01.11.2022Mingwei Wang: Visiting PhD Program Completion

Mingwei Wang has completed his one-year visiting Ph.D. program at the URPP Social Networks research group. Funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) and under the guidance of Prof. Dr. René Algesheimer and Dr. Manuel Sebastian Mariani, Mingwei's research explores human-algorithm interactions. 

Mingwei's most recent research project focuses on "How ranking algorithms and individual choices drive the performance of digital platforms". The motivation comes from the fact that ranking algorithms are essential components for the success of modern digital platforms such as e-commerce and social media platforms. Mingwei's research introduces a general-purpose agent-based modeling framework where platform-level variables are emergent properties of the entangled human-algorithm dynamics. His results demonstrate how user-level, product-level, and algorithm-level properties simultaneously affect multiple platform-level variables of interest, including the platform’s revenues, efficiency, and diversity. 

Mingwei returned to China to defend his Ph.D. in management science and engineering at the School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. In the meantime, he will continue to collaborate closely with the UZH research team. 

On behalf of the entire team, we wish Mingwei all the best in his Ph.D. completion and professional endeavors.