Max Falkenberg

I am a cross-disciplinary researcher based in the Department of Mathematics at City, University of London. I completed my PhD in the Physics of Complex Systems at Imperial College London under the supervision of Professor Kim Christensen. I am currently part of the IRIS Academic Coalition studying Infodemics, working primarily with Dr Andrea Baronchelli.

I am actively seeking research fellowships starting late 2022 / early 2023.

Please get in touch if you have any relevant opportunities!

My research focuses on computational social science with a particular interest in complex systems and networks approaches to understanding human behaviour. In a nutshell, my research aims to uncover the structural aspects of information flow between individuals, and how these structures inhibit or enhance the spread of societal beliefs. When I am not doing work others care about, I enjoy studying issues related to the stationarity of network growth.

I have published 10 peer-reviewed papers (8 as first author, 1 as senior) including in Nature Climate Change, Physical Review E, Physical Review Research, Communications Physics, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and elsewhere. My first author research has been covered extensively in the media including in The Guardian, The Times (who also commissioned me to carry out additional analysis), The Spectator, Folha de Sao Paolo in Brazil, RAI TV in Italy and on BBC World Service Radio.

In a previous life, I used complex systems approaches to study the evolution of cardiac arrhythmias, and dabbled in modelling the pitfall-trap construction of antlion larvae, a predatory insect. Away from my academic work, I have written articles on science-driven policy for a political think-tank and on climate misinformation for the LSE climate blog. I also spent three months as a policy analyst working in the Houses of Parliament for the EFRA Select Committee. I am generally very keen on getting scientists more involved with politics.