–15:00
| Phase | Week | Date | Topic/Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generating Ideas | 🟦 1 | 09 Apr | Introduction |
| 🟦 2 | 16 Apr | Game Theory · Guest: Azza Bouleimen | |
| 🟦 3 | 23 Apr | Multi-agent dynamics and theory of mind | |
| 🟦 4 | 30 Apr | Can LLMs simulate humans? | |
| 🟦 5 | 07 May | Emergent behavior and world simulations | |
| 14 May | no lecture | ||
| 🟦 6 | 21 May | Learning to cooperate | |
| 🟦 7 | 28 May | RL as institution designer | |
| Scientific Contribution | 04 Jun | no lecture | |
| 🟨 8 | 11 Jun | Guest Lecture: Dailisan & Argota Sánchez-Vaquerizo | |
| 🟨 9 | 18 Jun | Guest Lecture: Dino Carpentras | |
| 🟨 10 | 25 Jun | Preliminary Results Presentations | |
| 🟨 11 | 02 Jul | 1:1 Clinic | |
| Marketing Your Idea | 🟩 12 | 09 Jul | 1:1 Clinic |
| 🟩 13 | 16 Jul | Final Presentations | |
| ⬜ | 15 Aug | Final revision & submit |
Slides: https://slides.com/carinah/modeling-behavior Overleaf: https://www.overleaf.com/6524355567nxbgzdwdmgkt#655081
For each reading, you should briefly (1 sentence each, via Overleaf):
- What is one specific idea or result you found interesting, and why?
- What is one point that remains unclear? What specific question would you ask in class?
- How could this paper be extended? For example, could its methods be applied in a different context? Can its data be analyzed in a different way?
- You will serve once (or twice, depending on class size) as a discussant for your chosen reading(s).
- Your role is to help the class understand the paper in depth and to generate ideas for replication or extension.
- You will give a short (10–15 min) presentation and lead a brief (5–8 min) discussion.
Your goal is to develop an original research paper that builds on the course literature. You may work individually or in small groups.
Only final paper (~8 pages / 4,000–8,000 words) will be graded. In addition, submitting the following milestones is mandatory:
- Week 8 (11 Jun): Submit your project idea
- Week 9 (18 Jun): Submit your research narrative / introduction and identify the literature gap
- Week 10 (25 Jun): Present initial results, explain their relevance, and set up a GitHub repository
- Week 11 (02 Jul): Submit a first full draft
- Week 12 (09 Jul): Prepare slides, a practice presentation, and a social media-style summary (no need to publish)
- Week 13 (16 Jul): Final presentation
- Week 3 (23 Apr) — Multi-agent dynamics and theory of mind
- Week 4 (30 Apr) — Can LLMs simulate humans?
- Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior
Park 2023 - LLM Agents Grounded in Self-Reports Enable General-Purpose Simulation of Individuals
Park 2024 - Predicting Results of Social Science Experiments Using Large Language Models
Hewitt 2024 - LLM Social Simulations Are a Promising Research Method
Anthis 2025
- Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior
- Week 5 (07 May) — Emergent behavior and world simulations
- Week 6 (21 May) — Learning to cooperate
- Language Agents with Reinforcement Learning for Strategic Play in the Werewolf Game
Xu 2023 - Reinforcement Learning in a Prisoner's Dilemma
Dolgopolov 2024 - Scaffolding Cooperation in Human Groups with Deep Reinforcement Learning
Koster 2023 - Human-level Play in the Game of Diplomacy by Combining Language Models with Strategic Reasoning
Meta FAIR 2022
- Language Agents with Reinforcement Learning for Strategic Play in the Werewolf Game
- Week 7 (28 May) — RL as institution designer