Manuel Pita

Manuel Pita is an Assistant Professor in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Complex Systems at CICANT (ULHT, Portugal) and Associate Researcher in the Complex Systems group at ISTAR (ISCTE-IUL, Portugal). His research is on the interplay between individual and collective behaviours in complex networks (or how do individuals and collectives shape each other). Was awarded a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science by the University of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) in 2007 and pursued postdoctoral training with Prof. Luís Rocha (Indiana University, USA) and Prof. Melanie Mitchell (Portland State University, USA). He is the principal investigator in a project that studies the driver factors of collective states in the online social conversations of young secondary school students in Portugal. This knowledge is to be used to support the public administration in the design of ethical educational interventions to improve critical thinking, reflexive behaviours and foster quality in group conversations - thus counteracting phenomena such as hate speech, polarisation, and dissemination of fake news. Manuel is also involved in research on the theory of complex systems and on the use ambient intelligence/IoT for human well-being.