The Role of Network Structure and Link Significance on Evolutionary Dynamics in Biological and Social Systems

by Dr Andreia Sofia Teixeira

Tuesday Sep 23, 2025, 2:30 PM → 3:30 PM Europe/Rome

Aula Vigna

Abstract: Complex systems exhibit evolutionary dynamics through various mechanisms, and this talk explores three distinct approaches to understanding these processes. We begin with large-scale simulations of bacterial population evolution over complex host contact networks using Wright-Fisher dynamics, a neutral drift model, demonstrating how network topology affects genetic diversity and population structure in pathogen evolution. Since phylogenetic trees are obtained from an underlying evolutionary graph with multiple possible paths between ancestral and descendant populations, we also address the fundamental question: how can we evaluate confidence in any specific evolutionary link when multiple pathways exist? We present spanning edge betweenness as a method for assessing the reliability of evolutionary relationships in phylogenetic trees by measuring how critical each edge is to maintaining connectivity across alternative evolutionary paths. Finally, if time allows, we examine how network structure impacts social learning and evolutionary processes in economic settings, specifically studying ultimatum games where agents learn through imitation, based on a fitness function, revealing how network position fundamentally alters the emergence of fairness norms. Together, these studies illustrate different evolutionary principles operating across biological and social domains, each shaped by the structural properties of the systems in which they unfold.

 

 

Bio: Dr. Andreia Sofia Teixeira is an Associate Professor at the Network Science Institute, Northeastern University London, where she leads the BRAN Lab (Behavioral Research and Adaptive Networks). Her research sits at the intersection of Network Science and Machine Learning, developing computational models and simulation frameworks to understand complex systems across biological, social, and mental health domains. She studies collective behavior, neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, and how affective relationships shape our environment. Her work spans computational social sciences, evolutionary dynamics, network neuroscience, computational cognitive sciences, and epidemiology.