Professor Pietro Panzarasa

Profile

Roles:

• Director of Graduate Studies
• Director of MRes Programme
• Member of the Department of Business Analytics and Applied Economics

Biography:

Pietro Panzarasa is Professor of Networks and Innovation. He is also Visiting Professor of Organisation Theory, Science of Science and Social Networks at IMT, School of Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy). Before joining QMUL, he held visiting positions at Columbia University (New York) and Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh), and was a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton (UK). He holds a PhD in Business Administration and Management from Bocconi University (Italy).

Pietro’s research is concerned with the structural foundations of social capital within networked communities. He draws on network science, computational social science and big data analytics to study the performance implications of social structure in complex large-scale networks. His most recent projects have examined how patterns and dynamics of interaction affect knowledge creation, innovation, creativity, urban gentrification and prosperity, patients’ well-being, and countries’ competitive advantage in global trade.

Pietro’s research has received financial support from a number of funding bodies, including the British Academy, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Elsevier, EPSRC, the North East Thames Foundation School, and the Wellcome Trust. He has been Programme Committee member of various conferences (e.g., ICWSM, IC2S2), and currently serves as Review Editor of Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, and as Editorial Board member for Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory. 

His work has attracted the attention of policy-makers, and has resulted in collaborations with several industrial partners (AstraZeneca, Elsevier, HealthUnlocked, Thomson Reuters, Vodafone), public healthcare providers (Ireland’s Health Service Executive), charities (Asthma UK, British Lung Foundation), professional bodies (Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research, Royal College of Anaesthetists Royal College of Surgeons of England), governmental and intergovernmental organisations (Italian Trade & Investment Agency, United Nations).

Other affiliations

• Visiting Professor of Organisation Theory, Science of Science and Social Networks, IMT, School of Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy).
• Visiting scholar at the Centre for Complexity Science, Imperial College London.
• Member of Cambridge Networks Network (CNN), University of Cambridge.

 

Website

http://www.pietropanzarasa.wordpress.com 

Teaching

Undergraduate:

• BUS346: Social Network Analysis

Postgradaute:

• BUSM093: MRes Dissertation

Research

Research Interests:

Pietro’s research is concerned with social capital, innovation and networks, and focuses primarily on the role of interaction patterns and dynamics in sustaining knowledge creation, creativity, economic prosperity, medical innovation and health-related outcomes in complex large-scale networks. Over recent years he has focused on five loosely intersecting research clusters, unified by the underpinning idea that individuals, groups and organisations can benefit from the way they interact.

Structural sources of innovation.

In this area, he has been engaged with the “science of science”, and has investigated the role of collaboration, interdisciplinarity and mobility in modern science. His most recent projects have examined the role of social structures in sustaining innovation, group creativity, artistic creativity and economic success, and have investigated information cascades and processes of innovation diffusion in healthcare research.

Global value chains and the international production network.

In his most recent projects, he has focused on the structure and dynamics of the international multi-layer trade network to study countries’ economic power and dependence, and uncover localisation effects and topological sources of early warning signals of upcoming economic downturns.

Online social networks and digital health.

In this area, he has recently explored the potential of electronic communication data to resolve some of the measurement difficulties associated with the study of social dynamics. He has focused on: (i) the effects of online social interaction on medical learning and practice; (ii) social medical capital and online health communities; and (iii) strategies for harnessing social media to change medicine-taking behaviour and detect early-warning signals of upcoming pandemics (e.g., COVID-19).

Geo-social networks and the social capital of interconnected spaces.

In this area, he has investigated the trade-off between generative mechanisms of social capital within urban environments, and has focused on the structural determinants of gentrification, poverty, democratic participation, urban deprivation, wealth inequality, and social segregation in developed and developing countries.

Network methodology. 

He has focused on developing new network measures and analytical frameworks, including the weighted rich-club effect, degree correlations in signed networks, and PageRank centrality in multiplex networks. More recently, he has started a new line of inquiry on the performance of Graph Convolutional Networks, a novel and emerging deep neural network method for semi-supervised learning.

Centre and Group Membership:

• Member of the Centre for Globalisation Research (CGR)
• Member of the Business Ecosystems Research Group (BERG)

 

