Founded in 2010 as a research center, naXys has recently evolved into an Institute. Join us to celebrate our kick-off meeting.
Program
14h: Welcome & Introduction by Prof. Carine Michiels, UNamur Vice-Rector for Research and Prof. Anne-Sophie Libert, Director of naXys
14h30: Prof. Vito Latora (Queen Mary University of London, UK), Complex networks with many layers
15h15: Prof. Damien Ernst (ULiège, Belgium), Uber-like models for the electrical industry
16h: Coffee break
16h30: Prof. Carlos Melian (EAWAG, ETH Domain, Switzerland), Tangling the webs of life
17h15: Prof. Glenn Magerman (ULB, Belgium), Production networks in economics
18h-21h30 : Poster session & Walking dinner
Registration
Registration is free but mandatory, before Wednesday, September 13th, through the following web form.
We strongly encourage poster submissions in all naXys research directions. PhD students will receive certificate with ECTS mention for their doctoral training.
Abstracts
Prof. Vito Latora (Queen Mary University of London, UK), Complex networks with many layers
Networks constitute the backbone of complex systems, from the human brain to computer communications, transport infrastructures to online social systems and metabolic reactions to financial markets. Characterising their structure improves our understanding of the physical, biological, economic and social phenomena that shape our world. As a result, complex networks have become an essential ingredient in the background of any scientist [1]. In this seminar I will present an overview of the new theory and methods of network science, of the main results found, and of some of the still open challenges.
I will concentrate, in particular, on the structure and dynamics of multi-layer networks [2][3], namely multiplex networks and temporal networks, discussing cases where the presence of many layers gives rise to the emergence of novel behaviours, otherwise unobserved in single-layer networks [4-6].
[1] V. Latora, V. Nicosia and G. Russo, Complex Networks: Principles, Methods and Applications, Cambridge University Press (2017)
[2] Structural measures for multiplex networks Battiston, Nicosia, Latora, Phys. Rev. E89, 032804 (2014)
[3] Growing multiplex networks V. Nicosia, G. Bianconi, V. Latora, M. Barthelemy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 058701 (2013)
[4] Structural reducibility of multilayer networks, M. De Domenico, V. Nicosia, A. Arenas, V. Latora, Nature Comm 6, 6864 (2015)
[5] Collective phenomena emerging from the interactions between dynamical processes in multiplex networks, Nicosia, Skardal, Arenas, Latora, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 138302 (2017)
[6] Mobility and congestion in dynamical multilayer networks with finite storage capacity Manfredi, Di Tucci, Latora, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 068301 (2018)
Prof. Damien Ernst (ULiège, Belgium), Uber-like models for the electrical industry
During this presentation Professor Ernst will present new organizational models for the electrical industry. These are Uber-type models that are extremely destabilizing for traditional players in the electricity sector. He will explain the different economic forces in place that lead to the emergence of such models. He will also detail the great opportunities they offer for accelerating the energy transition and for researchers who are interested in analyzing and controlling very complex systems.
Prof. Carlos Melian (EAWAG, ETH Domain, Switzerland), Tangling the webs of life
Most complex systems consist of elements that interact within and across levels in a broad range of spatiotemporal scales. In biology, gene interactions and expression dynamics together with plasticity determine the architecture of traits of individuals, competitive and cooperative interactions among individuals influence population dynamics, and many types of interactions among species affect the dynamics of communities and ecosystems. Such systems, usually represented as single networks, have been partitioned in domains to explain the intricate phenomena that occur at each of the levels and scales, but can have complex dynamics when interdependencies among networks belonging to different levels or scales occur. In this talk, I will introduce interdependencies among networks to gain insights about biological systems. I will ask the many open challenges ahead when merging real-world data across levels and scales with process-based modeling to infer the dynamics of interdependent networks. In the end, I will discuss whether disentangling a single network is enough to understand the origin, evolution and coexistence of biodiversity on Earth and that we might need data-driven and process-based theory to tangle networks with one another to fully understand the webs of life.
Prof. Glenn Magerman (ULB, Belgium), Production networks in economics
Firms are not isolated islands of production, but they interact through supplier-buyer relationships and personal network contacts. While intuitive, this observation is mostly at odds with standard economic reasoning of anonymous markets. However, the absence of micro data on firm-to-firm transactions has made the development of production network models in economics elusive until very recently, as it is ex ante hard to understand which mechanisms generate outcomes that are at odds with existing models. In this talk, I will first discuss some stylized facts on the Belgian production network, the data which shows unprecedented detail along many dimensions. Second, I will highlight some elements of the models we develop, and how they expand typical firm-level models in micro-economics. Next, I will discuss how these network models can generate new implications for propagation and aggregation (i.e. “micro-to-macro”). Finally, we will touch upon dynamics.
