Centre

Centre for Social and Economic Network Analysis (SENA)

Part of Department of Economics

Lots of different coloured plastic chess pieces on a board with straight pencil lines  connecting them.

We are a multi-disciplinary group for the study of networks

We are the focal point of network research at the University of Essex. We aim to increase the visibility of network research, within the academic community and beyond.

Networks have become an exciting term associated to research with major impact, media coverage and student interest in a variety of fields. Network analysis is naturally interdisciplinary. Typical networks that underlie social science phenomena include friendships among individuals, innovation spill over across firms, input-output production linkages and supply chains, international trade flows, and over-the-counter trades between banks. Studying the network effects that underlie such phenomena is often extremely complex requiring the mastery of advanced mathematical and statistical tools as well as computing tools in some cases. In fact, the common mathematical and statistical tools specific to network analysis create a natural link between social sciences and STEM sciences.

Our work capitalises on a strong base; we benefit from the established tradition of social science research already taking place at the University of Essex, as well as an excellent relationship with a growing Department of Mathematics. Furthermore, Professor Sanjeev Goyal, one the pioneers of social networks research, now at Cambridge, conducted some of his key research in the area while in the Department of Economics at Essex between 2003 and 2006.

Our members belong to a multitude of different disciplines, both within and outside of the University of Essex, view our complete list of members, visit their individual staff profiles and learn more about their research interests by visiting our members page.

Christian Ghiglino
"Network analysis is naturally interdisciplinary. Our members belong to a multitude of disciplines, both within and outside of the University. In such a diverse environment, new ideas flourish and lead to ground-breaking discoveries with far reaching benefits for society."
Professor Christian Ghiglino dIRECTOR cENTRE FOR sOCIAL AND eCONOMIC nETWORK aNALYSIS

Our members:

The members of the Centre for Social and Economic Network Analysis (SENA) belong to a broad range of disciplines. From political science and sociology, to mathematics and economics; our interdisciplinary collaboration ensures our research is multi-faceted and dynamic.

 

View the members of the Centre for Social and Economic Network Analysis

Our research areas:

Visit our research areas to discover more about specific research currently being undertaken at the Centre for Social and Economic Network Analysis. Each research area showcases a list of members, with links to their staff profiles and details of supervision status.

Our key aims
  • Bringing together researchers working on networks from across the University of Essex.
  • Organising multi-disciplinary internal workshops on specific themes and organising international workshops and conferences. We also apply for and obtain grants to support current research and build robust research networks for future research.
  • Coordinating links with local government and the industry and thus improving the impact of network research, whilst helping to sustain the quality of programs by leveraging the strengths of our research.

Highlights of our work

Publications

Working papers

Events

The Centre for Social and Economic Network Analysis regularly host seminars and events.

To find out about all events currently being hosted within the Department of Economics please visit our Departmental events calendar.

A previous seminar:

A lady handling money
Contact us
Centre for Social and Economic Network Analysis Director Christian Ghiglino
University of Essex
Department of Economics Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex
CO4 3SQ
Telephone: 01206 872728