Publications 

Selected peer-reviewed articles

• M. Lopreite, P. Panzarasa, M. Puliga, M. Riccaboni (2021). Early warnings of COVID-19 outbreaks across Europe from social media. Nature Scientific Reports. 11(2147). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81333-1
• X. Li, L. Verginer, M. Riccaboni, P. Panzarasa (forthcoming). A network approach to expertise retrieval based on path similarity and credit allocation. Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination.
• Y. Qian, P. Expert, T. Rieu, P. Panzarasa, M. Barahona (2021). Quantifying the alignment of graph and features in deep learning. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems. doi: 10.1109/TNNLS.2020.3043196.
• G. Garas, I. Cingolani, V. Patel, P. Panzarasa, D. Alderson, A. Darzi, T. Athanasiou (2020). Surgical innovation in the era of global surgery: A network analysis. Annals of Surgery. 271 (5), 868-874. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000003164.
• A. De Simoni, A.T. Shah, O. Fulton, J. Parkinson, A. Sheikh, P. Panzarasa, C. Pagliari, N. S. Coulson, C. Griffiths (2020). Superusers’ Engagement in Asthma Online Communities: Asynchronous Web-Based Interview Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 22(6):e18185, doi: 10.2196/18185
• P. Panzarasa, C. Griffiths, N. Sastry, A. De Simoni (2020). Social medical capital: How patients and caregivers can benefit from online social interactions. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 22(7):e16337. doi:10.2196/16337
• M. Bonaventura, V. Ciotti, P. Panzarasa, S. Liverani, L. Lacasa, V. Latora (2020). Predicting success in the worldwide start-up network. Nature Scientific Reports. 10(345). doi:10.1038/s41598-019-57209-w.
• D. Gündoğdu, P. Panzarasa, N. Oliver, B. Lepri (2019). The bridging and bonding structures of place-centric networks: Evidence from a developing country. PLOS ONE. 14(9): e0221148. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221148.
• G. Garas, I. Cingolani, V. Patel, P. Panzarasa, A. Darzi, T. Athanasiou (2019). Evaluating the implications of Brexit for research collaboration and policy: A network analysis and simulation study. BMJ Open 2019;9:e025025. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025025.
• V. Patel, P. Panzarasa, H. Ashrafian, T. Evans, A. Kirresh, N. Sevdalis, A. Darzi, T. Athanasiou (2019). The effects of collaborative and authorship practices on scientific success in biomedical research. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 112(6): 245-257. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0141076819851666.
• L. G. A. Alves, G. Mangioni, I. Cingolani, F. A. Rodrigues, P. Panzarasa, Y. Moreno (2019). The nested structural organization of the worldwide trade multi-layer network, Nature Scientific Reports. 9(2866). doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39340-w.
• L. G. de Andrade Alves, G. Mangioni, F. A. Rodrigues, P. Panzarasa, Y. Moreno (2018). Unfolding the complexity of the global value chain: Strengths and entropy in the single-layer, multiplex, and multi-layer international trade networks. Entropy. 20(12), 909; doi:10.3390/e20120909. (Feature article of the Special Issue “Economic Fitness and Complexity“).
• G. Garas, I. Cingolani, P. Panzarasa, A. Darzi, T. Athanasiou (2019). Beyond IDEAL: the importance of surgical innovation metrics. The Lancet. 393(10169), 315; doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32204-9.
• A. De Simoni, S. J. C. Taylor, C. Griffiths, P. Panzarasa, A. Sheikh (2018). Superusers are key to maximizing the benefits of online health communities. New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Catalyst. 14 November 2018. https://catalyst.nejm.org/superusers-allies-online-health-communities/.
• S. Joglekar, N. Sastry, N. Coulson, S. J. C. Taylor, A. Patel, R. Duschinsky, A. Anand, M. Jameson Evans, C. Griffiths, A. Sheikh, P. Panzarasa, A. De Simoni (2018). How do online communities of people with long-term conditions function and evolve? Network analysis of the structure and dynamics of the Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation (BLF) online communities. Journal of Medical Internet Research 20(7): e238. doi:10.2196/jmir.9952. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.9952.
• G. Garas, I. Cingolani, P. Panzarasa, A. Darzi, T. Athanasiou (2017). Network analysis of surgical innovation: Measuring value and the virality of diffusion in robotic surgery. PLOS ONE 12(8): e0183332. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183332.
• I. Cingolani, P. Panzarasa, L. Tajoli (2017). Countries’ positions in the international global value networks: Centrality and economic performance. Applied Network Science 2: 21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41109-017-0041-4.
• V. Patel, H. Ashrafian, C. Uzoho, N. Nikiteas, P. Panzarasa, N. Sevdalis, A. Darzi, T. Athanasiou (2016). Leadership behaviours and healthcare research performance: Prospective correlation analysis. Postgraduate Medical Journal 92: 663-669. doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2016-134088.
• T. Athanasiou, V. Patel, G. Garas, H. Ashrafian, K. Shetty, N. Sevdalis, P. Panzarasa, A. Darzi, S. Paroutis (2016). Mentoring perception and academic performance: An Academic Health Science Centre survey. Postgraduate Medical Journal 92(1092): 597-602. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2015-133542.
