Uppsala Lectures in Business 2025: Brian Uzzi
- Date
- 30 September – 1 October 2025
- Location
- Ekonomikum, Lecture hall 1
- Type
- Lecture
- Lecturer
- Brian Uzzi
- Organiser
- Department of Business Studies
- Contact person
- Johanna Norberg
The 2025 Uppsala Lectures in Business speaker is Brian Uzzi, Professor of Leadership at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
Programme
Tuesday 30 September, 15.15–16.30
LECTURE I: Evidence of a Universal Lexicon for Communicating Innovative Ideas in Science
Abstract: Converting science into innovations frequently depends on a researcher’s ability to effectively convey the merits of new ideas. This communication process is especially crucial for success in grant funding, publishing, and patenting. Nevertheless, the scientific study of the importance of communicating the merits of good ideas is nascent. In this presentation, I report on semantic analyses of grant applications, peer review, and patenting with a focus on scientific promotional language, which purportedly conveys an innovative idea’s originality and significance. I find that that promotional language is strongly associated with receiving grants, publishing, and patenting, suggesting a generalizable result with broad implications for science and business. Promotional language also works differently with reviewers who have different levels of expertise, closing the evaluation gap found between reviewers with high and low expertise.
Wednesday 1 October, 13.15–14.30
LECTURE II: Conditions favoring who gets the Media, the Medal, or the Marginalization in Science
The lectures will be held in English. No pre-registration is required.
Short bio Brian Uzzi
Brian Uzzi is the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He also is Co-Director of the Northwestern University Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) and The Ryan Institute on Complexity (RIC), and a professor in sociology and the McCormick School of Engineering.
Brian’s work focuses on the link between social networks and human achievement and the role of AI in mind + machine partnerships.
Brian has been awarded over 30 teaching and research prizes worldwide in sociology, management, ecology, and computer science, is a Network Science Society Fellow, a recipient of the Euler Award, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He has been on the faculties of Harvard, INSEAD, University of Chicago, and Berkeley and his widely cited research has been funded by DARPA, NSF, and other foundations. He consults for companies and governments worldwide.
Before entering science, Brian worked as a carpenter and a musician. His PhD is from Stony Brook University in sociology.
About Uppsala Lectures in Business
Uppsala Lectures in Business is a series of lectures that has been arranged annually by the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University since 1984. About Uppsala Lectures in Business.