Sunbelt is the main international congress on social network analysis, and its 2025 edition gathered experts from more than 50 countries around the latest advances and applications of this discipline.
Adolfo Fuentes and Aníbal Olivera, students of the Doctorate in Social Complexity Sciences of the Faculty of Government UDD, participated in the conference Sunbelt 2025 – International Conference on Social Networks, the main global meeting on social network analysis, organized by the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA). This version of the congress was held at the Sorbonne University, Paris, consolidating its academic and global relevance by gathering researchers from more than 50 countries.
During the meeting, both students presented their doctoral research, generating interest among attendees and establishing links with prominent academics in the area.
Adolfo Fuentes presented advances of his thesis titled “Sistema autónomo para mapear y predecir preferencias individuales mediante una arquitectura de red neuronal”, focused on the intersection between artificial intelligence and network analysis. “Participating in Sunbelt allowed us to receive valuable feedback from specialist researchers from various countries, establish contact networks with Chileans abroad and with academics from Europe and the United States, as well as disseminate the work of our doctorate and the UDD,” highlighted the researcher.
For his part, Aníbal Olivera had the opportunity to participate in various instances. First, he was co-organizer of the workshop “Understanding Diffusion with netdiffuseR”, developed together with researchers Thomas Valente from the University of Southern California, and George Vega Yon from the University of Utah; in the activity, new capabilities of the netdiffuseR package were presented, a scientific software tool that Olivera co-authored with the support of the PoliCICS laboratory of the UDD, which generated high interest among attendees. The workshop is available at this link.
He was also moderator of the thematic session “Contagion and Diffusion processes through Social Networks”, which extended to three rounds of presentations, and finally in that same space, he presented his thesis “Diffusion of Innovations with Individual Preferences”, research that received valuable international feedback.
“For me, it was an extremely enriching experience in every dimension, from the personal to the academic. I especially highlight the possibility of receiving specialized feedback from world leaders in the discipline, the opportunity to expand and consolidate international collaboration networks, and the strengthening of the positioning of our doctorate and the PoliCICS laboratory in the global scientific community,” emphasized Olivera.
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