• V. Ciotti, M. Bonaventura, V. Nicosia, P. Panzarasam V. Latora (2016). Homophily and missing links in citation networks. EPJ Data Science 5(1): 1-14. doi: 10.1140/epjds/s13688-016-0068-2.
• D. Hristova, M. J. Williams, M. Musolesi, P. Panzarasa, C. Mascolo (2016). Measuring urban social diversity using interconnected geo-social networks. Proceedings of WWW2016, 25th International World Wide Web Conference, Montréal, Canada, April 11-15, 2016.
• P. Panzarasa, B. Kujawski, E. Hammond, C. M. Roberts (2016). Temporal patterns and dynamics of e-learning usage in medical education. Educational Technology Research and Development 64(1): 13-35. doi: 10.1007/s11423-015-9407-4.
• P. Panzarasa and M. Bonaventura (2015). Emergence of long-range correlations and bursty activity patterns in online communication. Physical Review E 92: 062821. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.062821.
• D. Hristova, P. Panzarasa, C. Mascolo (2015). Multilayer brokerage in geo-social networks. Proceedings of the 9th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM-15).
• V. Ciotti, G. Bianconi, A. Capocci, F. Colaiori, P. Panzarasa (2015). Degree correlations in signed social networks. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 422: 25-39, doi: 10.1016/j.physa.2014.11.062.
• J. Alstott, P. Panzarasa, M. Rubinov, E. T. Bullmore, P. E. Vértes (2014). A unifying framework for measuring weighted rich clubs. Nature Scientific Reports 4(7258). doi:10.1038/srep07258.
• G. Menichetti, D. Remondini, P. Panzarasa, R. J. Mondragón, G. Bianconi (2014). Weighted multiplex networks, PLOS ONE 9(6): e97857. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097857.
• A. Halu, R. J. Mondragon, P. Panzarasa, G. Bianconi (2013). Multiplex PageRank. PLOS ONE 8(10): e78293 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0078293).
• M. Prevezer, J. Li, P. Panzarasa (2013). Regional innovation and performance: The role of absorptive capacity, industrial structure and collaborative networks in the Chinese provinces of Hubei and Hunan, Journal of Chinese Entrepreneurship, 5(3):196-219. doi: 10.1108/JCE-11-2012-0026.
• V. Latora, V. Nicosia, P. Panzarasa (2013). Social cohesion, structural holes, and a tale of two measures, Journal of Statistical Physics, 151(3): 745-764. doi: 10.1007/s10955-013-0722-z.
• M.A. Maggioni, S. Breschi, P. Panzarasa (2013). Multiplexity, growth mechanisms and structural variety in scientific collaboration networks. Industry and Innovation, 20(3): 185-194.
• T.S. Evans, R. Lambiotte, P. Panzarasa (2011). Community structure and patterns of scientific collaboration in Business and Management, Scientometrics, 89(1): 381-396.
• R. Lambiotte and P. Panzarasa (2009). Communities, knowledge creation, and information diffusion, Journal of Informetrics, 3(3): 180-190.
• T. Opsahl, and P. Panzarasa (2009). Clustering in weighted networks, Social Networks, 31: 155-163.
• P. Panzarasa, T. Opsahl, K. M. Carley (2009). Patterns and dynamics of users’ behavior and interaction: Network analysis of an online community, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 60(5): 911-932.
• J.J. Ramasco, V. Colizza, P. Panzarasa (2009). Using the weighted rich-club coefficient to explore traffic organization in mobility networks, Best Paper Proceedings of the First International Conference on Complex Sciences. Theory and Applications, Shanghai, China.
• T. Opsahl, V. Colizza, P. Panzarasa, J.J.Ramasco (2008). Prominence and control: The weighted rich-club effect, Physical Review Letters 101(168702): 1-4.
• P. Panzarasa and N.R. Jennings. (2002). Social influence, negotiation and cognition, Journal of Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 10(5-7): 417-453.
• P. Panzarasa, N.R. Jennings, T.J. Norman. (2002). Formalising collaborative decision-making and practical reasoning in multi-agent systems, Journal of Logic and Computation, 12(1): 55-117.
• M. D’Inverno, M. Luck, S. Abramsky, W. Vasconcelos, J. Sabater, C. Sierra, J. Querol, P. Panzarasa, N.R. Jennings, P. McBurney, S. Parsons, C. O'Riordan, R. Van Eijk, F. De Boer, W. Van der Hoek, J.J.C. Meyer, M. Fasli, A. Lomuscio, M. Sergot, M. Schut, M. Wooldridge, T. Norman, C. Reed, M. Kollingbaum, A. Byde, J.-L. Koning, M.P., Huget, N. Johnson, D. Lamper, P. Jefferies, M. Hart, S. Howison, S. Kraus, A. Karageorgos, S. Thompson, N. Mehandjiev, R. Machado, R. Bordini, C. Oechslein, F. Klugl, F. Puppe, R. Ashri, H. Zhu, D. Kudenko, M. Bauer, D. Dengler, M. Schroeder, P. Noy, V. Maheswaran, N. Antonopoulos, J. Bigham, D. Ryan, W.S. Thong, L. Cuthbert (2002). Practical and theoretical innovations in multi-agent systems research, Knowledge Engineering Review, 17(3): 295-301.
• P. Panzarasa and N.R. Jennings (2001). Negotiation and joint commitments in multi-agent systems, Sozionik Aktuell, 3: 65-81.
• P. Panzarasa, N.R. Jennings, T.J. Norman. (2001). Social mental shaping: Modelling the impact of sociality on autonomous agents' mental states, Computational Intelligence, 17(4): 738-782.
• P. Panzarasa, N.R. Jennings, T.J. Norman. (2001). Going public and the sale of shares with heterogeneous investors: Agent-based computational modelling and computer simulations, International Journal of Group Decision and Negotiation, 10(5): 423-470.

