Victor Buendía Ruiz-Azuaga

Postdoc (Italian RTDA)

Bocconi University, Milan

Email: vbuendiar at onsager dot ugr dot es

Google Scholar profile

Mastodon: @vbuendiar (FediScience)

Academic Twitter: @vbuendiar

Small bio

Hi! I am from Granada, a small city in the south of Spain. There I studied Physics and developed an interest in numerical simulation and Statistical Mechanics. For this reason, I moved to Mallorca, where I did my Master in Physics of Complex Systems at the Institute for Complex Systems and Cross-Disciplinary Physics. I worked under the supervision of Manuel Matías and Ricardo Martínez in the modeling of bacterial populations. My PhD was done with Miguel A. Muñoz, in Granada and Raffaella Burioni, in the University of Parma, in Italy. During these years I worked on criticality and phase transitions in the brain; in particular, on the idea that the brain might be posed at the edge of synchronisation, performing both analytical and numerical simulations. Afterwards I immediately joined the group of Anna Levina, in Tübingen, Germany, to start working more closely to data and experiments --although still from the theoretical side. Here I worked with reservoir computers, plasticity rules, and modelling of in-vitro dynamics of neuronal networks. From 2024, I work as a RTDA researcher (similar to a "non-tenured assistant professor") at the Bocconi University in Milan. I do really like coding simulations, making efficient code and doing math. My main research is the application of dynamical systems, stochastic processes and non-equilibrium phase transitions to understand neuronal dynamics in complex networks. I usually apply these tools to link neuronal structure and function, and to understand the role of dynamics in cortical computations. I do love playing and writing music, as well as playing videogames. Recently I have been very into traditional music from around the world, although I'm always open to any nice jam.

Research Jobs

Education

(Click for details)

I did my PhD in co-supervision between the universities of Granada (Spain) and Parma (Italy), with Miguel Ángel Muñoz and Raffaella Burioni, respectively.

My thesis, Synchronous and asynchronous dynamics in Neuroscience: a Statistical Physics approach is publicly available and received the cum laude qualification from both Universities. It also received a mention in the 'Giovanni Paladin' award for best thesis in Statistical Physics in Italy.

I studied my Master Degree in the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC), which is affiliated to the University of the Balearic Islands and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). I obtained a mark of 9.42 over 10, being top of my promotion. I got several honor mentions during the courses.


My Master Thesis was done under the supervision of Manuel Matías (IFISC) and Ricardo Martínez (University of Princeton), proposing and studying a model of bacterial growth mediated by quorum sensing. You can read it here.

I studied a 4-years 240 ECTS degree in Physics at the University of Granada (UGR), obtaining a mark of 8.20 over 10. I also obtained honor mentions in all subjects related to numerical simulation and statistical physics during the degree.


My Final Degree work was done under the supervisision of Elvira Romera and Manuel Calixto (UGR). In this work I analyzed the quantum phase transitions in a 2-state bosonic model.

I have assisted to the following schools for graduate students:
  • Beg Rohu Summer School on Theoretical Physics, June 2021
  • Summer School in Computational and Theoretical Models in Neuroscience, Venice, September 2019
  • School and Workshop on Patterns of Synchrony: Chimera States and Beyond, Trieste, May 2019
  • GEFENOL Summer School on Statistical Physics of Complex Systems, IFISC, June 2016
  • Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships: July of 2016, working with Manuel Matías at IFISC in individual-based models for bacterial growth. This evolved into my Master Thesis later.
  • CNB V Introduction to Research: September 2017: just after finishing my M.Sc. I was one month in the National Biotechnology Center, in Madrid, working at Susanna Manrubia's lab This was the beginning of my first publication.
  • Microbial Studies through 16S amplicon sequencing (Granada, 2020)
  • Inference and learning: a statistical perspective (Granada, 2018)
  • PhD course: Complex systems: dynamics, networks and collective behaviour in Physics, Neuroscience, and Systems Biology (Parma, 2018)
  • Science OutReach Techniques (Granada, 2017)
  • Python for Science and Technical Computing (Granada, 2016)
  • History of Physics (Granada, 2016)

Recognition and awards

  1. Special Mention in the ’Giovanni Paladin’ award to the best Ph.D. thesis of Italy in Statistical Physics, Awarded by the Italian National Society of Statistical Physics.

Research Interests

Collective Behaviour in Neurocience

Theoretical Ecology

Biodiversity

Applications of Statistical Field Theory

Mathematical basis of Music

Skills

  1. Programming: very profficient with C++ and Python. Currently Julia. Experience with Mathematica. Experience with other languages. Basic ML with Pytorch.
  2. Analytical: Stochastic differential equations, dynamical systems and bifurcation theory, coupled oscillators and synchronization, (quantum) field theory and renormalization group
  3. Tools: Latex, Linux, Git
  4. Other: Videogame and interactive app programming with Godot Engine

