Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NETCO-PD (NETCO-PD: 14 experienced researchers in network science for Europe)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-09-01 do 2023-08-31
Networks for communication, transportation, finance and energy form the backbone of modern society. Reliable and efficient network infrastructures are of enormous economic and societal value, and their importance will only increase in the coming years. The complexity of networks and of the processes running on them are increasing rapidly as well, which often leads to unpredictable and uncontrollable behavior. The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (covid-19), with enormous medical, social and economic consequences, has once more underlined the importance of understanding network structures. The same is true for understanding the impact of polarisation on society, which has far reaching consequences for the stability of social, economic and political networks.
Networks have also evolved into rich sources of data. These data are crucial for understanding structural properties and optimizing functional performance of large-scale networks, e.g. in order to enable online adaptation, self-organization and intelligent control. To deal effectively with the uncertainty, variation, unpredictability, size and complexity inherent in complex networks, we must develop radically new ways of thinking. NETWORKS uniquely combines stochastics (to model and understand large-scale networks and to predict network growth and network processes) with algorithmics (to control and optimize networks and network processes in the best possible way). This symbiosis of mathematics and computer science allows NETWORKS to make a decisive contribution to the advancement of network science.
There is urgent need for a generation of researchers that can deal with contemporary and emerging networks that are inherently stochastic in nature, and at the same time can design effective and well-understood decision and optimization algorithms. NETWORKS’ research programme is organized around eight research themes (see https://www.thenetworkcenter.nl/Research-themes/Overview/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) for an overview). The combination of these themes allows for a broad and comprehensive approach to the challenges posed by complex networks. In addition, NETWORKS' researchers are branching out into other areas, including economic networks and systemic risks, health networks and early detection, and social networks and epidemiology.
The main objective of the NETCO – PD programme is to bring together expertise from two different disciplines, namely, mathematics and computer science, by attracting talented young researchers and to train them to perform world-class research in, and at the interface between, these disciplines.
NETWORKS attracts these young researchers from outside the Netherlands. The international network provides them with excellent additional opportunities for transnational mobility.
Networks have also evolved into rich sources of data. These data are crucial for understanding structural properties and optimizing functional performance of large-scale networks, e.g. in order to enable online adaptation, self-organization and intelligent control. To deal effectively with the uncertainty, variation, unpredictability, size and complexity inherent in complex networks, we must develop radically new ways of thinking. NETWORKS uniquely combines stochastics (to model and understand large-scale networks and to predict network growth and network processes) with algorithmics (to control and optimize networks and network processes in the best possible way). This symbiosis of mathematics and computer science allows NETWORKS to make a decisive contribution to the advancement of network science.
There is urgent need for a generation of researchers that can deal with contemporary and emerging networks that are inherently stochastic in nature, and at the same time can design effective and well-understood decision and optimization algorithms. NETWORKS’ research programme is organized around eight research themes (see https://www.thenetworkcenter.nl/Research-themes/Overview/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) for an overview). The combination of these themes allows for a broad and comprehensive approach to the challenges posed by complex networks. In addition, NETWORKS' researchers are branching out into other areas, including economic networks and systemic risks, health networks and early detection, and social networks and epidemiology.
The main objective of the NETCO – PD programme is to bring together expertise from two different disciplines, namely, mathematics and computer science, by attracting talented young researchers and to train them to perform world-class research in, and at the interface between, these disciplines.
NETWORKS attracts these young researchers from outside the Netherlands. The international network provides them with excellent additional opportunities for transnational mobility.
In the first years of the NETCO-PD programme the emphasis was on the recruitment of the ERs. All positions have been filled.
The training provided to the ERs consisted of various components. A main ingredient is the personal coaching they receive from their supervisors. Each ER has been coupled to two supervisors, with different expertise and backgrounds. This provides the ESRs with a broad and multi-disciplinary view, and expands their scientific network.
Besides the personal coaching provided by the supervisors, the ERs receive training in various other ways. The institutions that host the ERs provide professional skills courses. Moreover, NETWORKS organizes a number of activities for the ERs and other researchers, like Training Weeks, Networks days, the Match Makers Seminars and the workshop Analytic Story Telling. These activities are not only crucial for the scientific development of the ERs, they are also instrumental in community building.
Each ER works on real-world network problems that are identified during NETWORKS’ events and during interactions with companies as part of a secondment. Next to this secondment, each ER makes an international research visit of two to four weeks
The training provided to the ERs consisted of various components. A main ingredient is the personal coaching they receive from their supervisors. Each ER has been coupled to two supervisors, with different expertise and backgrounds. This provides the ESRs with a broad and multi-disciplinary view, and expands their scientific network.
Besides the personal coaching provided by the supervisors, the ERs receive training in various other ways. The institutions that host the ERs provide professional skills courses. Moreover, NETWORKS organizes a number of activities for the ERs and other researchers, like Training Weeks, Networks days, the Match Makers Seminars and the workshop Analytic Story Telling. These activities are not only crucial for the scientific development of the ERs, they are also instrumental in community building.
Each ER works on real-world network problems that are identified during NETWORKS’ events and during interactions with companies as part of a secondment. Next to this secondment, each ER makes an international research visit of two to four weeks
Energy networks that are reliable in the presence of highly fluctuating demand and supply, road and railway networks that function smoothly, and communication networks that are fast and efficient: all are vital for Europe. NETCO-PhD and NETCO-PD contribute towards Europe maintaining its competitive edge in the field of network science by strengthening the European human capital base, through the delivery of 14 + 14 experienced PhDs and PDs for research and innovation, and through the cutting-edge interdisciplinary scientific research that is part of their training. The EU policy areas that NETCO-PD contributes to are the Europe 2020 strategy objectives on Climate Change & Energy, the strategies on Mobility and Transport, and the strategies on Digital Economy and Society.
The ERs will realize knowledge transfer because of their intersectoral mobility, by their contributions to the NetworkPages (see https://networkpages.nl/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) and later during their fruitful career. They offer a unique combination of knowledge in stochastics and algorithmics, which they know how to explain, apply and implement to solve urgent research problems in a crucial area for the European industrial and academic labor market.
Network science is a thriving and challenging area that will continue to attract the brightest talents worldwide for decades to come. One of the key tasks for the future is to understand co-evolution: dynamic processes on dynamic networks with mutual feedback. Mathematics and Computer Science need to join forces to face the enormous challenges that this endeavour poses.
The ERs will realize knowledge transfer because of their intersectoral mobility, by their contributions to the NetworkPages (see https://networkpages.nl/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) and later during their fruitful career. They offer a unique combination of knowledge in stochastics and algorithmics, which they know how to explain, apply and implement to solve urgent research problems in a crucial area for the European industrial and academic labor market.
Network science is a thriving and challenging area that will continue to attract the brightest talents worldwide for decades to come. One of the key tasks for the future is to understand co-evolution: dynamic processes on dynamic networks with mutual feedback. Mathematics and Computer Science need to join forces to face the enormous challenges that this endeavour poses.