Join us for the evening as we celebrate Professor Martin Gairing's Inaugural Lecture. The Lecture will be followed by a performance from the Out of the Blue Jazz Orchestra.

Event running order:
18:00 - Reception
18:30 - Auditorium doors open
19:00 - Inaugural Lecture
20:00 - Out of the Blue Jazz Orchestra performance

Lecture title: How Game Theory Unveils Traffic Secrets: Exploring Congestion Games and Optimal Interventions

Abstract:
Congestion Games have played a starring role for quantifying the efficiency of game-theoretic equilibria. The two most widely adopted measures for this efficiency are the Price of Anarchy (PoA) and the Price of Stability (PoS). Both concepts provide bounds on the degradation of efficiency caused by myopic behaviour. The PoA is pessimistic and considers worst-case outcomes, while the PoS takes a more optimistic approach. In this lecture, I will summarise a sequence of my research on congestion games, focussing on PoA and PoS and on ways to improve the efficiency, e.g. by using tolls.

Biography:
Professor Martin Gairing joined the University of Liverpool in 2009 and is now a Professor and Deputy Head of Department in the Department of Computer Science. He is also head of the Economics and Computation Research Group. Martin is an internationally leading expert in Theoretical Computer Science and especially in Algorithmic Game Theory. His work shaped the theory of congestion games, a fundamental model for selfish behaviour in networks, for which he is a recognised leading authority.

Out of the Blue
Like all the best ideas this band just came out of the blue. An eighteen piece outfit with trumpets, trombones and all the saxes, Out of the Blue features some of Wirral's best musicians, led musically by Becky Bell Thomas, who moved to the Wirral from London's big band scene. Our material includes blues and jazz standards, with a sprinkling of R and B and some soul.