Agnese Barbensi

Agnese Barbensi is a Lecturer in Mathematics within the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Queensland. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Pisa in Italy, followed by a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Her postdoctoral research was conducted first at Oxford and subsequently at the University of Melbourne in Australia, before she took up her current lecturing position at UQ. Barbensi describes herself as an applied and computational topologist, with her work driven by real-life problems. Her research explores how geometric shape influences behavior in natural systems, spanning biological and physical contexts.

Barbensi’s research interests encompass applied and computational knot theory, Topological Data Analysis, computational topology, hypernetwork theory, and the study of knotted polymers and proteins. She has published extensively in high-impact journals, including Nature Communications ("The topological properties of the protein universe", 2025), Science Advances ("Grid diagrams as tools to investigate knot spaces and topoisomerase-mediated simplification of DNA topology", 2020), Physics Reports ("Topology in soft and biological matter", 2024), Journal of the Royal Society Interface ("Homology of homologous knotted proteins", 2023), and Communications in Analysis and Geometry ("Double branched covers of knotoids", 2022). Other significant contributions include "Topological optimal transport for geometric cycle matching" (Journal of Applied and Computational Topology, 2025), "The Reidemeister graph is a complete knot invariant" (Algebraic and Geometric Topology, 2020), "f-distance of knotoids and protein structure" (Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 2021), "Topologically directed simulations reveal the impact of geometric constraints on knotted proteins" (Macromolecules, 2025), and "An exploration of low crossing and chiral cosmetic bands with grid diagrams" (Experimental Mathematics, 2026). She has also developed GridPyM, a Python module to handle grid diagrams (Journal of Software for Algebra and Geometry, 2024). In recognition of her contributions, she received the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for the project "Mapping the topology of polymer folding: knots, geometry and data" (2026-2028). At UQ, she lectures courses including Advanced Calculus and Linear Algebra, Discrete Mathematics II, and Reading Course in Knot Theory (MATH6006), and serves as an associate advisor for PhD students in efficient algorithms in three-dimensional topology.

Professional Email: a.barbensi@uq.edu.au