PhD Studentship - Opinion Dynamics of Rational Agents

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences EPSRC Project Proposals 24-25 (jobs.ac.uk)

Funding: School of Mathematics Studentship providing the award of full academic fees, together with a tax-free maintenance grant at the standard UKRI rate (£19,237 in academic session 2024/25) for 3.5 years.

Lead Supervisor’s full name & email address:

Professor Richard Mann: r.p.mann@leeds.ac.uk

Co-supervisor name & email address

Professor Mauro Mobilia: m.mobilia@leeds.ac.uk

Project summary

Social media and other online communities are a maelstrom of competing ideas, memes and opinions. As these communities become a more and more central part of our social and political lives, identifying how and why some ideas spread and some don’t is crucial to understanding how the online world influences what we believe, what we do and how we vote.

Models of opinion dynamics typically treat the spread of ideas like an epidemic, with individuals becoming ‘infected’ with a certain opinion and then passing it on to others. Indeed, observing how beliefs and opinions spread on social media it can often seem as though people have little control over which beliefs they adopt, and which they pass on. However, people are not simply passive recipients and vectors for ideas; expressing themselves online is a decision, and one that they make so as to accomplish their goals, whether conscious or not.

This is a mathematical programme of research that will be based on probability theory, especially Bayesian inference and optimisation.  Stochastic processes, networks and game theory are also likely to be important. Applicants should be able to evidence a solid background in statistics and probability, and scientific programming. You will also engage with work from biology, psychology and sociology that provides a context for understanding human sociality, motivations and cognitive processes.

Please state your entry requirements plus any necessary or desired background a first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline.

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