For my SoBigData++ Transnational Access visit, I spent one month in Pisa working on evolutionary game theory and higher-order network science at CNR-ISTI. The main purpose of my TNA experience was to begin a new project studying the emergence of cooperation in group interactions. In this project, the goal is to develop models of temporally evolving group interactions (using hypergraphs) that are changing according to rules based on the dynamics of evolutionary games.

In particular, while in Pisa I took the first step in this project by implementing an adaptive version of the snowdrift game. In this game, we imagine that there is a snowdrift blocking a street, and a group of people that would like to remove the snowdrift. Each player decides on a strategy, either as a cooperator, who will share in the cost of removing the snowdrift, or a defector, who will benefit from the removal of the snow without sharing in the cost. In the Adaptive Simplicial game, there are interactions of different sizes and these interactions evolve over time based on rules for rewiring randomly, which can lead to interesting higher-order dynamics and interaction structures. These higher-order patterns will be the subject of our future research in this area.

During my visit to CNR-ISTI, I benefited from interesting discussions on a wide variety of topics with researchers and other visitors. In particular, I shared my work on modelling higher-order patterns on sequential data, as well as encapsulation patterns in hypergraph data, and through these discussions I found potential new collaborations that will undoubtedly be beneficial to my work and career.

Outside of my research work, I also spent time exploring the city of Pisa and all it has to offer, including many long walks along the Arno. I had an amazing lunch at Trattoria Da Stelio and spent an afternoon in Marina di Pisa enjoying the seaside views and cafes. 

Finally, I took in extraordinary views while hiking Monte Sagro and visited nearby places in Tuscany including Livorno (where I ate great seafood at Melafumo), Lucca (where I also gave a research seminar in the IMT Lucca Networks unit), and Viareggio (where we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at the Drunken Sailor Pub with the musical stylings of the aptly named Drunken Willow band).

My TNA visit to Pisa was a great experience that I highly recommend for other researchers whose interests align with those working at CNR-ISTI or other SoBigData++ institutions. Not only was it a successful scientific visit, but it was also a great opportunity to visit and learn about the culture and history of Pisa and wider Tuscany.