Dr. Cristian Candia leads the Master’s Program in Data Science at Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile. His research is anchored in the Data Science Institute within the School of Engineering, and in the Center for Social Complexity in the School of Government. As the innovator behind Lixandria, a complex network-based tool for recommending degree programs, and discolab, a platform dedicated to exploring constitutional texts with AI, Dr. Candia stands at the forefront of technological advancements in computational social science. His academic influence extends to his position as an external faculty member at the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University.

Having a diverse academic background, Cristian held a postdoctoral position in Computational Social Science at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. His Ph.D. research on social complexity was conducted at the Center for Social Complexity at Universidad del Desarrollo, at the MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at the Center for Complex Networks Research at Northeastern University. He earned his Master of Science in Physics, Bachelor of Science in Physics, and Physics Engineering professional title from Universidad de Concepción, Chile.

Cristian’s area of expertise lies at the intersection of big data analysis and human behavior theories as they relate to socioeconomic systems. Currently, he is focused on computational social science and network science, particularly in areas such as collective intelligence, hate speech dynamics, business and learning analytics, cooperative learning, higher education decision-making, collective memory, and experimental game theory.

With a passion for using data to drive solutions, Cristian leads a FONDECYT project on Collective Memory and a FONDEF project on data-driven decision-making for higher education, both funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and sponsored by the Ministry of Education in Chile. His background in physics, social complexity science, and data analysis uniquely positions him to drive impactful research and innovation.

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