Project

Mathematical modeling and simulation of crime

Code
bof/baf/4y/2025/01/092
Duration
01 January 2025 → 31 December 2026
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Applied mathematics in specific fields not elsewhere classified
    • High performance computing
    • Modelling and simulation
    • Complex systems
  • Social sciences
    • Causes and prevention of crime
    • Criminography and methods of criminological investigation
    • Criminological theories
    • Criminology not elsewhere classified
Keywords
spatiotemporal criminology network criminology quantitative criminology crime computational criminology
 
Project description

Rationale: Crime is shaped by both spatial-temporal dynamics and social structures, yet most models treat these dimensions separately. This project bridges this gap by integrating mathematical modeling, simulation, and network analysis to understand how co-offending networks influence crime patterns in space and time.

Objective: Model crime dynamics by linking social networks to spatial and temporal distributions.

Approach: Combining computational methods, such as agent-based models and reaction-diffusion partial differential equations, with graph-theoretic methods, such as centrality and community detection analysis, to model offender behavior across space, time, and networks. Validate with real-world data.

Impact: Reveal interactions between social and spatiotemporal crime mechanisms, test interventions, and support evidence-based policing through simulations.