Abstract

Rumours are an important from of social communications and their spreading plays a significant role in a variety of human affairs. In this talk I will give an overview of our ongoing research on theory and modelling of rumour spreading in complex social networks. A general mathematical model for the spreading of stochastic rumours on large social networks is introduced and the critical properties and spreading dynamics of rumours on several models of social networks, including random graphs, scale-free networks, small world networks and random geometric graphs are investigated via a combination of mathematical modelling and numerical simulations. Finally, the impact of l correlations and clustering on the dynamics of rumour spreading are studied. Some initial results on modelling corruption contagion in organizational networks will be presented.

See also the following publications:

Theory of rumour spreading in complex social networks Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Volume 374, Issue 1, 15 January 2007, Pages 457-470, M. Nekovee, Y. Moreno, G. Bianconi, M. Marsili

Stochastic epidemics and rumours on finite random networks Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Volume 389, Issue 3, 1 February 2010, Pages 561-576, Valerie Isham, Simon Harden, Maziar Nekovee

Bio: Dr. Maziar Nekovee is a Senior Scientist at BT Research and an Honorary Senior Fellow at University College London. He received his MSc. in Electrical Engineering (cum laude) from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and his PhD in theoretical Physics from the University of Nijmegen, also in the Netherlands. Dr Nekovee’s research cuts across several science and engineering disciplines and involves collaborations with statistical physicists, applied mathematicians, management scientists and computer scientists. His current research focuses on theory, mathematical modelling and applications of complex networked systems, including social networks, computer networks and wireless telecommunication networks. Dr Nekovee is the recipient of a prestigious Industry Fellowship from the Royal Society. His new book on “Cognitive Radio Communication and Networks: Principle and Practice” was published recently by Elsevier/Academic Press.