 

Peer-reviewed conference proceedings (sample since 2017)

• A. De Simoni, A.T. Shah, O. Fulton, J. Parkinson, A. Sheikh, P. Panzarasa, C. Pagliari, N.S. Coulson, C. Griffiths (2020). Superusers’ engagement in asthma online communities: motivation, challenges and the desired role of healthcare professionals. The British Psychological Society. Cyberpsychology Section Annual Conference 2020, Nottingham, 7-8 July. 
• X. Li, L. Verginer, M. Riccaboni, P. Panzarasa (2020). Group diversity and scientific innovation. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA USA.
• J. Gao, C. Gennaioli, P. Panzarasa (2020). Structure and evolution of the international environmental cooperation network. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA USA.
• Y. Qian, L. Verginer, M. Riccaboni, P. Panzarasa (2020). The social roles of cities in mobility and scientific collaboration networks. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA.
• J. Gao, C. Gennaioli, P. Panzarasa (2020). Communities and rich clubs in the international environmental cooperation network. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science, MIT, Cambridge.
• Y. Qian, P. Expert, P. Panzarasa, M. Barahona (2020). Constructing geometric graphs from features to aid classification tasks. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA USA.
• Y. Qian, P. Expert, P. Panzarasa, M. Barahona (2020). Constructing geometric graphs from features to aid classification tasks. Proceedings of the International Conference on Network Science, Rome, Italy.
• S. Edet, M. Riccabonni, P. Panzarasa (2020). Global cities as catalysts for third-party scientific collaborations. Proceedings of the International Conference on Network Science, Rome, Italy.
• S. Khoshnaw, P. Panzarasa, A. De Simoni (2019). Information diffusion in online health communities: tracing the spread of the metaphor “fatigue is a legacy of stroke” in an online stroke community over 7 years. Proceedings of the Eastern Division Autumn Conference 2019 'Mind, Body and Brain’, Cambridge, UK.
• A. De Simoni, A.T. Shah, O. Fulton, J. Parkinson, P. Panzarasa, C. Pagliari, N.S. Coulson, C. Griffiths (2019). Why do some members engage more than others in an online asthma community? Proceedings of the Primary Care Respiratory Society Respiratory Conference 2019, npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine research stream, Telford International Centre, UK.
• Y. Qian, L. Verginer, P. Panzarasa, M. Riccaboni (2019). Measuring the social diversity of cities in mobility and scientific collaboration networks. Proceedings of the 24th Annual Workshop on Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents (WEHIA 2019), London, UK.
• S. Carattini, S. Fankhauser, J. Gao, C. Gennaioli, P. Panzarasa (2019). The global network of environmental agreements: A preliminary analysis. Proceedings of the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics 2019 Multilateralism: Past, Present, and Future, Washington, DC.
• L.G.A. Alves, B.R. da Cunha, F. Rodrigues, P. Panzarasa (2019). Topological and weighted rich-club effect in corruption networks. Proceedings of NetCrime 2019. 4th Symposium on the Structure and Mobility of Crime. NetSci2019 Satellite, Burlington, Vermont.
• X. Li, L. Verginer, M. Riccaboni, P. Panzarasa (2019). A network approach to uncovering researchers’ expertise: Evidence from the MEDLINE corpus. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computational Social Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Y. Qian, P. Expert, P. Panzarasa, M. Barahona (2019). Linking the classification performance of Graph Convolutional Networks with the alignment of graphs and features. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computational Social Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Y. Qian, P. Panzarasa (2019). Intra- and inter-brokerage in social networks. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computational Social Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• J. Gao, C. Gennaioli, P. Panzarasa (2019). Network structure and evolution of global climate treaties. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computational Social Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Y. Qian, L. Verginer, M. Riccaboni, P. Panzarasa (2019). Measuring the social diversity of cities in mobility and scientific collaboration networks. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computational Social Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• L.G.A. Alves, G. Mangioni, I. Cingolani, F. Rodrigues, P. Panzarasa, Y. Moreno (2019). The nested structural organization of the worldwide trade multi-layer network. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Complex Networks (COMPLENET'19), 18-21 March, Tarragona, Spain.
• S. Khoshnaw, P. Panzarasa, A. De Simoni (2019). Information diffusion in online health communities: tracing the spread of the metaphor “fatigue is a legacy of stroke” in an online stroke community over 7 years. Proceedings of the South-East Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Academic Primary Care, Madingley Hall, UK. 
• D. Gündoğdu, P. Panzarasa, N. Oliver, B. Lepri (2018). Social capital and mobile phone data: Evidence from a developing country. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Social Science, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA.
• Y. Qian. P. Expert, P. Panzarasa, M. Barahona (2018). Geometric deep learning and node classification: An application of Graph Convolutional Networks to citation networks. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Social Science, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA.
• G. Garas, I. Cingolani, P. Panzarasa, A. Darzi, T. Athanasiou (2018). Network analysis of surgical innovation: Measuring value and the virality of diffusion in robotic surgery. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computational Social Science, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA.
• L.G.A. Alves, G. Mangioni, I. Cingolani, F. A. Rodrigues, P. Panzarasa, Y. Moreno (2018). The nested structural organization of the worldwide trade multi-layer network. Proceedings of the International Conference on Network Science (NetSci’18), Paris, France.
• Y. Qian. P. Expert, P. Panzarasa, M. Barahona (2018). Geometric deep learning and node classification: An application of Graph Convolutional Networks to citation networks. Proceedings of the International Conference on Network Science (NetSci’18), Paris, France.
• I. Cingolani, P. Panzarasa, L. Tajoli (2018). Countries’ positions in the international global value networks: Centrality and economic performance. In: C. Cherifi, H. Cherifi, M. Karsai,
• M. Musolesi (Eds.) Proceedings of Complex Networks 2017 (The Sixth International Conference on Complex Networks and Their Applications), Studies in Computational Intelligence book series (SCI, volume 689), Springer International Publishing. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72150-7.
• S. Joglekar, N. Sastry, N. Coulson, S. J. Taylor, A. Patel, R. Duschinsky, A. Anand, M. Jameson Evans, C. Griffiths, P. Panzarasa, A. De Simoni (2017). Structure and dynamics of online patients’ communities: the case of Asthma UK and BLF online fora. Proceedings of the European Respiratory Society Conference.
• M. Bonaventura, V. Nicosia, V. Latora, P. Panzarasa (2017). Interdisciplinarity and specialisation: Roads to scientific success. Proceedings of the Conference on Economics of Scientific Research, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
• I. Cingolani, C. Hidalgo, L. Tajoli, P. Panzarasa (2017). Power and dependence in complex networks: An application to the international trade network. Proceedings of the International Conference on Network Science (NetSci’17). Indianapolis, IN.

