About networks

Networks are part of our everyday lives, yet scientific research in this field has only begun not too long ago. As we said, networks are part of our everyday lives...

• In the morning, when we get up and wash our faces, or drink a glass of water (plumbing network)
• Of course we would first switch on the light, or the coffee machine (electricity network)
• We might want to phone into work, telling our colleagues we will be late (phone network)
• Once in the workplace, we will most probably check emails and the latest news on the internet (!)
• Our colleagues are gossiping about cutbacks and redundancies (information network)
• We have to pay our bills to service providers, who in turn transfer our money to their suppliers (financial network)
• Finally, on our way home, we try to find an escape route to get away from the traffic jam... or better still, when we look for connecting flights for our holiday (traffic network)

What is network research?

Within any network, we can find endpoints (e.g. people, companies, airports, clients, news, etc.) and certain connections between these endpoints (e.g. communication between colleagues, contracts between companies etc.). With network research, we analyse these social, biological, business, plumbing etc. networks using graph-theory or network-theory. Through network research, we can identify the centre points of the network, and also its main characteristics. We are able to utilize the findings and knowledge-base of mathematics, sociology and psychology during this process.