Anna Zafeiris

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Eötvös Loránd University

Papers

Total Citations

2,932

H-Index

About

Anna Zafeiris is a leading researcher in the physics of complex systems, with a primary focus on collective behavior and the dynamics of social groups. Her most celebrated contribution is the highly influential paper "Collective motion" (2012), which has garnered over 2,800 citations and serves as a cornerstone in the study of how individuals coordinate without central control. This work, co-authored with Tamás Vicsek, explores the fundamental principles behind flocking, swarming, and crowd dynamics, bridging statistical physics and biology. Zafeiris also made a significant impact with her study "Group performance is maximized by hierarchical competence distribution" (2013), which demonstrates that the most effective teams are not necessarily those with the highest average skill, but those with a clear, competence-based hierarchy. This finding has profound implications for organizational theory and network science. Her research elegantly combines theoretical modeling with empirical data, offering deep insights into the emergence of order from individual interactions. Zafeiris’s work is essential reading for anyone interested in the physics of life, social dynamics, and the hidden rules that govern collective intelligence.