 

Other publications (sample) 

• Royal College of Surgeons of England (2018). Future of Surgery Report (https://futureofsurgery.rcseng.ac.uk).
• I. Cingolani, P. Panzarasa. L. Tajoli (2018). La centralità dei paesi nelle catene globali del valore. In: Italian Trade Agency, Rapporto ICE. L’Italia nell’Economia Internazionale, 32-41 (https://www.ice.it/it/studi-e-rapporti/rapporto-ice-2018).
• J.J. Ramasco, V. Colizza, and P. Panzarasa (2009). Using the Weighted Rich-Club Coefficient to Explore Traffic Organization in Mobility Networks, in Book Series Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, Volume 4, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 680-692.
• P. Panzarasa and N.R. Jennings. (2006). The organisation of sociality: A manifesto for a new science of multi-agent systems, in Y. Demazeau and F. Garijo (Eds.), Modeling Autonomous Agents in a Multi-Agent World IV, Lecture Notes on Artificial Intelligence, Springer-Verlag.
• P. Panzarasa and N. R. Jennings. (2006). Collective cognition and emergence in multi-agent systems, in R. Sun (Ed.), Cognition and Multi-Agent Interaction: From Cognitive Modeling to Social Simulation, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 401-408.
• P. Panzarasa, T.J. Norman, N.R. Jennings, N. R. (1999). Modeling sociality in the BDI framework, in J. Liu and N. Zhong (Eds.), Intelligent Agent Technology: Systems, Methodologies, and Tools. Proceedings of the First Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology, World Scientific Publishing, pp. 202-206.

Grants, Contracts and Awards:

(sample)

2019-present: “Promoting Research in Social Media and Health”. Funded by QMUL Centre for Public Engagement. In collaboration with: Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, QMUL; Department of Informatics, King’s College London. 

2019-present: “Detecting hubs in online health communities”. Proof of Concept Fund Small Award funded by QMB Innovation Centre. In collaboration with Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, QMUL.

2019-present: “A pilot study of the role of social capital in Parkinson’s disease”. Funded by Barts Charity. In collaboration with: Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, QMUL; Wolfson Institute of Population Health, QMUL; UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology.

2018-2019: “The role of NHS supply chains in patient safety”. Funded by Thomson Reuters Data Science Research Fund – Knowledge Graphs Call. In collaboration with Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London.

2018: “Data for Refugees (D4R) Challenge”. Funded by Türk Telekom, TTNET, and AVEA. In collaboration with: DataPop Alliance; Vodafone; Fondazione Bruno Kessler; Department of Geography, UCL.

2016: “What makes online patients’ communities effective: An interdisciplinary study informed by network analysis”. Funded by Wellcome Trust. In collaboration with: Life Science Initiative, QMUL; Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, QMUL; Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge; School of Medicine, University of Nottingham; HealthUnlocked (London).

