Research team

BOBOC Loredana is a MSc student currently studying “Environmental physics and ecological polymers” at the Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics for her thesis in nuclear structure “Level scheme investigation of the neutron-rich 84Br nucleus”. Her main research interests are the causes and environmental impacts of climate change. For a more detailed research activity, please consult Loredana Boboc’s CV, available here.

BONDAR Florin, PhD, has 20 years of experience, both as a practitioner and as an academic, in fields such as public policy and public administration reform, but also several related topics (regulatory impact assessment, strategic planning, institutional development). As a practitioner, he worked for 4 years as policy expert in central Romanian public administration (General Secretariat of the Government), being assigned the elaboration of policy formulation procedures and the implementation of an institutional framework to support the introduction of a policy approach in Romanian central public administration. He is the co-author of the first officially adopted set of procedures for policy formulation at the central level of Romanian public administration (Regulatory Impact Assessment). As an academic, Mr. Bondar holds a bachelor’s degree in political philosophy, a master degree in Public Policy, both at the University of Bucharest, as well as a PhD in political sciences obtained at National School for Political and Administrative Studies in Bucharest. The topic of its PhD thesis is the institutional development process of Romanian public administration during pre- and post- accession in EU. For a more detailed research activity, please consult Florin BONDAR’s CV, available here.

Publications

  • Moraru, A., Bondar, F., & Alexandru, V. (2019) Manual de politici publice. Institutul pentru politici publice & Asociatia Municipiilor din Romania, Bucharest (available in Romanian here)
  • Bondar, F. (2014) Quality of government and decentralization in Romania. International Review of Social Research 4(1): 5-25 (Available here)

DIMA Mihai graduated from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Bucharest and the Faculty of Cybernetics of the Academy of Economic Studies. He was a Humboldt Scholar at the University of Bremen and the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Research, Bremerhaven, Germany. In 2013 he was elected president of the National Council for Scientific Research in Romania, and in 2016 he was Secretary of State for Scientific Research and Innovation. He is currently a professor at the Faculty of Physics and the director of the Interdisciplinary School of Doctoral Studies at the University of Bucharest. For a more detailed research activity, please consult Mihai Dima’s CV, available here.

Publications (most recent)

  • Dima, M., Nichita, D.R., Lohmann, G., Ionita, M., Voiculescu M. (2021). Early-onset of Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation weakening in response to atmospheric CO 2 concentration. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science 4(1): 1-8 (Available here)
  • Ionita, M., Dima, M., Nagavciuc, V., Scholz, P., Lohmann, G. (2021). Past megadroughts in central Europe were longer, more severe and less warm than modern droughts. Communications Earth & Environment 2(1): 1-9 (Available here)
  • Ionita-Scholz, M., Dima, M., Nagavciuc, V., Scholz, P., Lohmann, G. (2020). Components of past cold mega-droughts and modern warm dry events in central Europe could interfere constructively in the future. EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, 7159 (Available here)
  • Vaideanu, P., Dima, M., Pirloaga, R., Ionita, M. (2020). Disentangling and quantifying contributions of distinct forcing factors to the observed global sea level pressure field. Climate Dynamics 54(3): 1453-1467 (Available here)

GHIȚĂ Cristina-Maria, PhD, is a sociologist with nearly 14 years of professional experience in quantitative methods, having covered the entire research cycle, e.g., designing survey methodologies, crafting questionnaires, performing probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling, data curation and analysis, weighting procedures, preparing and presenting empirical findings and research reports. Has worked as a quantitative researcher and quantitative research director in one of the largest Romanian independent public opinion and market research agencies (IMAS Marketing and Polls), conducting social, political and marketing surveys for approximately 500 different local or international beneficiaries, among which: The US State Department, UNDP, UNICEF, World Bank Group, University of Warsaw, The Agency of Governmental Strategies in Romania, The National Institute of Scientific Research in the Field of Work and Social Protection. More recently, Mrs. Ghiță has worked as an open source data analyst, on projects combining classic quantitative methods with social network analysis. Mrs. Ghiță holds a PhD in Sociology obtained at the University of Bucharest, with a thesis on the paradox of well-being.

