Vincent Buskens

Vincent Buskens is Professor of Theoretical Sociology at the Department of Sociology / ICS, Utrecht University. His current research focuses on formal and informal institutions to mitigate trust relations as well as the dynamics of social networks. To research these questions he applies a wide variety of theoretical and empirical tools including game theory, social simulation, laboratory experiments, vignette experiments, and survey research. Recently, he also did interdisciplinary work with psychologists and epidemiologists.

Publications include: Social Networks and Trust (2002, Kluwer), Dynamics of Networks If Everyone Strives for Structural Holes (with Arnout van de Rijt, 2008, American Journal of Sociology), Rational Choice Social Research on Social Dilemmas: Embeddedness Effects on Trust (with Werner Raub, pp. 113-150 in Rafael Wittek, Tom A.B. Snijders, and Victor Nee (eds.) Handbook of Rational Choice Social Research. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), Testosterone Administration Moderates Effect of Social Environment on Trust in Women Depending on Second-to-Fourth Digit Ratio (with Werner Raub et.al., 2016, Scientific Reports), Advances in the Sociology of Trust and Cooperation (2020, De Gruyter, edited volume, co-edited with Rense Corten en Chris Snijders) and articles in journals as Social Networks, Journal of Mathematical Sociology, Games and Economic Behavior.

Research areas

• Foundations of Complex Systems
• Human-centered Artificial Intelligence
• Institutions for Open Societies (IOS)
• IOS - Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change

Areas of expertise

• Experimental Sociology
• Mathematical Sociology
• Research Methods
• Social Networks
• Game Theory
• Theoretical Sociology