Agnese Barbensi

I am an applied and computational topologist; my research is motivated and inspired by real life problems. My main focus is on understanding how shape influences behaviour, which is a common theme arising in the study of many natural systems. I have done my bachelor and master in Pisa (Italy), and my PhD and first postdoc in Oxford (UK). I then moved to Melbourne for my second postdoc, before starting my position at UQ. Applied and computational knot theory, Topological Data Analysis, Computational topology, (Hyper)network theory, Knotted polymers

[2026] An exploration of low crossing and chiral cosmetic bands with grid diagrams. Barbensi, Agnese, Celoria, Daniele, Ktenidis, Christopher, Ichihara, Kazuhiro, Jong, In Dae and Teragaito, Masakazu (2026). An exploration of low crossing and chiral cosmetic bands with grid diagrams. Experimental Mathematics. doi: 10.1080/10586458.2025.2595007 [2025] Topologically directed simulations reveal the impact of geometric constraints on knotted proteins. Barbensi, Agnese, Klotz, Alexander R. and Gkountaroulis, Dimos (2025). Topologically directed simulations reveal the impact of geometric constraints on knotted proteins. Macromolecules, 58 (24), 13204-13211. doi: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5c01073 [2025] The topological properties of the protein universe. Madsen, Christian D., Barbensi, Agnese, Zhang,