News

Best paper award for Isabel Raabe

Isabel Raabe received the INSNA Best Student Paper Award for her article "The Social Pipeline: How Friend Influence and Peer Exposure Widen the STEM Gender Gap". The article appeared in Sociology of Education in 2019 (with Zsófia Boda and Christoph Stadtfeld). The award was announced at the Sunbelt Conference 2019 in Montréal. The paper can be found here: external page https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040718824095.

The value of social networks in academic success

Students who prepare for their exams with friends are more likely to succeed. Our recent study published in external page PNAS shows how social networks emerged among Bachelor’s students and how they influenced their examination results in the first year.
Full article about this project on ETH News.

Best presentation award for Marion Hoffman

Marion won the award for the best presentation at the 7th International Conference on Complex Networks and Their Applications in Cambridge, UK.

Christoph Stadtfeld wins the 2018 Raymond Boudon Award

for Early Career Achievement of the European Academy of Sociology. The academy has the aim of promoting rigorous standards in sociology. The Boudon Award acknowledges scholars who have made "a very significant contribution to European sociology through a body of publications". external page Award website

Best Student Paper Award for Timon Elmer

Timon Elmer won the INSNA award for the best student paper in social networks for "The co-evolution of emotional well-being with weak and strong friendship ties". The article was published in Network Science in 2017 (with Zsófia Boda and Christoph Stadtfeld).Timon received the award at the Sunbelt Conference in Utrecht. The paper can be found here: external page https://doi.org/10.1017/nws.2017.20

Football contains a wealth of data

How good is FC Basel compared to FC Bayern Munich? Researchers of the Social Networks Lab have developed the online ranking system external page SOCCERVERSE for top football clubs. This system contains findings on how to improve ranking systems and comprises different approaches to analysing international club football. Full article about this project on ETH News.

New Publication in Network Science

25 August 17. The article The co-evolution of emotional well-being with weak and strong friendship ties by Timon Elmer, Zsófia Boda and Christoph Stadtfeld has been published in external page Network Science. 

Introductory Goldfish course at the EUSN 2017

Christoph Stadtfeld teaches a course on the R package Goldfish, together with James Hollway from the Graduate Institute in Geneva. The workshop is part of the European Social Networks Conference (EUSN) 2017 in Mainz, Germany. Registration is open until August 1. external page Conference website and registration

Introductory ERGM course at IC2S2

10 July 17. András Vörös gives an introductory ERGM course at the International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2) in Cologne, Germany. external page Conference website

Christoph Stadtfeld presents at the INAS conference

8-9 June 17. Christoph Stadtfeld gives a presentation at the conference of the International Network of Analytical Sociologists in Oslo.

Per Block, Zsófia Boda, Timon Elmer, Isabel Raabe and András Vörös visit the Sunbelt conference

30 May - 4 June 17. Members of the group give five presentations and teach three courses at the Sunbelt conference of the International Network for Social Network Analysis in Beijing.

Visit by Dr Lies de Ruddere

4-10 April 17. Lies de Ruddere from Ghent University visits the research group.

Visit by Dr Károly Takács

14-17 March 17. Károly Takács (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) visits our research group.

Presentation by Prof Jürgen Pfeffer

14 March 17. Jürgen Pfeffer from the Technical University of Munich gives a presentation at the Behavioral Studies Colloquium and visits our research group.

Marion Hoffman joins the group   

1 March 17. The group welcomes Marion Hoffman as a new PhD student. 

Kieran Mepham joins the group   

15 Feb 17. The group welcomes Kieran Mepham as a new PhD student. 

Teaching at the Advanced Siena Users' Meeting   

9-10 Feb 17. Per Block teaches at the AdSUM-2017 Advanced Siena Users’ meeting at Linköping University (Sweden). 

New Publication in Social Networks          

25 Jan 17. The article Cluster analysis of multiplex networks: Defining composite network measures by András Vörös and Tom Snijders was published today in external page Social Networks.           

Group members present at the NetSciX conference

15-18 Jan 17. András Vörös, Christoph Stadtfeld and Zsófia Boda visit the NetSciX 2017 network science conference in Tel Aviv.

Presentation by PD Martin Atzmüller

22 Nov 16. PD Martin Atzmüller from the University of Kassel visits the research group and presents in the Behavioral Studies Colloquium [http://www.ifvll.ethz.ch/studium/behavioral-studies-colloquium.html] on "Behavioral Analytics in Social Media and the Physical World".