List of Publications

  1. Buendía., V. A mesoscopic theory for coupled stochastic oscillators Arxiv preprint (2024)
  2. Vinogradov, O., Giannakakis, E., Buendía, V., et al. Effective excitability captures network dynamics across development and phenotypes Bioarxiv preprint (2024)
  3. Giannakakis, E., Vinogradov, O., Buendía., V. and Levina, A. Recurrent connectivity structure controls the emergence of co-tuned excitation and inhibition. Biorxiv preprint (2023).
  4. Buendía, V.*, Zeraati, R.*, Engel, T., and Levina, A. Topology-dependent coalescence controls scaling exponents in finite networks. Phys. Rev. Res. 6 (2) 02313. (2024)
  5. Pretel, J. Buendía, V., Torres, J.J. and Muñoz, M.A. From asynchronous states to Griffiths phases and back: Structural heterogeneity and homeostasis in excitatory-inhibitory networks Phys. Rev. Res. 6 (2) 02318. (2024)
  6. Yamamoto, H., Spitzner, P. et al., Modular architecture facilitates noise-driven control of synchrony in neuronal networks. Sci. Adv. 9, eade1755 (2023).
  7. Corral, R., Buendía, V., and Muñoz, M. A., The excitatory-inhibitory branching process: a parsimonious view of cortical asynchronous states, excitability, and criticality. Phys. Rev. Res. 4, L042027 (2022).
  8. Buendía, V., Villegas, P., Burioni, R., and Muñoz, M.A., The broad edge of synchronisation :Griffiths effects and collective phenomena in brain networks. Phil. Trans. R. Society A, 380:20200424 (2022).
  9. Buendía, V., Villegas, P., Burioni, R., and Muñoz, M.A. Hybrid-type synchronization transitions: Where incipient oscillations, scale-free avalanches, and bistability live together. Phys. Rev. Res., 3 023224 (2021).
  10. Buendía, V., di Santo, S., Bonachela, J.A., and Muñoz, M.A. Feedback mechanisms for self-organization to the edge of a phase transition. Front. in Phys. 8:333 (2021).
  11. Buendía, V., di Santo, S., Villegas, P., Burioni, R., and Muñoz, M.A. Self-organized bistability and its possible relevance for brain dynamics. Phys. Rev. Res 2 (013318) (2020).
  12. Buendía, V., di Santo, S., Villegas, P., Vezzani, A., Burioni, R., and Muñoz, M.A. Jensen's force and the statistical mechanics of cortical asynchronous states. Sci. Rep. 9, 15183 (2019).
  13. Buendía, V., Muñoz, M.A., Manrubia, S. Limited role of spatial self-structuring in emergent trade-offs during pathogen evolution. Sci. Rep., 8, 12476. (2018).

Participation in Conferences

  • BrainNet Workshop 2023 Stockholm, 2023
  • Young Seminars of the Italian Statistical Physics Society. Virtual, 2022
This is a list of conferences and workshops I have been and contributed with a talk, in chronological order:
  • Bienal de la RSEF, Murcia, 2022
  • II Sifs Conference on Statistical Physics, Parma, 2022
  • Winter Workshop on Complex Systems, Besançon, 2022
  • Conference on Complex Systems, Lyon, 2021
  • International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience,Virtual, 2021
  • Fises Joven'21Virtual, 2021
  • Granada Seminar on Computational and Statistical Physics Granada, 2019
  • School and Workshop on Patterns of Synchrony: Chimera States and Beyond Trieste, 2019
  • Stochastic Models in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Venice, 2018
  • Young Researchers at the Crossroads Workshop Palma de Mallorca, 2016.
And finally this is a list of conferences where I contributed with a poster:
  • CosyneLisbon, 2024
  • Bernstein ConferenceBerlin, 2023
  • CosyneLisbon, 2022
  • Bernstein ConferenceBerlin, 2022
  • Bernstein conference Online, 2021
  • Brain Criticality Conference, Online, 2020
  • FisEs'18 Madrid, 2018
  • XXIII National Conference on Statistical Physics and Complex Systems Parma, 2018
This is a list of conferences and workshops I went, which I did not contribute to
  • Advanced Workshop on Nonequilibrium Systems in Physics, Geosciences, and Life Sciences Trieste, 2018.
  • Crossroads in Complex Systems Palma de Mallorca, 2016.
This is a list of conferences and workshops in which I have involved as organizer:
  • Whole brain dynamics: Modeling and applications Satelite Workshop at the Bernstein Conference, , Organizer, Berlin, 2023
  • XXIII and XXIV National Conferences on Statistical Physics and Complex Systems, as Scientific Secretary. Parma, 2018-2019

Science Outreach Activies

Teaching

  • 2022: 15 hours of Teaching in "Complex Networks Seminars" at the University of Tübingen
  • 2019: 3 CFU credits (30 hours) of Teaching Assitance in "Programazione applicata alla Fisica" at the University of Parma
  • 2019: 3 CFU credits (30 hours) of Teaching Assitance in "Programazione applicata alla Fisica" at the University of Parma
  • 2018: 3 CFU credits (30 hours) of Teaching Assitance in "Laboratori de Metodi Computazionali" at the University of Parma
  • 2018: 12 hours of C++ for Scientific Calculus, given with the Association of Physics Students of the University of Granada
  • Apoorva Vikram Master thesis, Timescale determination in V1 under suppresion of feedback, 2023
  • Anastasios Athanasiadis. Master thesis, Stochastic Bifurcations in Neuroscience, 2022
  • Tina Alija: Bachelor thesis Synchronization dynamics in a hierarchical-modular network, 2022