Paweł Sobkowicz

Senior Researcher

Professor of physical sciences. In the years 1982-1993, he worked at the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, specializing in the theory of semiconductors, where he obtained a doctoral degree in physics, based on semiconductor theory.

From 1993 to 2012 he worked in the commercial sector as a member of the management team in several high-tech companies, both foreign and leading Polish IT companies. As part of these tasks, he managed sales teams, marketing, and the overall functioning of companies, including processes related to customer acquisition, implementation of solutions, innovative solutions, as well as administrative tasks (HR, financial planning, etc.).

In 2009, he began research on the application of physics to describe complex social phenomena, which resulted in many publications and a habilitation obtained at the Warsaw University of Technology. Author of over 70 scientific papers (all in English), cited over 2250 times, Hirsch index 23 (according to Google Scholar). He obtained the habilitation degree for research achievements carried out outside official research institutions. In 2022 he has been awarded the full professor title, based on his works on application pf physics to understanding of social issues, including opinion dynamics, origins and spread of hate and misinformation and the growth of polarization.

In June 2012 joined the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) to activate the process of technology transfer and commercialization. He managed the Świerk Science and Technology Park project, and then he was its first Director. In 2017-2019, he held the post of Deputy Director of the National Center for Nuclear Research for Innovation and Implementation.

The experience gained over almost 20 years of work in commercial companies includes both practical skills in managing teams, financial planning and sales management, as well as understanding the decision-making process in market companies. This is necessary for effective cooperation between research units and entrepreneurs. This knowledge is complemented by an understanding of the methods, uncertainties and limitations inherent in research processes and the mechanisms of science in practice.

Between 2019 and 2025, he was the Director for Scientific Operations of the NOMATEN MAB Center of Excellence – one of the four original Polish winners of the prestigious Teaming for Excellence competitions of the Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe program and the MAB PLUS grant of the Foundation for Polish Science.

Main Publications relevant to the current research proposal (post 2008):

Sobkowicz, P. (2009). Modelling opinion formation with physics tools: call for closer link with reality. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation , 12 (1), 11

Sobkowicz, P. (2010b). Effect of leader’s strategy on opinion formation in networked societies with local interactions. International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC) , 21 (6), 839-852. doi: 10.1142 / S0129183110015518

Sobkowicz, P. & Sobkowicz, A. (2010). Dynamics of hate based Internet user networks. The European Physical Journal B , 73 (4), 633-643. doi: 10.1140 / epjb / e2010-00039-0

Sobkowicz, P. (2011b). Simulations of opinion changes in scientific communities. Scientometrics, 87(2), 233–250.

Sobkowicz, P., Thelwall, M., Buckley, K., Paltoglou, G. & Sobkowicz, A. (2013). Lognormal distributions of user post lengths in Internet discussions — a consequence of the Weber-Fechner law? EPJ Data Science, 2, 2.

Sobkowicz, P., Kaschesky, M. & Bouchard, G. (2012c). Opinion mining in social media: Modeling, simulating, and forecasting political opinions in the web. Government Information Quarterly, 29, 470–479. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2012.06.005

Sobkowicz, P. (2012b). Discrete Model of Opinion Changes Using Knowledge and Emotions as Control Variables. PLOS One , 7 (9), e44489. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0044489

Sobkowicz, P. (2013b). Quantitative agent based model of user behavior in an Internet discussion forum. PLOS One , 8 (12), e80524. doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0080524

Sobkowicz, P. (2015a). Extremism without extremists: Deffuant model with emotions. Frontiers in Physics, 3 , 17. doi: 10.3389 / fphy.2015.00017

Sobkowicz, P. (2016). Quantitative Agent Based Model of Opinion Dynamics: Polish Elections of 2015. PloS One, 11(5), e0155098.

Sobkowicz, P. (2018). Opinion dynamics model based on cognitive biases. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 21(4), 8. doi:10.18564/jasss.3867

Wojcieszak, M., Sobkowicz P., Yu X., Bulat B., 2021. What Information Drives Political Polarization? Comparing the Effects of In-group Praise, Out-group Derogation, and Evidence-based Communications on Polarization. The International Journal of Press/Politics, p.19401612211004418.

Sobkowicz, P. Frank R. H., Biondo A. E. Pluchino A., Rapisarda A.., (2020). Inequalities, chance and success in sport competitions: simulations vs empirical data. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 557, p.124899.

Sobkowicz, P. & Sobkowicz, A., (2021). Agent based model of anti-vaccination movements: simulations and comparison with empirical data. Vaccines, 9(809).

Sobkowicz, P. (2020) Whither Now, Opinion Modelers? Frontiers in Physics 8, 587009.

Zappalà, C., Pluchino, A., Rapisarda, A., Biondo, A. E. & Sobkowicz, P. (2022) On the role of chance in fencing tournaments: An agent-based approach. PLoS ONE 17, e0267541.

Sobkowicz, P. (2022) Hammering with the telescope. Frontiers Artif Intell 5, 1010219 (2022).

Sobkowicz, P. (2023). Social Depolarization and Diversity of Opinions—Unified ABM framework Entropy 25, no. 4: 568. https://doi.org/10.3390/e25040568