2012-2013: “The social and structural foundations of group creativity”. Funded by EPSRC; Joint QMUL/Warwick Sharing Facilities Award & Joint Institutional Award for Collaborative Research Projects. In collaboration with University of Warwick.

2012-2014: “Communities of knowledge, collaboration networks, and the determinants of research performance”. Funded by Elsevier’s Bibliometric Research Program. In collaboration with: Imperial College; King’s College London; University of Namur, Belgium.

2011-2012: “The tangled market model: A complex network approach”. Funded by Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. In collaboration with: Imperial College; Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan; Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Tokyo.

2010-2012: “A Complex Network Study of Online Communication and Medical Training: Evidence from London Specialty Schools”. Funded by Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. In collaboration with: the Royal College of Anaesthetists; Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

2008-2012: “E-learning for healthcare”. Funded by North East Thames Foundation School. In collaboration with: the Royal College of Anaesthetists; Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

2007: British Conference Grant. Funded by the British Academy. 

 

Supervision

Current doctoral students: 

1st Supervisor

• Minqi Feng
• Jianjian Gao, 'International environmental cooperation and climate change laws diffusion: A network analysis.'
• Xiancheng Li, 'Collaborations in modern science and the impact of academic science on industrial innovation.' (Joint supervision with the Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London).
• Hongwei Peng, 'Predicting young scientists’ potential impact based on academic network.'
• Yifan Qian, 'Network science, big data analytics, and deep learning: An interdisciplinary approach to the study of citation, social and collaboration networks.'

 

2nd Supervisor

• Caitlin Burge, ‘Letters, Networks of Power and the Fall of Thomas Cromwell, 1523-1547’ (joint supervision with School of English and Drama, QMUL)

PhD Supervision Completions: 

• Ryan Flanagan, Awarded 2020. (joint supervision with School of Mathematical Sciences and Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Centre of Psychiatry, Queen Mary University of London).
• George Garas, Awarded 2019 (joint .supervision with Imperial College London, Faculty of Medicine).
• Giuseppina Coniglione, 'Business method patents: characters in search of legal protection.' Awarded 2018 (joint supervision with Centre for Commercial Law Studies, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London).
• Valerio Ciotti, 'Positive and negative connections and homophily in complex networks.' Awarded 2017. (joint supervision with School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London).
• Moreno Bonaventura, 'Shortest paths to success: network indicators of performance in innovation ecosystems.' Awarded 2017 (joint supervision with School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London).
• Rishi Kumar, 'Towards an information formalism in group decision making systems with incomplete information.' Awarded 2017 (joint supervision with Imperial College London).
• Tore Opsahl, 'Structure and Evolution of Weighted Networks.' Awarded 2009 (joint supervision with School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London).

Postdoctoral research staff, visiting doctoral students and research assistants:

• 2021-present: Zhe Liu (visiting PhD student School of Economics, Ocean University of China).
• 2019: Luca Verginer (visiting research postdoctoral Fellow from ETH, Zurich).
• 2018: Luca Verginer (visiting PhD student from IMT Lucca).
• 2016-2017: Sagar Joglekar (research assistant, SBM, QMUL).
• 2016-2017: Didem Gundogdu (visiting PhD student from University of Trento).
• 2015-2016: Ciro Troise (visiting PhD student from University of Naples Federico II, Italy).
• 2015-2016: Isabella Cingolani (visiting PhD student from Politecnico of Milano, Italy).
• 2014: Marco Serino (visiting post-doctoral Research Fellow from University of Naples Federico II, Italy).
• 2011-2012: Nicola Vendemini (visiting research scholar from University of Bologna, Italy).
• 2008-2010: Bernard Kujawski (post-doctoral research assistant, SBM, QMUL).
• 2008: Alessandra Carlone (visiting PhD student from Bocconi University, Milan, Italy) 
• 2008; Alessandra Gazzani (visiting PhD student from Luiss Business School, Rome, Italy).
• 2006: Mauro Faccioni (post-doctoral research fellow from University UNISUL, Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil).

Public Engagement

Press Coverage

(sample)

“FT Health: Lessons from the pandemic. Vaccine developments, oxygen crisis, contraceptive use”, Financial Times. February 3, 2021.

“Examination of social media revealed early warning about COVID-19 outbreaks”, Hospital Healthcare Europe. February 2, 2021.

“Examination of social media revealed early warning about COVID-19 outbreaks”, PreventionWeb. February 2, 2021.

“There were warnings on Twitter even before WHO declared first Covid case, says study”, ThePrint. January 27, 2021.

“Su Twitter boom della parola “polmonite” prima dei casi iniziali di COVID-19”, Meteoweek.com. January 27, 2021.

“People were tweeting about COVID-19 symptoms well before the pandemic, new study finds”, Deseret News. January 26, 2021.

“COVID-19 Warnings on Twitter Spread Well Before Pandemic Outbreak”, India.com. January 25, 2021.

