Sylvain FONTAINE

Research topics

• Computational social science
• Complex systems
• Complex networks and social network analysis, big data
• Science studies, sociology of science, scientometrics
• Innovation studies
• Sociotechnical systems and artificial intelligence

On a PhD thesis in sociology

• Provisional title: The epistemic impact of artificial intelligence in scientific research: diffusion models and transformation of scientific work,
• Supervision: Floriana Gargiulo, Michel Dubois and Paola Tubaro,
• Attached doctoral school: Concepts and Language (ED433),
• Funding: PhD grant within the framework of the Mission for Transversal and Interdisciplinary Initiatives of the CNRS (EpiAI 2021-2024 project).

Publications

• Gargiulo, F., Fontaine, S., Dubois, M., Tubaro, P. (2022) A meso-scale cartography of  the AI ecosystem. Accepted in Quantitative Science Studies. Available preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.12263
• Mullick, P., Fontaine, S., Appert-Rolland, C., Olivier, A.-H., Warren, W. H., Pettré, J. (2022). Analysis of emergent patterns in crossing flows of pedestrians reveals an invariant of ‘stripe’ formation in human data. PLOS Computational Biology. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010210
• Schawe, H., Fontaine, S., Hernández, L. (2021). When network bridges foster consensus. Bounded confidence models in networked societies. Phys. Rev. Research 3, 023208. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.023208

Communications

• September 2023 : 3rd Symposium on Artificial Intelligence for Industry, Science and Society (AI2S2). Animation of a workshop on the cartography of AI in science, and of a little experiment on the public perception of AI,
• July 2023: International Conference on Computational Social Science at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). Title: “A pattern of  diffusion of artificial intelligence in science: The development of an AI scientific specialty in neuroscience”,
• June 2023: French Regional Conference on Complex Systems at Le Havre Normandie University. Title: “A pattern of  diffusion of artificial intelligence in science: The development of an AI scientific specialty in neuroscience”. Part of the FRCCS award abstract nominees,
• October 2022: SCAI PhD Workshop on Artificial Intelligence at Sorbonne University. Title: “The spreading of artificial intelligence in science: The neuroscience case”,
• June 2022 : French Regional Conference on Complex Systems at Île-de-France Complex Systems Institute:
  • “Flash talk” (5min) about “The spreading of artificial intelligence in science: The neuroscience case”,
  • 15 minutes talk about “Meso-scale composition & interdisciplinary diffusion of Artificial Intelligence” (with F. Gargiulo et P. Tubaro),
• May 2022: “Flash talk” (4min) at the thematic school Complex Networks: Theory, Methods, and Applications organized by the Lake Como School of Advanced Studies of the Fondazione Alessandro Volta (Como, Italy). Title: “A scientometric study of the diffusion of AI technologies in science: The neuroscience case”,
• March 2022: short talk for the “Sociology of sciences and techniques” lectures in the last year of the master degree of Contemporary Sociology (Research track) at Sorbonne University. Title: “Artificial intelligence, a socio-technical system”.

Teaching activities

• January to May 2022: “Applied Social Networks” course in the first year of the master degree of Contemporary Sociology at Sorbonne University (theoretical introduction to social network analysis and tutorials on Gephi and Python + organization of a small talks session with researchers)

Other activities in the lab

• Co-organizer of the lab seminar for the academic years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024,
• Co-organizer of the lab doctoral day (2022 edition)

Education

• 2020-2021: Last year of the master degree of Contemporary Sociology at Sorbonne University,
• 2017-2020: Bachelor and Master degrees of Fundamental Physics within the “Magistère” track of Paris-Saclay University. Specialty of the master degree: Physics of Complex Systems,
• 2015-2017: University preparatory class “Reinforced Scientific Studies” (intensive track), University of Nantes.