Dr Tiago Peixoto, from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, has won this year's Erdős-Rényi Prize. Each year, the prize gets awarded to a young scientist for their research achievements in the field of network science and is aimed at highlighting outstanding contributions relevant to the interdisciplinary progress of network science.
Dr Peixoto won the prize for his contributions to the statistical analysis and visualisation of networks, including efficient and principled inference algorithms based on the stochastic block model, and compression and prediction of richly annotated or hierarchical structures.
His research focuses on characterising, identifying and explaining large-scale patterns found in the structure and function of complex network systems using principled approaches from statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics and Bayesian inference.
Paul Milewski, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, said: "I was delighted to hear that Tiago was awarded this prize.
"Network science is yet another example of the huge and long term impact Mathematics can have: the systematic study of networks started with Euler in the 18th century and the prize is named after mathematicians Erdős and Renyi who studied random networks in the 1950s far before the proliferation of obvious large scale networks in all our lives.
"Tiago's work on statistical inference methods in networks is impressive in its breadth and rapid impact. Congratulations!"
Dr Peixoto's prize consists of a $3,000 cash award, a personalised plaque and a lecture at the NetSci International School and Conference on Network Science, the annual flagship conference of The Network Science Society.