“COVID-19 warnings were on Twitter well before the outbreak of the pandemic”, EurekAlert! January 25, 2021.

“COVID-19 warnings were on Twitter well before outbreak of pandemic”, ANI, South Asia’s Leading Multimedia News Agency. January 25, 2021.

“COVID-19 warnings were on Twitter well before the outbreak of the pandemic”, Newswise. January 25, 2021.

“Study identifies early warnings of COVID-19 outbreak on Twitter posts”, News Medical Life Sciences. January 25, 2021.

“Twitter ha predetto il covid? Anomalo uso della parola “polmonite” prima dell’emergenza”, La Nazione. January 25, 2021.

“Startup success can be predicted by employees’ connections, study finds”, The Times of Israel. November 21, 2020.

“Why social connections are key to startup success”, RealKM.com. October 21, 2020.

“Meet the superusers who hold together health social media”, Medical Xpress. June 24, 2020.

“Latest research news on economic performance: Feb – 2020”, Science News Online. February, 2020.

“Good connections key to startup success”, ScienceDaily. January 15. 2020.

“Predicting success in the worldwide start-up network”, NewsBreak.com. January 15, 2020.

“Good connections key to startup success”, EurekAlert! AAAS. January 15, 2020.

“Good professional relationships a key to startups’ success”, Asian News International. January 15, 2020.

“Good connections key to startup success”, BrightSurf Science News. January 15, 2020.

“The secret to creating a successful startup is your contacts book”, WIRED, April 25, 2019.

“Future of Surgery Report”, Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2018.

“La centralità dei paesi nelle catene globali del valore”. In: Italian Trade Agency, Rapporto ICE. L’Italia nell’Economia Internazionale, 32-41. 2018.

“How to see gentrification coming”, Pacific Standard. June 14, 2017.

“Twitter gentrification, LSD brains: Podcast 263”, WIRED. April 15, 2016.

“Social media could be the best way to predict gentrification”, Business Insider. April 15, 2016.

“London gentrification can be predicted by Twitter and Foursquare, say Cambridge researchers”, The Independent, April 15, 2016.

“Are hipsters about to invade YOUR area? Twitter can be used to predict which neighbourhoods will become gentrified”, Daily Mail. April 14, 2016.

“Predicting gentrification: Social media hints at neighborhood changes”, Medical Daily. April 13, 2016.

“London's gentrification can be predicted by tweets”, WIRED. April 13, 2016.

“Predicting gentrification through social networking data”, Phys.org. April 13, 2016.

“Predicting gentrification through social networking data”, University of Cambridge. April 13, 2016.

“With Twitter and Foursquare, we can predict where gentrification will happen next”, Tech.Mic. April 13, 2016.

“Here’s how tweets and check-ins can be used to spot early signs of gentrification”, The Conversation. April 13, 2016.

“The way to predict gentrification through social media data”, Inverse.com. April 13, 2016.

“Revealed: The most up-and-coming neighbourhoods in London right now”, The Telegraph. April 13, 2016.

“Predicting gentrification through social networking data”, ScienceDaily. April 12, 2016.

“Predicting gentrification through social networking data”, EurekAlert! AAAS. April 12, 2016.

“Looking inside online health communities”, Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research. July 30, 2018.

“Group theory”, Nature, 455(7214), 720-723. October 8, 2008.

 

Partnership with non-academic organisations and impact initiatives 

Structure and dynamics of the worldwide trade multi-layer network:

- Italian Trade & Investment Agency, Ministry of Economic Development, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Project on the centrality of countries in the international production network and global value chains. - Elsevier. Project on nestedness of the worldwide trade multi-layer network.

Modelling medical innovation and diffusion processes:

- Royal College of Surgeons of England. Advancing Surgical Care. Project on Future of Surgery and surgical innovation in the era of data intelligence.

- Thomson Reuters and Thomson Reuters Data Science Research Fund. Project on the role of NHS supply chains in patient safety. - Elsevier (https://www.elsevier.com/en-gb). Projects on: (i) diffusion of surgical innovation; (ii) network foundations of scientific performance in the health sciences; and (iii) impact of Brexit on research practice and policy. 

Network foundations of social capital in creative industries:

- Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per lo Spettacolo dal Vivo). - Theatre Communications Group.

Network topology and dynamics of online health communities: - HealthUnlocked, one of the largest online community platform providers. Project on patients’ online communities and association between online engagement and health-related outcomes. - Asthma UK. - British Lung Foundation.

Harnessing social media to promote health and change medicine-taking behaviour:

- Ireland’s Health Service Executive Digital team in the Communications Divisions. - AstraZeneca, Global Medical Affairs Unit (Cambridge, UK) and UK Marketing Company (UKMC; Luton, UK). - Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research (AUKCAR).

