My scientific work concerns complex systems and the evolution of collective behavior. The overarching theme of my research is the unintended and adverse consequences of systemic incentives in environmental sustainability, social dynamics, and knowledge production.

I use computational and mathematical modelling, experiments and data science to critically examine how mechanisms intended to drive progress, efficiency, and dissemination of knowledge can paradoxically contribute to outcomes that undermine these very goals. Key areas of my study include understanding how, when and why:

• efficiency can lead to resource depletion and climate change,
• structural incentives can lead to the selection of bad science,
• maintenance can lead to better adaptation than innovation,
• social conventions can emerge in the presence and absence of institutions,
• inequality can lead to language shift,
• minority ideas can thrive in a society,

Modelling, in combination with empirical verification and validation, provides a method to explore possible ways of estimating the economic and social trade-offs involved in preserving our environment, addressing inequalities and improving governance.

Trajectory

I am currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Collective Intelligence (M6 Polytechnic University) and a CNRS Research Associate at the Complex Systems Institute of Paris Ile-de-France (ISC-PIF), where I also was postdoc researcher. Previously, I completed my PhD at the University of Barcelona. A significant part of my research was advanced through research residencies at the Centre for Language Evolution (University of Edinburgh) and the Laland Lab (University of St.Andrews). My academic background is multidisciplinary, encompassing fields such as biology, mathematics, computer science, and social and behavioral sciences. Further details can be found here.