Reproducible Agent-Based Multicellular Model Competition

Date

Feb 28, 2026

Time

12:00 AM - 11:59 PM

Language

en

Main Topic

Informatik

Other Topics

Biologie, Physik, Mathematik, Chemie, Medizin

Description

The OpenVT consortium in collaboration with ZIH announces the Reproducible Agent-Based Multicellular Model Competition to promote FAIR, reproducible, and reusable multicellular simulations.

Deadline for submission: February 28, 2026.

Models must be published in a refereed journal on or after January 1, 2024 and publicly distributed. Winners will be invited to present in the GLIMPRINT’s virtual seminar series and at the joint congress of the Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB) and the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ESMTB) in Graz, Austria (13-17 July 2026). However, attending the meeting is not required to submit or to win. Up to three awards will be presented: First Place $400, Second Place $200, Third Place $100.

Multicellular simulations have become indispensable in understanding complex biological phenomena, from tissue development to disease progression. The diversity of simulation methods (including cellular Potts, cellular automata, lattice-free, stochastic particle and other methodologies) and the lack of standards for multicellular model-specification pose challenges to building reproducible, modular and reusable simulations. This competition is designed to promote and support the development of multicellular models which follow FAIR principles. Specifically, it recognizes recently published, scientifically significant, multicellular models which made an effort to ensure that the simulations are accessible, reproducible and reusable.

The competition is primarily aimed at early career researchers, including but not limited to PhD students, postdocs, staff scientists, and research assistants. However, the competition is open to researchers from academia and industry at whatever career stage. Individuals and small groups who developed the model are both eligible to compete. Individual: Applicant need not be the first author, but rather a modeller and co-author of the manuscript describing the model. Team: If multiple individuals were primary developers of the model, a small team can also apply. Your model code and associated scripts can be in any format (e.g. SBML, CellML, COPASI, CC3D, VCell, Antimony, Morpheus, PhysiCell, Chaste, Matlab, Python, C++, R, Julia scripts, etc) and must be publicly distributed, e.g. by prior submission to a public model repository such as BioModels or through a public GitHub site or similar resource (GitLab, SourceForge, BitBucket, etc). The model code should use community standards when available, make significant effort to follow FAIR principles and COMBINE standards (when possible), include detailed documentation of the model, its execution and any post processing undertaken to generate results and figures in the submitted paper. Previously submitted models to the OpenVT Agent-Based Multicellular Model of the Year 2025 Competition are not eligible for resubmission.

Links

• Click here for further details and the application form

Last modified: Jan 21, 2026, 10:39:00 AM