Vyacheslav W. Polonski

Researcher, University of Oxford

Vyacheslav studies complex social networks, human dynamics and technology adoption. His research at the Oxford Internet Institute is located at the intersection of sociology, big data and social network analysis.

He has previously studied at Harvard University, University of Oxford and the LSE. He is currently working towards a DPhil/PhD in Computational Social Science at the Oxford Internet Institute. Earlier this year, his research received the Kellogg College Community Engagement and Academic Merit Award. In 2013, he was awarded the MSc degree with Distinction in the Social Sciences of the Internet from Oxford University. He also obtained the BSc degree with Distinction in Management from LSE in 2012.

Vyacheslav was funded by the German National Academic Foundation which is Germany’s largest and most prestigious funding body. He has also been a recipient of scholarships by the Stelios Foundation, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation and the ESRC. In 2011, the British Council named Vyacheslav one of the UK’s most distinguished International Students of the Year, and in 2012, he won the Future Business Leader of the Year award by TARGETjobs. In 2016, Real Leaders Magazine featured him as one of 100 Visionary Leaders Under 30 alongside the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai.

Prior to his academic career, Vyacheslav was a management consultant with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, and worked on digital strategy projects with Rocket Internet, Mars and Bertelsmann. In addition to that, he was selected for the 2012 cohort of Entrepreneur First.

Vyacheslav is actively involved in the World Economic Forum and its New Champions communities. He was named a Global Shaper by the Forum and elected to serve as Curator of the Oxford Hub. In 2015 and 2017, he was a speaker at the WEF Annual Meeting of the New Champions in China. Recognising his work in network science, he was selected as an Advisor for the WEF Interaction Excellence Initiative and the premier WEF Expert Network on Behavioural Change, Science and Technology.

His research and commentary have been featured in the media, including in the New York Times, Bloomberg, BBC, Newsweek, Forbes, Fortune, Euronews and TechCrunch.