Research

Exploring boundaries:
advancing data science at the intersection of disciplines

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Latest publications

Data ScienceHealth
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The relative contribution of close-proximity contacts, shared classroom exposure and indoor air quality to respiratory virus transmission in schools

Nicolas Banholzer, James Daniel Munday, Philipp Jent, Pascal Bittel, Lorenzo Dall’Amico, Lavinia Furrer, Charlyne Bürki, Tanja Stadler, Matthias Egger, Tina Hascher, Ciro Cattuto, Lukas Fenner
Nature Communications (2025)
Data ScienceNetwork Science
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Time-space dynamics of income segregation in the city of Milan

Lavinia Rossi Mori, Vittorio Loreto, Riccardo Di Clemente
PNAS Nexus4, Issue 9, (2025)
Data Science

Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems

Gregory F. Albery, Daniel J. Becker, Josh A. Firth, Delphine De Moor, Sanjana Ravindran, Matthew J. Silk, Amy R. Sweeny, Eric Vander Wal, Quinn Webber, Bryony Allen, Simon A. Babayan, Sahas Barve, Mike Begon, Richard J. Birtles, Theadora A. Block, Barbara A. Block, Janette E. Bradley, Sarah Budischak, Christina Buesching, Sarah J. Burthe, Aaron B. Carlisle, Jennifer E. Caselle, Ciro Cattuto, Alexis S. Chaine, Taylor K. Chapple, Barbara J. Cheney, Timothy Clutton-Brock, Melissa Collier, David J. Curnick, Richard J. Delahay, Damien R. Farine, Andy Fenton, Francesco Ferretti, Laura Freyrer, Helen R. Fielding, Vivienne Foroughirad, Celine Frere, Michael G. Gardner, Eli Geffen, Stephanie S. Godfrey, Andrea L. Graham, Phil S. Hammond, Maik Henrich, Marco Heurich, Paul Hopwood, Amiyaal Ilany, Joseph A. Jackson, Nicola Jackson, David M. P. Jacoby, Ann-Marie Jacoby, Miloš Ježek, Lucinda Kirkpatrick, Alisa Klamm, James A. Klarevas-Irby, Sarah Knowles, Lee Koren, Ewa Krzyszczyk, Jillian M. Kusch, Xavier Lambin, Jeffrey E. Lane, Herwig Leirs, Stephan T. Leu, Bruce E. Lyon, David W. Macdonald, Anastasia E. Madsen, Janet Mann, Marta Manser, Joachim Mariën, Apia Massawe, Robbie A. McDonald, Kevin Morelle, Johann Mourier, Chris Newman, Kenneth Nussear, Brendah Nyaguthii, Mina Ogino, Laura Ozella, Craig Packer, Yannis P. Papastamatiou, Steve Paterson, Eric Payne, Amy B. Pedersen, Josephine M. Pemberton, Noa Pinter-Wollman, Serge Planes, Aura Raulo, Rolando Rodríguez-Muñoz, Lauren Rudd, Christopher Sabuni, Sah Pratha, Robert J. Schallert, Ben C. Sheldon, Daizaburo Shizuka, Andrew Sih, David L. Sinn, Vincent Sluydts, Orr Spiegel, Sandra Telfer, Courtney A. Thomason, David M. Tickler, Tom Tregenza, Kimberley VanderWaal, Sam Walmsley, Eric L. Walters, Klara M. Wanelik, Hal Whitehead, Elodie Wielgus, Jared K. Wilson-Aggarwal, Caroline Wohlfeil, Shweta Bansal
Nature Ecology & Evolution9, (2025)
Computational Social ScienceData Science
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Beyond Sentiment: Examining the Role of Moral Foundations in User Engagement with News on Twitter

Jacopo D’Ignazi, Kyriaki Kalimeri, Mariano Gastón Beiró
Websci ’25: Proceedings of the 17th ACM Web Science Conference 2025 315-325 (2025)
Data ScienceHealth
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Comparative evaluation of behavioral epidemic models using COVID-19 data

Nicolò Gozzi, Nicola Perra, Alessandro Vespignani
PNAS122 (24) e2421993122, (2025)
Health
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Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children and adolescents: insights from an Italian paediatric cohort using a machine-learning approach

Stefania Fiandrino, Daniele Donà, Carlo Giaquinto, Piero Poletti, Michael Davis Tira, Costanza Di Chiara, Daniela Paolotti
BMJ Public Health3(1), e001888 (2025)
Computational Social Science
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Too Little, Too Late: Moderation of Misinformation around the Russo-Ukrainian Conflict