Enhancing social capital in the PREDICT-PD portal to prevent Parkinson’s disease (PD):

- Parkinson’s UK, funder of the PREDICT-PD study, a project using online recruitment aimed at identifying people at higher risk of PD before the symptoms appear. - UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. - Barts Charity. Project on developing a web application to enable social interaction through the PREDICT-PD portal and assessing the association between social isolation and the risk of PD. 

Using mobile phone data to uncover social capital in urban areas of developing countries:

Vodafone Group, LTD, Research in Data Science, London, UK. - DataPop Alliance, New York, USA – Alicante. - Kantar Media.

 

Awards

2018: “Innovations Awards 2018”. Collaboration Awards. NHS Trust, Barts Health (runner up). 

2016: Best Paper Award at Annual Conference of the Imperial College London SIAM (PhD student research paper).

2014: Best Poster Award at Cambridge Networks Day, University of Cambridge (with M. Bonaventura, V. Nicosia, V. Latora, and P. Panzarasa).

2012: Best Paper Award at Inaugural International Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice Relevant to China, Wuhan, China (with M. Prevezer and J. Li ).

2010: Nominated for the Drapers’ Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (QMUL). 

2009: Winner of the Contribution Reward Scheme award for academic excellence (QMUL).

2009: Best Paper Proceedings of the First International Conference on Complex Sciences. Theory and Applications, Shanghai, China (with J.J. Ramasco, and V. Colizza). 

2007: Nominated for the Drapers’ Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (QMUL).

 

Editorial and review activities

(sample)

2020-present: Grant evaluator for NIHR, Department of Health & Social Care, Research for Patient Benefit Programme.

2019-present: Review Editor of Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics (specialty session Research Policy and Strategic Management).

2017: Grant evaluator for the “Giovani Ricercatori - Rita Levi Montalcini” programme, Italy’s Ministry of Education, Universities and Research.

2016: Assessor for the Italian Evaluation of Research Quality VQR 2011-2014.

2013-present: Grant evaluator for the Leverhulme Trust.

2013: Grant evaluator for the Open Research Area (ORA) in Europe for the Social Sciences, a scheme funded between the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC UK), the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR France), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG Germany), the Nederlands Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO Netherlands) and the National Science Foundation (NSF, USA).

2013: Editor of Special Issue of Industry and Innovation on “Collaboration networks and knowledge exchange in science and technology”.

2013: Grant evaluator for “Futuro in Ricerca 2013” (funding research projects coordinated by young researchers), Italy’s Ministry of Education, Universities and Research.

2012-present: Grant evaluator and rapporteur for PRIN (research project of national interest), Italy’s Ministry of Education, Universities and Research.

2009-present: Grant evaluator and Rapporteur for ESRC.

2009-present: Grant evaluator for EPSRC.

2007-present: Editorial Board member of Studi Organizzativi.

2003-present: Editorial Board member of Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory (Area: Computational economics, markets and systems).

2002-present: Grant evaluator for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO, the Dutch Council for the Physical Sciences).

 

External Examining 

External PhD Examiner at: University of Cambridge (Faculty of Physics & Chemistry); University of Trento (Italy); IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy); King’s College London (Department of Mathematics); Imperial College London (Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department; Faculty of Medicine; Department of Mathematics; Department of Physics); University of Southampton (Electronics and Computer Science); Birkbeck College, University of London (Department of Management). 

 

Workshop/Conference organizer & membership of Programme Committees

(sample since 2016)

2020: Member, Programme Committee of Ninth International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications, December 1-3, Madrid, Spain.

2020: Member, Programme Committee of the Sixth International Conference on Computational Social Science, IC2S2 2020, July 17-20, Cambridge, MA USA.

2020: Member, Programme Committee of CompleNet 2020, 11th Conference on Complex Networks, University of Exeter, UK.

2019: Member, Programme Committee of Seventh International Workshop on Social Network Analysis: Multilayer, Multilevel and Multimode Networks (ARS-2019), October 30-31, Salerno, Italy.

2019: Member, Programme Committee of Eighth International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications, December 10-12, Lisbon, Portugal.

2019: Member, Programme Committee of the International Conference on Computational Social Science, July 17-20, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2018: Member, Programme Committee of Seventh International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications, December 11-13, Cambridge, UK.

2017: Member, Programme Committee of the International Conference on Computational Social Science, July 10-13, Cologne, Germany.

2017: School on Network Perspectives on Social Capital, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Research Institute on Innovation and Services for Development (IRISS), May 18, 2017.

2017: Member, Programme Committee of International Conference on Complex Networks and Their Applications, November 29 - December 01, Lyon, France.

2017: Member, Scientific Committee of Sixth International Workshop on Social Network Analysis (ARS’17 – Challenges in Social Network Research), Naples, Italy, May 2017.

2016: Member, Programme Committee of fifth International Workshop on Complex Networks and their Applications, Milan, Italy, November 2016.

2016: Multidisciplinary Track Chair, IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Network Analysis and Mining (ASONAM), UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA, 18-21 August, 2016.

2016: Member, Programme Committee of the tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM-16), Cologne, Germany, May 17-20, 2016.