What type of information might we extract from social networks? Luís Rocha, lead researcher of the “Complex Adaptive Systems and Computational Biology” group at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science, debates the ways in which the type of information shared over social networks might serve to build up correlations, identify patterns and discover trends. This also extends to consideration as to the ways in which information shared via such networks alters our behaviours and, finally, our individuality.

Luís Rocha divides his time as a researcher between the Gulbenkian Institute of Science (IGC) and Indiana University, in the US. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Higher Technical Institute of Lisbon in 1990 before doing his doctoral degree in Computational Science and Systems at the State University of New York. In 2004, he joined Indiana University, where he is currently a tenured professor of Information and Cognitive Science. In 2010, he established the IGC research group that focuses upon the field of complex systems.