2 September 2026 - Peter Hedström
Peter Hedström is one of the founders of analytical sociology and an influential proponent of mechanism-based explanation in the social sciences. Founder and former director of the Institute for Analytical Sociology at Linköping University, he is a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and Academia Europaea, and past president of the European Academy of Sociology.
9 September 2026 - Petri Ylikoski
Petri Ylikoski is a leading philosopher of science whose work has been central to clarifying the nature of mechanisms, explanation, and theory building in the social sciences. Professor of Sociology (Science and Technology Studies) at the University of Helsinki, he has played a key role in developing the philosophical foundations of analytical sociology and mechanism-based research, and is widely sought after for his contributions to the philosophy of the social sciences more broadly.
5 October 2026 (Monday) - Peter Bearman
Peter Bearman is one of the world's foremost network sociologists, the Jonathan R. Cole Professor of Social Science at Columbia University and founding Director of its INCITE Institute. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine, he is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow and the 2025 recipient of the Kohli Prize for Sociology, and his co-design of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was awarded the 2016 Golden Goose Prize.
14 October 2026 - Damon Centola
Damon Centola is a leading scholar of social networks, diffusion, and behavior change. The Elihu Katz Professor of Communication, Sociology and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, he was named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow and has received the Goodman Prize for Outstanding Contributions to Sociological Methodology and the James Coleman Award for Outstanding Research in Rationality and Society, recognizing his transformative work on "complex contagions."
28 October 2026 - Michael Macy
Michael Macy is one of the pioneers of computational social science and agent-based modeling and a leading analytical sociologist. The Goldwin Smith Professor of Arts and Sciences in Sociology at Cornell University and director of its Social Dynamics Laboratory, his research have demonstrated how large-scale social patterns emerge from simple interactions among individuals, helping establish simulation as a core tool in analytical sociology and shaping a generation of scholars in the field.
4 November 2026 - Diego Gambetta
Diego Gambetta is internationally renowned for his work on trust, signaling, reputation, and cooperation. Carlo Alberto Chair at the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin and an Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, he is a Fellow of the British Academy whose research, ranging from the sociology of organized crime to the logic of strategic communication, has made him one of the most original social theorists of his generation.
11 November 2026 - Duncan Watts
Duncan Watts is one of the founders of modern network science and is widely known for his work on small-world networks, social contagion, and computational social science. The Stevens University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences' 2026 class of new members, and his research has shaped contemporary understandings of collective behavior, social influence, and the dynamics of complex systems.
25 November 2026 - Arnout van de Rijt
Arnout van de Rijt is a leading researcher who combines experiments, computational methods, and sociological theory to study topics such as inequality, status processes, and cumulative advantage. Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, he is President of the International Network of Analytical Sociology and a recipient of the Freeman and Boudon early career awards, recognizing his influential work on how success and recognition become self-reinforcing in social systems.
2 December 2026 - Elizabeth Bruch
Elizabeth Bruch is a leading computational sociologist whose research focuses on inequality, segregation, educational choice, and demographic processes. Professor of Sociology and Complex Systems at the University of Michigan and an External Faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute, she has received the Innovation Prize from the American Sociological Association's Methodology section and the Merton Prize from the International Network of Analytical Sociologists for her work combining large-scale data with formal models.
9 December 2026 - Delia Baldassarri
Delia Baldassarri is a leading analytical sociologist who studies cooperation, political polarization, social networks, and collective action. Julius Silver, Roslyn S. Silver, and Enid Silver Winslow Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at New York University, she is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and a Fellow of the European Academy of Sociology. Her work bridges analytical sociology and political sociology and has been recognized with the Raymond Boudon Award and the Hans L. Zetterberg Prize.
11 December 2026 (Friday) - Gianluca Manzo
Gianluca Manzo is one of the leading analytical sociologists and a major advocate of agent-based modeling as a tool for sociological explanation. Professor of Sociology at Sorbonne University and an international research affiliate at the Institute for Analytical Sociology, he serves as editor of L'Année Sociologique and as president of the International Sociological Association's Rational Choice research committee, with work connecting social theory, computational modeling, and the philosophy of social science.
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