Foundations and Trends in Information Retrieval.

A monograph by Krisztian Balog and ChengXiang Zhai examining user simulation techniques for evaluating information access systems. The work reviews simulation frameworks, models, and algorithms with applications across multiple research fields.

A curated collection of essential papers and publications in user simulation.

This collection includes research papers on user simulation, dialogue systems, and human-centered AI. The bibliography covers information retrieval, machine learning, user modeling, and related fields, with full citations and links to source materials.

Open-source frameworks and libraries for building user simulation models.

These open-source toolkits support the development and evaluation of user simulation models for search engines, recommender systems, and conversational systems. Each toolkit includes documentation, implementation examples, and integration guides.

Step-by-step guides to help you get started with user simulation techniques.

These tutorials provide instructional materials for researchers and practitioners working with user simulation. Topics range from foundational concepts to advanced methodologies, with code examples and reproducible experiments.

Upcoming workshops, conferences, and seminars focused on user simulation.

This section provides information on upcoming events related to user simulation, information retrieval, and related fields. Events include workshops, conferences, paper presentations, and panel discussions for researchers and practitioners.

Research Domains

Interdisciplinary Community

A central hub for an interdisciplinary community—bridging IR, dialogue systems, user modeling, ML, and economics—to advance robust, human-centric AI via simulation.

Information Retrieval

Search engines and retrieval systems evaluation

Dialogue Systems

Conversational AI and task-oriented dialogue

Recommender Systems

Personalization and recommendation evaluation

Economics

Market simulation and behavioral economics

Selected material from this book has been presented as tutorials at various conferences