Simone Mariano

Research Fellow at Université Grenoble Alpes  (Grenoble, France) 

Bio

I was born in Torre del Greco (NA, Italy) in 1995. I got my Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy, and my Master's degree in Mechatronic Engineering from Unvierstà degli Studi di Trento, Italy, in 2017 and 2019, respectively.  I obtained my Ph.D. (conducted under the supervision of Romain Postoyan and Luca Zaccarian) in Control Theory from Université de Lorraine in 2023.  Furthermore, I have been a research fellow at University of Melbourne under the supervision of Michael Cantoni, and I am currently a research fellow at Université Grenoble Alpes under the supervision of Paolo Frasca.

Postdoc Project Résumé

My postdoctoral project explores how recommendation systems can be designed not just to maximize engagement, but to shape online interaction responsibly and predictably. Using tools from control theory, I study the feedback loop between algorithms and users’ opinions, with the goal of understanding when recommendation mechanisms stabilize collective behavior and when they instead fuel polarization, instability, or other harmful dynamics. 

At its core, the project aims to bring mathematical clarity to one of the central challenges of digital platforms: designing recommendation algorithms that are effective yet socially and dynamically well-behaved. 

Founding: ANR-22-CE380017-01