Publication in Sociological Methods and Research

18 Nov 16. The article Forms of Dependence: Comparing SAOMs and ERGMs From Basic Principles in collaboration with Tom Snijders was published today in SMR.

Fifth Swissnet workshop in Zurich

12-13 Nov 16. Our group organizes the fifth SwissNet workshop on "Time-stamped network models" with Prof. Tom Snijders (Groningen) and Prof. Mark Tranmer (Glasgow) as special guests and participants from the social networks groups of Geneva, Lugano, Zurich and Konstanz. Co-organizers are Prof. Alessandro Lomi (USI) and Prof. James Hollway (Graduate Institute Geneva).

Visit by Sofia Dokuka

7-14 Nov 16. Sofia Dokuka (Higher School of Economics) visits our research group to collaborate on a project on the dynamics of study performance and social networks.

Presentation by Dr Alex Stivala

2 Nov 16. Dr. Alex Stivala from the University of Melbourne gives a presentation in the colloquium of the Chair of Social Networks on estimation strategies for Exponential Random Graph Models for large data sets.

Short course on Social Network Analysis at El Colegio de Mexico

4 Oct 16. Christoph Stadtfeld gives a short course on Social Network Analysis at El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico City. Interested participants should contact Prof. Fernando Nieto Morales [http://www.nietomorales.com/].

Visit by Isabel Raabe

Oct - Dec 16. Isabel Raabe (Nuffield College, Oxford) visits our research group to collaborate on a project on peer effects in school subject preferences.

Goldfish software workshop in Zürich

5-7 Sep 16. Our group in collaboration with the Graduate Institute Geneva holds a workshop on the Goldfish software. The objective of the project is to introduce, extend, and promote the Dynamic Network Actor-Oriented Model (DyNAM) for the statistical analysis of coordination networks through time.

New group members

1 Sep 16. Julia von Fellenberg and Veronica Tommassini join our team.

News coverage on research by the chair

23 Aug 16. Per Block gave an interview about collaborative research with biologists from the University of Zürich in the external page Deutschlandfunk. The same article is discussed in the Washington Post: external page Mice quarantine themselves when sick — a lesson for us all.

Group retreat in Budapest, Hungary

26-29 Jul 16. The research group retreats in Budapest, Hungary, to prepare the upcoming Student Life study.

Academic visitors Lisa Thiele and David Pollard

11-15 Jul 16. Lisa Thiele from the TU Braunschweig and David Pollard from the University of Birmingham visit the research group.

Group members present at the ICCSS 2016

22-26 Jun 16. Zsofia Boda visits the external page 2nd Annual International Conference on Computational Social Science in Evanston, IL USA.

Jeanine Grütter and Oliver Roßmannek visit our group

22 Jun 16. Jeanine Grütter from the University of Zurich and Oliver Roßmannek from the University of Freiburg, Germany visit our research group and present their research.

Group members present at the 2nd European Conference on Social Networks

14-17 Jun 16. Charlotte Corrodi, Christoph Stadtfeld, Per Block, and Timon Elmer present at the external page 2nd European Conference on Social Networks (EUSN) in Paris, France.

Group members present at the Social Interaction and Society Conference

26-28 May 16. Zsofia Boda, Timon Elmer, and Charlotte Corrodi present at the Social Interaction and Society Conference at ETH Zurich.

Prof. Gary Robins visits the research group

21 Apr 16. Prof. Gary Robins from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, visits our research group

Group members present at the INSNA Sunbelt conference

5-10 Apr 16. Zsofia Boda and Christoph Stadtfeld visit the external page XXXVI Sunbelt Conference of the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) in Newport Beach, California.

Talk by Piotr Sapiezynski

15 Mar 16. Piotr Sapiezynski from the Technical University of Denmark in Copenhagen gives a presentation in the research seminar at 3.30 pm. Piotr will introduce novel ways of collecting social network data through smart-phone based sensor systems.  

Peter Hottum visits the research group

10 Mar 16. Peter Hottum, general manager of the external page Karlsruhe Service Research Institute (KSRI), visits our research group. He gives a presentation at 2 pm about "Costumer Contribution Management in Service Systems".

SIENA Winter School is fully booked

18 Jan 15. The SIENA Winter School is fully booked but there are still some free spots to participate in the Advanced SIENA Users Meeting of the Social Networks group (see Eventpage).

Statistical Network Models Meeting in Groningen

10 Dec 15. The social network group participates from 16-17 Dec in the Statistical Network Models Meeting hosted by Prof. Tom Snijders in Groningen.

