Network Inequality and Fairness Group

We’re excited to share a new paper from Jan Bachmann, Samuel Martin-Gutierrez, Lisette Espín-Noboa, Nicola Cinardi, and Fariba Karimi, published in Scientific Reports! 🎉

The team introduces PATCH, a network growth model that combines three classic linking mechanisms — preferential attachment, triadic closure, and homophily — to understand how they jointly produce network inequality. Their simulations show homophily and preferential attachment both drive segregation and degree inequality, but triadic closure works differently: it increases overall degree inequality while actually reducing segregation and between-group disparities. The team demonstrates PATCH’s power using fifty years of Physics and Computer Science collaboration and citation networks, showing how the interplay of these mechanisms explains the fields’ persistent gender disparities.

📖 Read the paper — Scientific Reports, 16, 13461 (2026)
💻 Explore the code

Image by Public Domain Vectors on Unsplash