Gautam Kishore Shahi, Yelena Mejova
ACM Web Science Conference (WebSci) 2025 379-390 (2020)
Data ScienceSustainable Development
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Garbage in garbage out? Impacts of data quality on criminal network intervention

Wang Ngai Yeung, Riccardo Di Clemente, Renaud Lambiotte
EPJ Data Science14, 37 , (2025)
Data ScienceSustainable Development
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The role of science in the climate change discussions on Reddit

Paolo Cornale, Michele Tizzani, Fabio Ciulla, Kyriaki Kalimeri, Elisa Omodei , Daniela Paolotti, Yelena Mejova
PLoS Cimate4(5), e0000541 (2025)
Data ScienceHealth
PDF ↓

The relative contribution of close-proximity contacts, shared classroom exposure and indoor air quality to respiratory virus transmission in schools

Nicolas Banholzer, James Daniel Munday, Philipp Jent, Pascal Bittel, Lorenzo Dall’Amico, Lavinia Furrer, Charlyne Bürki, Tanja Stadler, Matthias Egger, Tina Hascher, Ciro Cattuto, Lukas Fenner
Nature Communications (2025)
Data ScienceNetwork Science
PDF ↓

Time-space dynamics of income segregation in the city of Milan

Lavinia Rossi Mori, Vittorio Loreto, Riccardo Di Clemente
PNAS Nexus4, Issue 9, (2025)
Data Science

Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems

Gregory F. Albery, Daniel J. Becker, Josh A. Firth, Delphine De Moor, Sanjana Ravindran, Matthew J. Silk, Amy R. Sweeny, Eric Vander Wal, Quinn Webber, Bryony Allen, Simon A. Babayan, Sahas Barve, Mike Begon, Richard J. Birtles, Theadora A. Block, Barbara A. Block, Janette E. Bradley, Sarah Budischak, Christina Buesching, Sarah J. Burthe, Aaron B. Carlisle, Jennifer E. Caselle, Ciro Cattuto, Alexis S. Chaine, Taylor K. Chapple, Barbara J. Cheney, Timothy Clutton-Brock, Melissa Collier, David J. Curnick, Richard J. Delahay, Damien R. Farine, Andy Fenton, Francesco Ferretti, Laura Freyrer, Helen R. Fielding, Vivienne Foroughirad, Celine Frere, Michael G. Gardner, Eli Geffen, Stephanie S. Godfrey, Andrea L. Graham, Phil S. Hammond, Maik Henrich, Marco Heurich, Paul Hopwood, Amiyaal Ilany, Joseph A. Jackson, Nicola Jackson, David M. P. Jacoby, Ann-Marie Jacoby, Miloš Ježek, Lucinda Kirkpatrick, Alisa Klamm, James A. Klarevas-Irby, Sarah Knowles, Lee Koren, Ewa Krzyszczyk, Jillian M. Kusch, Xavier Lambin, Jeffrey E. Lane, Herwig Leirs, Stephan T. Leu, Bruce E. Lyon, David W. Macdonald, Anastasia E. Madsen, Janet Mann, Marta Manser, Joachim Mariën, Apia Massawe, Robbie A. McDonald, Kevin Morelle, Johann Mourier, Chris Newman, Kenneth Nussear, Brendah Nyaguthii, Mina Ogino, Laura Ozella, Craig Packer, Yannis P. Papastamatiou, Steve Paterson, Eric Payne, Amy B. Pedersen, Josephine M. Pemberton, Noa Pinter-Wollman, Serge Planes, Aura Raulo, Rolando Rodríguez-Muñoz, Lauren Rudd, Christopher Sabuni, Sah Pratha, Robert J. Schallert, Ben C. Sheldon, Daizaburo Shizuka, Andrew Sih, David L. Sinn, Vincent Sluydts, Orr Spiegel, Sandra Telfer, Courtney A. Thomason, David M. Tickler, Tom Tregenza, Kimberley VanderWaal, Sam Walmsley, Eric L. Walters, Klara M. Wanelik, Hal Whitehead, Elodie Wielgus, Jared K. Wilson-Aggarwal, Caroline Wohlfeil, Shweta Bansal
Nature Ecology & Evolution9, (2025)
see all publications ↗

At ISI Foundation, fundamental and applied research is carried out with an interdisciplinary, problem-driven approach. The scientific activity of the Foundation focuses on the frontiers of data science, computational modeling and their impact on society, integrating ideas and tools from multiple interrelated fields that span Complex Systems Science, Network Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Computational Social Science.

The Foundation stands as a crossroads of disciplines and expertise, advocating for the exchange and integration of knowledge and embracing an approach that transcends, by design, established disciplinary boundaries.