Publications (most recent):

  • Hâncean, M. G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Oană, I., Bunaciu, D. A., Stoica, A. A., & Ghiţă, M. C. (2022). Occupations and their impact on the spreading of COVID-19 in urban communities. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-12 (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Ghiță, M.-C., Perc, M., Lerner, J., Oană, I., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A, Bunaciu, D.A. (2022). Disaggregated data on age and sex for the first 250 days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bucharest, Romania. Sci Data 9, 253  (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Ghiță, M.-C., Bunaciu, D., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A. (2021). The role of age in the spreading of COVID-19 across a social network in Bucharest. Journal of Complex Networks – Oxford University Press, 9(4): cnab026 (Available here)

HÂNCEAN Marian-Gabriel, PhD, Hab., director of the COSMOS project, is a quantitative sociologist and network data scientist who conducts research in the areas of social networks and organizational studies. He is full professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Bucharest, and PhD supervisor in sociology. His current empirical research is focused on: (1) the antecedents and consequences of collaboration networks in science, (2) the implications of migration networks on the circulation of remittances, and (3) the impact of human mobility flows on the spread of COVID-19. He uses a quantitative method framework as well as R packages for statistical modeling. Methodologically, he is interested in the application of statistical models for networks of time-stamped multi-actor events. His papers have been published by Field Methods, Scientific Data (Nature), Scientific Reports (Nature), Royal Society Open Science, Scientometrics, Plos ONE, Journal of Complex Networks. He sits in the editorial boards of the Journal of Social Structure (edited by Carnegie Mellon University), the Human Dynamics Social Networks (a journal edited by Frontiers) and International Review of Social Research (a Scopus journal). He is member of the International Network for Social Network Analysis and The Romanian Sociologists Society. He received the best paper in social sciences award from the University of Bucharest (2017) and Professor Bologna distinction (2017) from the National Alliance of Romanian Student Organizations. Further details on his activity are available here.

Publications (most recent)

  • Lerner, J., & Hâncean, M. (2022). Micro-level network dynamics of scientific collaboration and impact: Relational hyperevent models for the analysis of coauthor networks. Network Science, 1-31. (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M. G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Oană, I., Bunaciu, D. A., Stoica, A. A., & Ghiţă, M. C. (2022). Occupations and their impact on the spreading of COVID-19 in urban communities. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-12 (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Ghiță, M.-C., Perc, M., Lerner, J., Oană, I., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A, Bunaciu, D.A. (2022). Disaggregated data on age and sex for the first 250 days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bucharest, Romania. Sci Data 9,253 (Available here)
  • Lubbers, M., Molina, J.L., Hâncean, M.-G. (2022). Short take: Sampling from transnational social fields. Field Methods (Sage). (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Perc, M., Gheorghiță, A., Vega Yon, G.-G., Mihăilă, B.-E. (2022). The formation of political discussion networks. Royal Society Open Science 9(1): 211609 (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Ghiță, M.-C., Bunaciu, D., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A. (2021). The role of age in the spreading of COVID-19 across a social network in Bucharest. Journal of Complex Networks – Oxford University Press, 9(4): cnab026 (Available here) 
  • Hâncean M-G, Lubbers MJ, Molina JL (2021). Measuring transnational social fields through binational link-tracing sampling. PLoS ONE 16(6): e0253042 (Available here)
  • Lerner, J., & Hâncean, M.-G. (2021). Micro-level network dynamics of scientific collaboration and impact: relational hyperevent models for the analysis of coauthor networks (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Slavinec, M., & Perc, M. (2021). The impact of human mobility networks on the globalspread of COVID-19. Journal of Complex Networks – Oxford University Press 8(6): 1-14 (Available here) 
  • Hâncean, M., Perc, M. & Lerner, J. (2021). The coauthorship networks of the most productive European researchers. Scientometrics – Springer Nature 126: 201 – 224 (2021). (Available here) 
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Perc, M. & Lerner, J. (2020). Early spread of COVID-19 in Romania: imported cases from Italy and human-to-human transmission networks. Royal Society Open Science, 7(7): 200780 (Available here)

OANĂ Iulian has a PhD in Sociology, from the Doctoral School of Sociology, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest. His main fields of interests are social network analysis and scientometrics as frameworks for understanding various phenomena – from the analysis of social interactions and their effects to scientific collaboration and its outputs. Within the COSMOS project, his interests are in researching collaboration networks on the COVID-19 scientific literature and the impact of social networks on human behavior regarding acceptance of different policies and vaccination acceptance. For a more detailed research activity, please consult Iulian Oană’s CV, available here.

