Chiara Zappalà

Postdoctoral research fellow

Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS)

About Me

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS), where I study success and inequalities within complex social systems. By analyzing data from domains like professional sports and academic publishing, I work to uncover why some people thrive while others face systemic barriers, with a particular focus on the role of gender. When I am not at SODAS, you can usually find me strolling through the parks in Copenhagen with my dog! I am also a huge sports fan, actively following Italian football, fencing, and tennis.

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Interests

Inequality
Success
Network science
Computational social science
Complex systems

Education

PhD in Complex Systems for Physical, Socio-economic and Life Sciences, 2023
University of Catania
MSc in Physics of Complex Systems, 2018
University of Turin
BSc in Physics, 2016
University of Catania

Featured Publications

Inequality

Gender disparities in the dissemination and acquisition of scientific knowledge

In this study, we aim to understand the structural inequality between male and female scholars in the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

Jul 24, 2024

Tennis

Early career wins and tournament prestige characterize tennis players' trajectories

Here, we study the unfolding of tennis players’ careers to understand the role of early career stages and the impact of specific tournaments on players’ trajectories.

Apr 19, 2024

Recent Publications

Chiara Zappalà, Luca Gallo, Jan Bachmann, Federico Battiston, Fariba Karimi (2024). Gender disparities in the dissemination and acquisition of scientific knowledge.

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Luca Gallo, Chiara Zappalà, Fariba Karimi, Federico Battiston (2024). Higher-order modeling of face-to-face interactions.

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Chiara Zappalà, Sandro Sousa, Tiago Cunha, Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, Roberta Sinatra (2024). Early career wins and tournament prestige characterize tennis players' trajectories.

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Chiara Zappalà, Alessio Emanuele Biondo, Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda (2023). The paradox of talent: How chance affects success in tennis tournaments.

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Chiara Zappalà, Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, Alessio Emanuele Biondo, Pawel Sobkowicz (2022). On the role of chance in fencing tournaments: An agent-based approach.

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