Third Social Network Meeting of SoNAR-C

8 Nov 15. The research group attends the third social networks meeting of the Social Network Analysis Research Center (SoNAR-C) at USI in Lugano. The workshop takes place from 9-11 November.  

A new puplication by the Chair of Social Networks

27 Oct 15. A paper has been published by the Social Networks group in the Journal of Research on Adolescence (see Journal Publications).

Two new PhD students join the group

1 Sep 15 The group welcomes Véronique Charlotte Corrodi and Timon Elmer as new PhD students. Charlotte and Timon will work on an empirical project about change in social networks.

Three new publications by the Chair of Social Networks

4 Aug 15  Three new papers have been published by the Social Networks group in the Journals Social Forces, Social Networks and Child Development (see Journal Publications).

Zsofia Boda joins the Chair of Social Networks

31 Jul 15  From 1st September, Zsofia Boda becomes part of the Chair of Social Networks at ETH.

Per Block wins ETH fellowship

24 Jun 15  Per Block won a two year ETH fellowship to analyze Intergenerational Mobility Networks starting September 2015.

Group members present at the INSNA Sunbelt conference

23-28 Jun 15. The Zurich Social Networks group visits the external page XXXV Sunbelt Conference of the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) in Brighton, UK.

Group members present at INAS conference in Cambridge, MA

12-13 June 15. Per Block and Christoph Stadtfeld participate in the external page 8th INAS Conference in Cambridge, MA.

James Hollway defends his DPhil in Oxford

5 Jun 15. James Hollway defends his DPhil at the University of Oxford. The title of his thesis is The Evolution of Global Fisheries Governance, 1960-2010.

Presentation by Tali Spiegel

6 May 15. Tali Spiegel (University of Groningen) visits our social networks seminar and talks about "Social integration and wellbeing amongst special education needs pupils in mainstream education".

First Zurich Social Network Meeting

28-29 Apr 15. Our group organizes the first Zurich Social Network Meeting with participants from the universities of Groningen, Lugano and Budapest. Speakers include Prof. Tom Snijders, Prof. Károly Takács, Prof. Christian Steglich and Prof. Alessandro Lomi.

Guest lecture by Prof. Tom Snijders

Prof. Tom Snijders (University of Groningen) gives a guest lecture in our course "Introduction to Social Networks: Theory, Methods and Applications" at 3pm in room IFW C31. Tom Snijders presents an introduction to stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOMs). The talk is open to the public; registration via e-mail is requested.

Introductory lecture by Christoph Stadtfeld

1 Apr 15. Christoph Stadtfeld gives his introductory lecture at ETH Zürich with the title "Dynamic Social Networks: Micro-mechanisms and macro-level outcomes". A video is available on the ETH Multimedia Portal.

Felix Schönenberger visiting the Social Networks seminar

28 Jan 15. Felix Schönenberger from the University of Konstanz presents his work on scientific software development for the analysis of dynamic social networks.

Presentation by Sandra Andraszewicz

21 Jan 15. Sandra Andraszewicz visits our social networks seminar and presents "A Computational Approach to Risky Decision Making" and how her research interest is linked to social networks.

Lecture of Sandy Pentland at ETH

20 Jan 15. Alex 'Sandy' Pentland from MIT Media Lab gives a lecture at 3 pm in the ETH Audimax (F30). The title of his talk is "Social Physics".  Registration is requested: ETH Global website.

ECRP meeting in Paris

15 Dec 14. Our group attends the ECRP workshop about "influence in social networks" at Sciences Po in Paris. The meeting is hosted by Prof. Emmanuel Lazega.

Meeting on SAOMs in Groningen

24 Nov 14. Our group attends a two-day meeting about new developments in stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOMs) and in the RSiena software at the University of Groningen. The meeting is organized by Prof. Tom Snijders.

Presentation by Meret Branscheidt

20 Nov 14. Meret Branscheidt presents in the social networks colloquium at 4.30 pm in room CLU C1 about networks between different brain regions.

Presentation by Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye

12 Nov 14. Our research visitor Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye will present in the D-GESS Social Science Colloquium on Wednesday, 12 Nov at 13.15 pm in room HG F 26.1. The title of his talk is  "Big but personal data: How human behavior bounds privacy and what can we do about it".

Guests lectures

6 Nov 14. Zsofia Boda and Andras Vörös present in the social networks colloquium at 2pm in room CLU C1.

First meeting of the SoNAR-C

24 Oct 14. The group attends the first general shareholder meeting of the newly founded Social Network Analysis Research Center (SoNAR-C) at the USI Lugano which is organized by Prof. Alessandro Lomi..