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A workshop on the role of auctions in the allocation of resources

Explore the role of auctions in allocating resources in various fields and industries, including economic, social, and computational.

  • 22 May 2025, 10.00am to 23 May 2025, 6.00pm BST (GMT +01:00)
  • Room 5.29, 10 East, University of Bath
  • This event is free
A view of the lake and University behind
The University of Bath campus hosts this two-day workshop.

There is a growing recognition that auctions are one of the most efficient tools for resource allocation. Because of this, they are becoming increasingly important within the economic, social and computational fields.

For instance, the European Union (EU) uses auctions to allocate pollution permits, allowing factories to bid on the level of emissions they are permitted to emit; the UK government promotes investment in renewable energy by offering a guaranteed electricity sale price, determined through auctions; and in the financial sector, they have long been used for various purposes such as bond sales and corporate takeovers.

Our two-day workshop will bring together researchers and industry professionals for a range of sessions covering theoretical and empirical research around this topic.

The workshop will include insights from guest speakers, who will share their perspectives and detail recent advancements and key challenges. It will also provide a forum to promote open conversations and debates.

Day 1 schedule

Time Speaker Talk
10.30am - 10.45am - Registration and refreshments
10.45am - 11am Professor Ajit Mishra - Head of the Department of Economics, University of Bath Opening remarks
11am - 11.45am Dr Elizabeth Baldwin - University of Oxford Product-mix auctions
11.45am - 12.30pm Professor Todd Kaplan - University of Exeter and University of Haifa A natural experiment in fair division: Armageddon chess
12.30pm 2pm - Lunch and break
2pm - 2.30pm Professor Indrajit Ray - Cardiff University An experiment on the role of priors in a discrete bid Japanese English auction for a wallet game
2.30pm - 3pm Dr Aleksei Chernulich - Durham University Duels between duals: Compensation auctions
3pm - 3.30pm - Refreshments break
3.30pm - 4pm Dr Xiaoyu Zhou - University of Nottingham Market selection of strategic thinking types
4pm - 4.30pm Professor Subhasish M Chowdhury - University of Sheffield Optimal reimbursement schemes in contests
4.30pm - 4.45pm - Refreshments break
4.45 - 5.30pm Dr Sohail Ahmed - Lead Structurer, EP Commodities B.V Dutch power market, renewable subsidies and structured products

Please note: Some details may change. Check this page regularly for updates.

Day 2 schedule

Time Speaker Talk
9.30am - 10am - Registration and refreshments
10am - 1045am Dr Georgios Piliouras - Google DeepMind The complex dynamics of real world markets and auctions
10.45am - 11.15am Dr Ron Lavi - University of Bath Principal-Agent VCG contracts
11.15am - 11.45am - Refreshments break
11.45am - 12.15pm Dr Tatiana Kornienko - King’s College London Competitive bidding, predation, and expropriation: A unified model
12.15pm - 12.45pm Alessandro Veneri - European University Institute Competition in digital advertising with asymmetric consumer information
12.45pm - 2.15pm - Lunch and break
2.15pm - 2.45pm Dr Elnaz Bajoori - University of Bath Bidding behaviour in security bid auctions: theory and experiment
2.45pm - 3.15pm Dr Kei Tsutsui - University of Bath Experimental effects of institutionalizing co-determination by a procedurally fair bidding rule
3.15pm - 3.45pm - Refreshments break
3.45 - 4.30 Professor Francesco Giovannoni - University of Bristol Pricing novel goods

Please note: Some details may change. Check this page regularly for updates.

Event funders

This event is funded by the South West Doctoral Training Partnership (SWDTP) and the Department of Economics at the University of Bath.


Local organisers

This event is organised by staff from the University of Bath and the University of Bristol.

Call for contributors (now closed)

We invited contributed talks on any topic related to auctions.

Anyone was encouraged to apply, including doctoral students and early-career researchers. Partial reimbursement of travel and accommodation costs will be provided to speakers travelling within the UK.

Applications have now closed (the deadline to submit was 25 March 2025).

Attend this workshop

Book your place This workshop is free to attend, but you must book your place by 14 May 2025.

Location

This workshop will take place in 10 East (Room 5.29) on our University of Bath's campus.


Room 5.29 10 East University of Bath Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY United Kingdom

Contact us

If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact us.