David Schoch - Mathematical foundations of Network Centrality
| Dates: | 4 May 2020 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 15:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Department of Mathematics |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | David Schoch |
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(via Zoom)
Join us for this webinar by David Schoch (Manchester) as part of the Mathematics in the Life Sciences Series.
Abstract: In the social sciences, networks are used to represent relationships between social actors, be they individuals or aggregates. The structural importance of these actors is assessed in terms of centrality indices which are commonly defined as graph invariants. Many such indices have been proposed, but there is no unifying theory of centrality. Previous attempts at axiomatic characterization have been focused on particular indices, and the conceptual frameworks that have been proposed alternatively do not lend themselves to mathematical treatment. In this talk, I illustrate that many standard centrality indices, although seemingly distinct, can in fact be expressed in a common framework based on path algebras. Since, as a consequence, all of these indices preserve the neighbourhood-inclusion pre-order, the latter provides a conceptually clear criterion for the definition of centrality indices. I highlight several empirical and theoretical implications of this result, including alternative assessments of structural importance.
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Speaker
David Schoch
Role: Presidential Fellow
Organisation: University of Manchester
Travel and Contact Information