ISI Foundation facilitates and supports dialogues between data owners (industry, public administration, citizens), knowledge actors, and impact stakeholders (global agencies, public administration, nonprofits), fostering collaborative efforts to uncover knowledge and design innovative solutions for outstanding challenges in public health and sustainable development.

The researchers of the Foundation pursue their own path of inquiry with broad freedom, exploring the subject areas and topics they deem most promising to tackle the complex challenges of our times.

Computational Social Science

Health

Network science

Sustainable development

Other fields

respicast

sustainable development

Scientists at ISI Foundation investigate problems where quantitative knowledge has the potential to positively impact society. This includes leveraging both conventional and unconventional data sources to identify societal challenges, and employing a combination of mathematical modeling and artificial intelligence to conceptualize various scenarios and drive effective policies. Focus areas include, but are not limited to, public health, inequality and poverty, gender equality, humanitarian response, the quality of democracy, the future of cities, human mobility, and the various facets of sustainable development.

Each of these impact directions is daunting and requires access to relevant domain expertise. To this end, the Foundation leverages its institutional and professional network to weave collaborations and partnerships to access relevant datasets and domain expertise, and to direct its research along directions that matter. Capitalizing on its culture of rigorous mathematical modeling of complex systems, the Foundation aims at producing explainable research output, to better support responsible and inclusive decision-making.

Related Projects

Verdi Hero

VERDI

VERDI – SARS-coV2 variants Evaluation in pRegnancy and paeDIatrics cohorts
Stamina Hero

STAMINA

STAMINA develops an intelligent decision support toolset for pandemic prediction and management and demonstrates its use by practitioners at national and regional levels within and across EU borders.
Icarus

ICARUS – Aviation-driven Data Value Chain for Diversified Global and Local Operations

ICARUS will build a novel data value chain in the aviation-related sectors towards data-driven innovation and collaboration across currently diversified and fragmented industry players, acting as multiplier of the “combined” data value that can be accrued, shared and traded, and rejuvenating the existing, increasingly non-linear models  processes in aviation.
Progetto Senza Titolo

COLINE – Complex Links of Neighbourhoods 

As cities seek to move away from car dependence and towards more sustainable urban living, the need for amenity-rich, walkable, and accessible neighborhoods is greater than ever.  COLINE – Complex Links of Neighbourhoods is at the forefront of rethinking urban spaces by integrating architectural, mobility, and economic considerations into a comprehensive, data-driven approach to urban planning. Inspired by the 15-Minute City framework and supported by the EU Partnership’s Driving Urban Transition (DUT) initiative, COLINE is pioneering new ways to understand and shape cities that are livable, inclusive, and climate-conscious. Through collaborations with Budapest, Copenhagen, Toulouse, Turin, and Vienna, COLINE is developing cutting-edge tools that combine location-based mobile phone data with AI-driven urban perception analysis. By mapping neighborhood amenity compositions, tracing visits, and analyzing multimodal mobility patterns, the project aims to diagnose accessibility, social integration, commuting, and the resilience of neighbourhoods at a fine spatial resolution.
Influweb Hero

Influenzanet & Influweb

Influenzanet is a system designed to monitor the activity of influenza-like-illness (ILI) with the aid of volunteers via the Internet.
Evogames Hero

EvoGamesPlus

Evolutionary games and population dynamics: from theory to applications

Gender and Urban Mobility: Addressing Unequal Access to Urban Transportation for Women and Girls

Mobility, or the extent to which one can reach a desired destination, is one of our most basic needs. Access to mobility is also a prerequisite toward human development and having access to equal opportunities. As such mobility is a complex, gendered issue that requires a multidimensional, data-driven approach to fully unpack and offer insights on the way forward for decision-makers.
Gleamviz

GLEAMviz

The global epidemic and mobility model, Gleam, combines real-world data on populations and human mobility with elaborate stochastic models of disease transmission to deliver analytic and forecasting power to address the challenges faced in developing intervention strategies that minimize the impact of potentially devastating epidemics.

