The Centre for Doctoral Studies and the Governing Council of the London Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Pietro Panzarasa from Queen Mary University of London as our new Director from the September 1st 2022.
As Director, Pietro will provide leadership to the LISS DTP and will lead the partnership’s recommission process over the coming months, with a view to building on strengths of the partnership across the three institutional partners: King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London, and Imperial College. This is an exciting time for the LISS DTP as Professor Panzarasa’s appointment marks the first QMUL Director appointment for the DTP; we look forward to enhancing the collaboration under Pietro’s leadership.
Professor Panzarasa is taking over leadership role from Professor Magnus Ryner, who has led the DTP for the last year. The Centre for Doctoral Studies and LISS DTP Governing Council would like to thank Magnus for his fantastic contribution and leadership of the DTP and his work to harmonise the three institutional partners’ contribution to the partnership.
Pietro has a plethora of experience in supporting doctoral students, enriching the student experience and has a deep knowledge of supporting interdisciplinary research, working with partners and academic leadership. Pietro said: “I am really excited and honoured to take over leadership of the LISS DTP. This new role will give me an invaluable opportunity to design world-class training and develop a unique interdisciplinary research community interested in key problems and global societal challenges across a breadth of social science disciplines. I look forward to engaging with the three partner institutions and helping research students to harness the cutting edge of methodologies and venture into uncharted territories of the social sciences.”
Professor Magnus Ryner said: “It has been an honour to serve as Director of LISS-DTP in a year when we have made offers of 65 scholarships to outstanding students, including 15 CASE studentships involving partners in the private, public and third sectors. We have also offered about 40 courses in core and advanced methods training that are available to all PGR students in the Partnership. I am passing on the baton to Pietro at an exciting time when LISS will seek recommissioning. Onwards and upwards, Pietro!”
On behalf of the LISS DTP a large thank you to Magnus for his leadership of the LISS DTP and a warm welcome to Pietro, we are looking forwards to his arrival in the team. Brief biographical notes can be found below.
About Professor Pietro Panzarasa:
Pietro Panzarasa is Professor of Networks and Innovation at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London. He is also Visiting Professor of Organisation Theory, Science of Science and Social Networks at IMT, School of Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy). He received his PhD in Business Administration and Management from Bocconi University (Italy). Before joining QMUL, he was a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton (UK) and held visiting positions at Columbia University (New York) and Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh). His research is concerned with the structural foundations of social capital within networked communities. He draws on network science, computational social science, and big data analytics to study dynamics of social interaction and the performance implications of social structure in complex large-scale networks. His research has received financial support from a number of funding bodies, including Barts Charity, the British Academy, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Elsevier, EPSRC, NIHR, the North East Thames Foundation School, and the Wellcome Trust. His work has attracted the attention of policy-makers, and has resulted in collaborations with several industrial partners, public healthcare providers, charities, professional bodies, governmental and intergovernmental organisations.
