Sandro Sousa

Postdoc in Science of Science and Algorithmic fairness

NEtwoRks, Data, and Society Group (NERDS) IT University of Copenhagen

Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS) University of Copenhagen

About me

Sandro is a computer scientist interested in spatial complexity, random walks on graphs, population dynamics, urban segregation, algorithmic fairness and the quantification of these phenomena through graphs and data models.

Currently, he is a Postdoc in the NEtwoRks, Data, and Society Group (NERDS) at IT University of Copenhagen and a visiting Postdoc at (SODAS). His research concentrates on quantifying algorithmic fairness and bias in Science of Science through randomised controlled experiments and analysis of large datasets of academic publications.

He has a PhD in Complex Systems at The School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, with supervision by Vincenzo Nicosia. His PhD research focused on quantifying the heterogeneity of spatial systems through random walks on graphs with a particular interest on urban segregation. Previously he had worked as a research associate on a project between Brazilian and British academics entitled RESOLUTION where the cities of London and São Paulo were compared for social segregation and transport accessibility. His MSc used a graph-based approach to quantify topological changes in Sao Paulo’s public transport network at different spatial scales while tested the robustness of the system against simulated attacks. Before the research career, he worked on IT consulting and data solutions for more than 7 years.

Download my resumé.

Interests

Complex Networks
Spatial Complexity
Science of Cities
Computational Social Science
Algorithmic fairness and bias

Education

PhD in Mathematical Sciences, 2021

Queen Mary University of London
MSc in Complex Systems Modelling, 2015

University of Sao Paulo
PG Cert in Information Management and Business Intelligence, 2013

Business School Sao Paulo
BSc in Computer Network Management, 2008

College Inforium of Technology

Experience

Postdoc

NEtwoRks, Data, and Society Group (NERDS), IT University of Copenhagen

Nov 2021 – Present Copenhagen, DK

Postdoc in Science of Science and Algorithmic fairness.

PhD Researcher

Queen Mary University of London

Sep 2017 – Dec 2021 London, UK

PhD in Mathematical Sciences. Research on quantifying spatial heterogeneity of complex systems through random walks on graphs.

Research Associate

University of São Paulo(USP)/University College London(UCL)

May 2016 – May 2017 São Paulo/London, BR/UK

Research Associate at the Centre for Metropolitan Studies (USP, BR) in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA - UCL, UK) for the study of segregation dynamics. Analysis of population data, spatial data (GIS) and ABM modelling.

Business Intelligence Architect

Braskem

Dec 2011 – Jun 2014 São Paulo, BR

Management of business Intelligence projects (full cycle). Design, development and deployment of data solutions.

Business Intelligence Consultant

Accenture

Oct 2010 – Dec 2011 São Paulo, BR

Design, development and deployment of business Intelligence solutions on the SAP platform.

Business Consultant

DBM Systems

Oct 2010 – Feb 2010 São Paulo, BR

Design, development and deployment of business processes on the TOTVS platform.

Business Analyst

TOTVS

Aug 2009 – Feb 2010 Maringá, BR

Design, development and deployment of business processes on the TOTVS platform.

Featured Publications

Sandro Sousa, Vincenzo Nicosia

October 2022 Nat Communications

Quantifying ethnic segregation in cities through random walks

Socioeconomic segregation is one of the main factors behind the emergence of large-scale inequalities in urban areas. We propose two non-parametric measures of spatial variance and local spatial diversity, based on the statistical properties of the trajectories of random walks on graphs. We analyse the segregation of synthetic systems and large metropolitan areas in the US and the UK and our results confirm that the spatial variance and local diversity as measured through simple diffusion on graphs provides meaningful insights about the spatial organisation of ethnicities across a city.

Aleix Bassolas, Sandro Sousa, Vincenzo Nicosia

January 2021 J. R. S. Interface

Disproportionate incidence of COVID-19 in African Americans correlates with dynamic segregation

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemics disproportionately affects people from Black and African American backgrounds. We propose a model to quantify the dynamic segregation of ethnicities in a city, based on passage times and coverage times of random walks on graphs. The results confirm that knowing where people commute to, rather than where they live, is potentially much more important to contain and curb the spreading of infectious diseases.

Recent Publications

Quickly discover relevant content by filtering publications.

Magnus J. Haughey, Aleix Bassolas, Sandro Sousa, Ann-Marie Baker, Trevor A. Graham, Vincenzo Nicosia, Weini Huang (2023). First passage time analysis of spatial mutation patterns reveals evolutionary dynamics of pre-existing resistance in colorectal cancer.

PDF PLOS Computational Biology

Aleix Bassolas, Andrea Santoro, Sandro Sousa, Silvia Rognone, Vincenzo Nicosia (2022). Optimising the mitigation of epidemic spreading through targeted adoption of contact tracing apps. Phys. Rev. Research.

PDF Physical Review Research

Projects

QGIS Segreg

An open source plugin to compute spatial and non-spatial segregation measures on QGIS.

Academic Activities

Scholarships and Grants

2019 CSS Scholarship for the Mediterranean School of Complex Networks, Salina, Fondazione Bruno Kessler.
2019 yrCSS Travel Grant for the Complexity72h Workshop, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca.
2017 Research Studentship Queen Mary Principal’s Award, QMUL.
2016 Research Scholarship Technical Training Award, Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).
2016 Travel Grant for the Summer School on Understanding Urban Transformations thought Data, Manchester School of Architecture.
2014 Research Studentship Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES.

Conferences, Schools and Workshops

Sep 2020 International School and Conference on Network Science (NetSci)
Rome, IT (Online).
Dec 2019 Alan Turing Institute Data Study Group
London, UK. Data challenge: The National Archives.
Sep 2019 Mediterranean School of Complex Networks
Salina, IT.
Jul 2019 3rd UK Network Science Workshop
Leeds, UK.
Jul 2019 International Workshop on Networks and Urban Systems,
London, UK.
Jul 2019 Complexity72h Workshop
Lucca, IT.
Oct 2018 2nd Network Science Workshop
London, UK.
Sep 2018 Conference on Complex Systems (CCS)
Thessalokini, GR. Talk: Quantifying spatial heterogeneity through random walks.
Jun 2018 International Conference on Network Science (NetSci)
Paris, FR.
May 2018 Network Micro-structures Workshop
London, UK.
Apr 2018 The Second King’s Workshop on Random Graphs and Random Processes
London, UK.
Jan 2018 Next Generation Network Analytics
London, UK.
Sep 2016 DACAS Summer school on Understanding Urban Transformations through Data
Manchester, UK. Talk: Public transportation as a complex network.
Jun 2016 DACAS/ICTP Workshop on Modelling of Urban Systems
Sao Paulo, BR.
Mar 2016 Workshop on Agent-Based Modelling for Social Sciences
Sao Paulo, BR.
Sep 2015 Complex Systems Digital Campus ’15 – World
e-Conference. Talk: Empirical analysis and modeling of urban public transport network of Sao Paulo.
Sep 2015 School on Complex Networks and Applications to Neuroscience
Sao Paulo, BR.