Data Collaboratives

The term data collaborative refers to a new form of collaboration, beyond the public-private partnership model, in which participants from different sectors — including private companies, research institutions, and government agencies — can exchange data to help solve public problems. In the coming months and years, data collaboratives will be essential vehicles for harnessing the vast stores of privately held data toward the public good.
Verdi Hero

VERDI

VERDI – SARS-coV2 variants Evaluation in pRegnancy and paeDIatrics cohorts
Stamina Hero

STAMINA

STAMINA develops an intelligent decision support toolset for pandemic prediction and management and demonstrates its use by practitioners at national and regional levels within and across EU borders.
Icarus

ICARUS – Aviation-driven Data Value Chain for Diversified Global and Local Operations

ICARUS will build a novel data value chain in the aviation-related sectors towards data-driven innovation and collaboration across currently diversified and fragmented industry players, acting as multiplier of the “combined” data value that can be accrued, shared and traded, and rejuvenating the existing, increasingly non-linear models  processes in aviation.
Progetto Senza Titolo

COLINE – Complex Links of Neighbourhoods 

As cities seek to move away from car dependence and towards more sustainable urban living, the need for amenity-rich, walkable, and accessible neighborhoods is greater than ever.  COLINE – Complex Links of Neighbourhoods is at the forefront of rethinking urban spaces by integrating architectural, mobility, and economic considerations into a comprehensive, data-driven approach to urban planning. Inspired by the 15-Minute City framework and supported by the EU Partnership’s Driving Urban Transition (DUT) initiative, COLINE is pioneering new ways to understand and shape cities that are livable, inclusive, and climate-conscious. Through collaborations with Budapest, Copenhagen, Toulouse, Turin, and Vienna, COLINE is developing cutting-edge tools that combine location-based mobile phone data with AI-driven urban perception analysis. By mapping neighborhood amenity compositions, tracing visits, and analyzing multimodal mobility patterns, the project aims to diagnose accessibility, social integration, commuting, and the resilience of neighbourhoods at a fine spatial resolution.
Influweb Hero

Influenzanet & Influweb

Influenzanet is a system designed to monitor the activity of influenza-like-illness (ILI) with the aid of volunteers via the Internet.
Evogames Hero

EvoGamesPlus

Evolutionary games and population dynamics: from theory to applications

Gender and Urban Mobility: Addressing Unequal Access to Urban Transportation for Women and Girls

Mobility, or the extent to which one can reach a desired destination, is one of our most basic needs. Access to mobility is also a prerequisite toward human development and having access to equal opportunities. As such mobility is a complex, gendered issue that requires a multidimensional, data-driven approach to fully unpack and offer insights on the way forward for decision-makers.
Gleamviz

GLEAMviz

The global epidemic and mobility model, Gleam, combines real-world data on populations and human mobility with elaborate stochastic models of disease transmission to deliver analytic and forecasting power to address the challenges faced in developing intervention strategies that minimize the impact of potentially devastating epidemics.

Data Collaboratives

The term data collaborative refers to a new form of collaboration, beyond the public-private partnership model, in which participants from different sectors — including private companies, research institutions, and government agencies — can exchange data to help solve public problems. In the coming months and years, data collaboratives will be essential vehicles for harnessing the vast stores of privately held data toward the public good.
see all projects ↗

Computational and mathematical modeling for envisioning a better future

The Foundation’s approach is deeply rooted in the mathematical modeling culture derived from statistical physics and complex systems science. It integrates ideas and modern methods from data science, network science, and artificial intelligence. These combined skills facilitate the development of new ways to understand the progression of socio-technical systems. Integrating heterogeneous data layers into computational frameworks, the foundation focuses on the assessment of the impact of decisions and policies, which are instrumental in shaping strategies for improved societal outcomes.

Central to the ISI Foundation culture is the creation of models that are both explainable and transparent to support decision-making in the face of uncertainty and complex relations between decisions and outcomes.

Public Health

Health is a crucial domain where the effectiveness of research directly impacts collective societal well-being. Through its initiatives, the ISI Foundation has emerged as an international reference for the study and modeling of epidemics and pandemics and for devising effective policy responses. Its pioneering expertise is centered on computational and digital epidemiology, along with the design and development of comprehensive disease monitoring and forecasting tools. These tools are adopted by European and global health agencies, including the European Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.

Related Projects

siesta

SIESTA

Secure Interactive Environments for SensiTive data Analytics

AWaRe 1

A Global Low- and Middle-Income Country Primary Care (PC) Antimicrobial Stewardship Trial using the WHO AWaRe system
Influcast Hero

InfluCast

Influcast forecasts the evolution of influenza-like-illnesses by aggregating predictions from multiple models  
Respicast Hero

RespiCast

European Respiratory Diseases Forecasting Hub (RespiCast)
Escape Hero

ESCAPE

Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Verdi Hero

VERDI

VERDI – SARS-coV2 variants Evaluation in pRegnancy and paeDIatrics cohorts

COVID-19 Real Time Epidemiology I-DAIR Pathfinder

COVID-19 Real Time Epidemiology I-DAIR Pathfinder is an interdisciplinary project funded by the Botnar Foundation 
Stamina Hero

STAMINA

STAMINA develops an intelligent decision support toolset for pandemic prediction and management and demonstrates its use by practitioners at national and regional levels within and across EU borders.
Canp Hero

CANP – Casa Nel Parco

CANP will investigate and devise advanced analytics and artificial intelligence techniques on top the development of an integrated ICT platform to harmonise data collection from heterogeneous sources ranging from medical IoT sensors and behavioural data to electronic health records.