Publications (most recent)

  • Hâncean, M. G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Oană, I., Bunaciu, D. A., Stoica, A. A., & Ghiţă, M. C. (2022). Occupations and their impact on the spreading of COVID-19 in urban communities. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-12 (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Ghiță, M.-C., Perc, M., Lerner, J., Oană, I., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A, Bunaciu, D.A. (2022). Disaggregated data on age and sex for the first 250 days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bucharest, Romania. Sci Data 9, 253  (Available here)
  • Oană, I. (2019). Network effects on rhythms of scientific publications. International Review of Social Research 8 (2): 143 – 155 (Available here)

MIHĂILĂ Bianca-Elena is a PhD candidate in Sociology, at the Doctoral School of Sociology, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest. Her main focus is related to scientometrics, questioning how transnational co-authorship influences the academic impact of researchers. She is also interested in migration studies, in particular how migrants are acquiring job opportunities by being embedded in transnational social networks. She is focusing more on quantitative methodology, together with social statistics and social networks analysis (both sociocentric and egocentric). She is currently the Editor-in-Chief for IRSR (International Review of Social Research) Journal and works for the Evaluation, Monitoring and Public Policy office of University of Bucharest. For a more detailed research activity, please consult Bianca Mihăilă’s CV, available here. 

Publications (most recent)

  • Hâncean, M.-G., Ghiță, M.-C., Perc, M., Lerner, J., Oană, I., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A, Bunaciu, D.A. (2022). Disaggregated data on age and sex for the first 250 days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bucharest, Romania. Sci Data 9,253  (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Perc, M., Gheorghiță, A., Vega Yon, G.-G., Mihăilă, B.-E. (2022).  The formation of political discussion networks. Royal Society Open Science 9(1): 211609 (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Ghiță, M.-C., Bunaciu, D., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A. (2021). The role of age in the spreading of COVID-19 across a social network in Bucharest. Journal of Complex Networks – Oxford University Press, 9(4): cnab026 (Available here) 
  • Mihăilă, E.-B. (2019). The impact of transnational co-authorship on the scientific quality of academic researchers. International Review of Social Research, 8(2): 129 – 142 (available here).

NICHITA Denis is MSc student studying “Theoretical and Computational Physics” at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics. He holds a bachelor of science degree for his thesis with the title “From Nuclear Structure Theory to Climate Physcs – a multidisciplinary study”. He is currently working on emergent geometry and wave-function-first approaches to quantum gravity. For a more detailed research activity, please consult Denis Nichita’s CV, available here.

Publications (most recent)

  • Șerban, A. G., Nichita, D. R., Negrea, D., & Băran, V. V. (2021). Structure of the quartetting ground state of N= Z nuclei. The European Physical Journal A, 57(1), 1-7. (available here)

STOICA Adelina-Alexandra is a PhD candidate at Doctoral School of Sociology, University of Bucharest. Her research is focused on the impact of social networks on COVID-19 pandemic and homophily co-authorship networks. Another research interest is the application of social networks in organizational studies. She is currently one of the editors of the International Review of Social Research Journal. For a more detailed research activity, please consult Adelina Stoica’s CV, available here.

Publications (most recent)

  • Hâncean, M. G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Oană, I., Bunaciu, D. A., Stoica, A. A., & Ghiţă, M. C. (2022). Occupations and their impact on the spreading of COVID-19 in urban communities. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-12 (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Ghiță, M.-C., Perc, M., Lerner, J., Oană, I., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A, Bunaciu, D.A. (2022). Disaggregated data on age and sex for the first 250 days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bucharest, Romania. Sci Data 9,253  (Available here)
  • Hâncean, M.-G., Lerner, J., Perc, M., Ghiță, M.-C., Bunaciu, D., Mihăilă, B.E., Stoica, A.A. (2021). The role of age in the spreading of COVID-19 across a social network in Bucharest. Journal of Complex Networks – Oxford University Press, 9(4): cnab026 (Available here) 
  • Stoica, A.A. (2019). Homophily in co-authorship networks. International Review of Social Research 8(2): 119-128 (Available here)