Robert Ward

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Knowledge Lab at University of Chicago. Before moving north, I earned my PhD at Georgia Institute of Technology, was a visiting student at Stanford University and in the Interaction Data Lab (Learning Planet Institute, Université Paris Cité), and earned my B.S. and M.P.A. from The Ohio State University.

How do people and organizations form relationships? How do they combine and connect old ideas to create innovations?

In my research, I use computational methods to understand the social and cognitive organization of scientific and creative work. My current projects are focused on two streams. In the context of social networks, I am interested in understanding when and why self-organization fails, and in designing interventions on network formation that improve creative outcomes, and welfare in general. The other half of my work is focused on understanding how social and cognitive organization affects the evolution of scientific knowledge. In particular, I am working on ways to identify hidden, unintuitive, surprising, yet impactful connections that can advance our understanding of the world. My recent work has studied the disciplinary architecture of scientific texts—how scientists combine and integrate knowledge across established traditions—to understand how different forms of interdisciplinarity are received up by the scientific community.

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Jul 2024 - I will be presenting at ICSSI in Washington D.C. from the 1st-3rd, at Santa Fe Institute until July 12th and then AI Palace after.

Oct 2023 - I'll be in Paris visiting the Learning Planet Institute until mid-January.

Jul 2023 - Visiting Stanford University until the end of September.

Jun 2023 - At Santa Fe Institute for the Graduate Workshop in Computational Social Science.

May 2023 - Visiting the Knowledge Lab at University of Chicago and giving a talk the week of May 7th.

Apr 2023 - I was given the Outstanding Doctoral Student Award by the School of Public Policy

Jan 2022 - My paper on the evolution of scientific fields was covered in Le Monde.

Nov 2022 - Lecturing in the Network Science/Complex Systems Physics Seminar at Skoltech on November 10th. I am giving another talk on November 21st at C-EENRG, University of Cambridge.

Oct 2022 - I will be a visiting student researcher at Stanford from mid-September through October, then visiting the Interaction Data Lab and attending the iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris. I am also organizing a workshop on the organization of science there in late October.

Sep 2022 - I am visiting Yale from September 5-9 to work with Alec McGail and Aaron Mendon-Plasek; visiting University of Chicago and Northwestern University from September 10-15 to work with Fengli Xu, Chris Esposito and Seokkyun Woo; and give talks at Knowledge Lab and the Center for Science of Science and Innovation;