Key research themes
1. How does social network structure influence knowledge exchange and innovation in socio-technical networks?
This research area examines the role of social network configurations—such as ties, positions, multiplexity, and centrality—in facilitating or constraining knowledge transfer and innovation outcomes within socio-technical systems. Understanding these structural mechanisms is pivotal for leveraging network effects in innovation, organizational learning, and collaborative work, especially as knowledge exchange involves diverse actors and multiple types of ties, including both social and technical components.
2. How can socio-technical network methodologies integrate the social and technical to improve design, safety, and transitions?
This theme investigates methodologies that bridge social and technical elements of socio-technical networks with an emphasis on design thinking, interaction modeling, safety science, and monitoring systemic transitions. These approaches provide frameworks for understanding and managing the complex interplay of human actors, technology, organizational processes, and environmental dynamics to enhance system effectiveness, safety, and sustainability during transformations.
3. How can network analysis and complexity theory inform the understanding and management of emergent properties and dynamic behaviors in socio-technical systems?
This theme focuses on leveraging quantitative and theoretical frameworks, including social network analysis, complexity theory, and agent-based modeling, to comprehend emergent phenomena, dynamic interaction patterns, and multilevel processes in socio-technical contexts. These approaches aim to provide tools to understand, predict, and optimize system behaviors that cannot be explained solely by analyzing individual components in isolation.