diff --git a/_projects/empathy_marl.md b/_projects/empathy_marl.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..106064e --- /dev/null +++ b/_projects/empathy_marl.md @@ -0,0 +1,21 @@ +--- +title: Empathy in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning +type: Research +status: Completed +date: 2026-01-25 +authors: + - name: Christina Eirini Christodoulou + avatar: /assets/img/team/christina_christodoulou.png + - name: Simone De Giorgi + avatar: /assets/img/team/simone_degiorgi.jpg + - name: Lavinia Maria Alexandra Skandali + avatar: /assets/img/team/lavinia_skandali.jpg +--- + +This paper studies whether valuing other agents’ rewards can improve outcomes in multi-agent reinforcement learning. We model empathy as a reward-weighting parameter and compare fixed empathy with empathy that is learned over time using a bandit-based adaptation mechanism. + +We evaluate this setup in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the Stag Hunt, and a Renewable Resource Sharing environment. In all three settings, higher empathy clearly improves cooperation, welfare, and long-run stability. Yet when agents adapt empathy autonomously, they stabilize at intermediate levels instead of reaching the welfare-maximizing one. + +Read the full paper to see how this gap emerges and why the adaptation mechanism becomes the key constraint! + +[Full Paper](/assets/reports/Empathy_MARL.pdf) diff --git a/assets/img/team/christina_christodoulou.png b/assets/img/team/christina_christodoulou.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b0a6c0 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/team/christina_christodoulou.png differ diff --git a/assets/img/team/lavinia_skandali.jpg b/assets/img/team/lavinia_skandali.jpg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..225771b Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/img/team/lavinia_skandali.jpg differ diff --git a/assets/reports/Empathy_MARL.pdf b/assets/reports/Empathy_MARL.pdf new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7759291 Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/reports/Empathy_MARL.pdf differ