Oxford Internet Institute

Cohen is a Research Fellow and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute and a Research Fellow at Nuffield College. He is a sociologist specialising in the quantitative study of human social networks, focusing in particular on the determinants of network formation.

Currently, Cohen is investigating the relative importance of oft-discussed mechanisms of tie formation (e.g., reciprocity vs. transitivity vs. homophily) with respect to how individuals’ preferences for ties under various conditions are shaped by cultural context. Empirically, this work uses a novel assemblage of datasets documenting complete or virtually complete face-to-face friendship networks from five rural communities in India, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Nicaragua.

Cohen received his PhD in Social Research Methods (Applied Social Statistics) from the London School of Economics & Political Science (Department of Methodology) and before joining the LSE he completed a MSc in Social Science of the Internet here at the OII as a Clarendon Scholar. Prior to joining the OII’s faculty, he was a post-doc in the Department of Sociology here at Oxford and the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.

Social Networks Seminar Series

Cohen convenes a seminar series on social networks on Tuesdays in the even weeks of each term at 5PM in the Butler Room at Nuffield College. The seminar is concerned with the analysis of diverse social networks, for example those representing friendship amongst children, strategic alliances amongst firms, interactions on social media platforms or informal finance and risk sharing in rural communities. Individuals from all disciplines are welcome. And those who are interested in presenting their research (inclusive of empirical applications, methodological advancements and theoretical developments) should send Cohen an expression of interest. For a schedule of talks this term, please see the Nuffield events page.

Research interests

social networks, mathematical sociology & quantitative methodology, organisational sociology, economic sociology

Positions held at the OII

• Research Fellow, January 2018 –
• British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, January 2018 – January 2021
• MSc student, October 2011 – September 2012