Epydemix

Epydemix is an open-source Python package designed for flexible, modular, and data-driven epidemic modeling.

PIPELINE

Pregnancy and Infant PrEparedness pLatform IN Europe
Influweb Hero

Influenzanet & Influweb

Influenzanet is a system designed to monitor the activity of influenza-like-illness (ILI) with the aid of volunteers via the Internet.

EpiPose

Epidemic intelligence to minimize COVID-19’s public health, societal and economical impact.  
Pandem Hero

PANDEM-2

Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Gleamviz

GLEAMviz

The global epidemic and mobility model, Gleam, combines real-world data on populations and human mobility with elaborate stochastic models of disease transmission to deliver analytic and forecasting power to address the challenges faced in developing intervention strategies that minimize the impact of potentially devastating epidemics.
Periscope Hero

Periscope

Pan-European Response to the Impacts of COVID-19 and future Pandemics and Epidemics
siesta

SIESTA

Secure Interactive Environments for SensiTive data Analytics

AWaRe 1

A Global Low- and Middle-Income Country Primary Care (PC) Antimicrobial Stewardship Trial using the WHO AWaRe system
Influcast Hero

InfluCast

Influcast forecasts the evolution of influenza-like-illnesses by aggregating predictions from multiple models  
Respicast Hero

RespiCast

European Respiratory Diseases Forecasting Hub (RespiCast)
Escape Hero

ESCAPE

Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Verdi Hero

VERDI

VERDI – SARS-coV2 variants Evaluation in pRegnancy and paeDIatrics cohorts

COVID-19 Real Time Epidemiology I-DAIR Pathfinder

COVID-19 Real Time Epidemiology I-DAIR Pathfinder is an interdisciplinary project funded by the Botnar Foundation 
Stamina Hero

STAMINA

STAMINA develops an intelligent decision support toolset for pandemic prediction and management and demonstrates its use by practitioners at national and regional levels within and across EU borders.
Canp Hero

CANP – Casa Nel Parco

CANP will investigate and devise advanced analytics and artificial intelligence techniques on top the development of an integrated ICT platform to harmonise data collection from heterogeneous sources ranging from medical IoT sensors and behavioural data to electronic health records.

Epydemix

Epydemix is an open-source Python package designed for flexible, modular, and data-driven epidemic modeling.

PIPELINE

Pregnancy and Infant PrEparedness pLatform IN Europe
Influweb Hero

Influenzanet & Influweb

Influenzanet is a system designed to monitor the activity of influenza-like-illness (ILI) with the aid of volunteers via the Internet.

EpiPose

Epidemic intelligence to minimize COVID-19’s public health, societal and economical impact.  
Pandem Hero

PANDEM-2

Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Gleamviz

GLEAMviz

The global epidemic and mobility model, Gleam, combines real-world data on populations and human mobility with elaborate stochastic models of disease transmission to deliver analytic and forecasting power to address the challenges faced in developing intervention strategies that minimize the impact of potentially devastating epidemics.
Periscope Hero

Periscope

Pan-European Response to the Impacts of COVID-19 and future Pandemics and Epidemics
see all projects ↗

Lagrange Project

Lagrange Laboratory

CRT Foundation, a co-founding partner and main funder of the institute, supports the work of ISI Foundation through a targeted initiative, the Lagrange Project, that comprises research, training and community building actions. The research and innovation component of the Lagrange Project is the Lagrange Laboratory and is organized in four broad interdisciplinary areas: Computational and Digital Epidemiology, Computational Social Science, Data for Social Impact and Sustainability, Complex Systems and Data Science.

learn more ↗
Horizon Europe

European Projects

An active role in research, innovation, and collaboration

ISI Foundation takes part in many collaborative projects supported by the European Commission’s competitive funding frameworks for research and innovation, and it is the recipient of targeted tenders by European agencies. Over the course of the last decade, the partnership network of the Foundation has comprised more than 150 partners across most EU countries, creating a lasting network of exchanges that has brought many of those partner institutions to visit the city of Turin, and has provided young researchers with international career opportunities.

Related Sections

Education

Research grants, European projects, university collaborations: ISI Foundation’s initiatives for a high-level training network.

Community

From the international scientific network to the link with the nonprofit world, ISI Foundation is an active hub between universities, companies, and institutions—committed to facilitating processes of change.