Complexity Science Hub

05/09/2025

On 17 September 2025 at 7 PM, join us at the Complexity Science Hub for “Art & Science with Wendelin Pressl: NEOΣ KOΣMOΣ.”

Vienna-based artist Wendelin Pressl will share his new book NEOΣ KOΣMOΣ (published by SCHLEBRÜGGE.EDITOR). His work plays with perception, memory, and imagination—touching on ideas like egocentric worldviews, fake planets, and optical tricks.

He'll be joined by:

▶️ Astrid Kury, art historian and curator (director of Akademie Graz), bringing her insight into interdisciplinary art and cultural dialogues.
▶️ Leonhard Horstmeyer, mathematician and complexity scientist—formerly at CSH—who adds a scientific voice to this artistic exploration.


🗓️ When: 17 September 2025, 7:00 PM
📍 Where: Complexity Science Hub, Metternichgasse 8, 1030 Vienna
💌 RSVP: https://bit.ly/46mk5Jb

04/09/2025

👏 Congratulations to Hillary Vipond of the Complexity Science Hub for being named a finalist for the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize!

Awarded annually by the Economic History Association, the prize honors the best dissertation in non-US economic history. Hillary will present her research this Saturday at the EHA Annual Meeting. We’re proud to see her innovative work recognized on this international stage! 👏

03/09/2025

What an inspiring week it was! ✨

We're still not over the Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop at the Complexity Science Hub last week. Five days of bringing together brilliant minds from , , & — and the results were just mind-blowing.

From thought-provoking talks and lively discussions to unexpected encounters and cross-disciplinary exchanges, the workshop was a true catalyst for creativity. By the end of the week, participants had developed projects that push boundaries, spark new ideas, and blend diverse expertise. We can’t wait to see where these ideas go next!

👏 Huge congratulations to Liuhuaying Yang and Paul Kahn for curating this fantastic workshop.

🙏 Special thanks to guest speakers Julia Janicki, Miriam Quick, Dietmar Offenhuber, Jason Forrest, guest artist Melinda Sipos and CSH scientists Lisette Espín-Noboa and Daniele Barolo for their inspiring contributions.

💡 And of course, a big thank you to all the talented participants—we hope you left with fresh insights, new skills, and lasting connections!

28/08/2025

Meeting Nobel Laureates – not in dreams, but in real life ✨
This week, two young CSH researchers, Johannes Stangl and Jan Hurt, are experiencing exactly that at the 8th Lindau Nobel Meeting in Economic Sciences ..

One highlight so far (captured in the photos below): in a small session, they met Steven Chu, Nobel Laureate in Physics and former U.S. Secretary of Energy (2009–2013) under President Obama, and discussed the Philosophy of Science as well as future energy systems with him 🌟.

Johannes even took the stage at the Welcome session. As someone who always dreamed of becoming a physicist, he can hardly imagine what his 16-year-old self would think now 🤯. Sharing the stage with figures like Mario Draghi and José Barroso and engaging with these distinguished economists throughout the week is a truly humbling and extraordinary experience, he said 🙌 – more: https://shorturl.at/sWvnX

At the meeting, the two won’t just meet 22 Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences but also have the chance to connect with 280 young economists from around the world 🌍. The program combines lectures and panel discussions with more informal opportunities to network, including boat trips 🚤, science walks 🌳, and a traditional Bavarian evening 🍻 – all designed to spark dialogue, collaboration, and new ideas 💡✨.

We hope Johannes and Jan enjoy every moment and wish them a fantastic rest of the meeting 🎉!

For anyone interested, the opening ceremony and many lectures by the Nobel Laureates can be streamed here: https://mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/recordings/42669

🖼️ Christian Flemming (8th Lindau Nobel Meeting in Economic Sciences); private

27/08/2025

This week, we had the great honor of welcoming Elisabeth Zehetner, State Secretary for Energy, Startups, and Tourism at the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, Energie und Tourismus (Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism) 🇦🇹, to the Complexity Science Hub.

The meeting with CSH President Stefan Thurner, CSH Secretary General Philipp Marxgut, and CSH researcher Peter Klimek enabled an in-depth exchange on how understanding complex systems can have wide-ranging benefits for society: from improving healthcare efficiency and advancing personalized medicine 🏥, to identifying vulnerabilities in supply networks 📦, and highlighting the critical importance of data availability 📊.

It was incredibly inspiring to explore so many facets of our research and to connect insights from both and . Thank you for such an engaging and insightful discussion!

25/08/2025

The 3rd Visualizing Complexity Science Workshop is officially underway at the Complexity Science Hub!

Organized by Liuhuaying Yang and Paul Kahn, this year’s edition brings together 37 participants and 6 guests from across the global , , , and communities for a 5-day immersive journey into data visualization.

The week ahead promises inspiring talks, hands-on projects, and plenty of collaboration and exchange. Getting things started was as easy as speed dating -- what better way to spark conversation?

And if you’re part of Vienna’s scientific, artistic, or journalistic scene with a passion for data viz, don’t miss the Dataviz Garden Party! 👉 Register here: https://bit.ly/3HvpLHr

📷 Aashima Dogra-Freitag

22/08/2025

#2 – Future of Work at EFA25
The European Forum Alpbach brings together , , and to tackle Europe’s most pressing — and often highly complex — challenges. That’s why we are particularly happy to contribute insights on several topics this year, including #2 📈

Complexity Science Hub researchers Frank Neffke and Ljubica Nedelkoska guided participants through a week-long seminar exploring how economies grow, transform, and adapt in a rapidly changing world.

🚨 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭?
Understanding economic growth and transformation is key to navigating today’s rapidly changing . Participants explored how economies evolve through learning, diversification, and complexification — and how technological change, from to and the digital and , is reshaping tasks, jobs, and skills.

📌 𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬:
The seminar also examined which jobs and skills are most affected and how societies can adapt to maintain resilience and foster innovation in the workforce.

👐 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞?
The sessions combined cutting-edge research insights with practical exercises, giving participants a hands-on perspective on economic transformation and the forces shaping the future of work.

🖼️ EFA, Philipp Huber

22/08/2025

#1 – Cybercrime at EFA25
The European Forum Alpbach brings together , , and to tackle Europe’s most pressing — and often highly complex — challenges. That’s why we are particularly happy to contribute insights on several topics this year, including #1 🚔

Complexity Science Hub scientist Bernhard Haslhofer and Thomas Goger, Deputy Director of the Bavarian Central Office for the Prosecution of Cybercrime , guided participants through a week-long seminar on modern crimes and cybercrime.

🚨 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭?
Criminals are fast to adopt new technologies, making it essential for law enforcement, research, and industry to move just as quickly. To put this into perspective: According to Europol, Europe suffers an annual loss of around €265 billion, and Gmail alone blocks over 100 million phishing emails every day.

📌 𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬:
The role of artificial intelligence , including technologies and voice cloning, and what they mean for security, society, and institutions.

👐 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞?
The sessions combined expert insights with interactive discussion, giving participants a hands-on perspective on tackling today’s cyber challenges. Participants examined the many faces of cybercrime, from and to -based offenses, and discussed how investigators respond in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

🥾⛰️ And of course, not all fast-moving challenges were digital — some were uphill (see last picture).

____
🖼️ EFA, Andrei Pungovschi; private

22/08/2025

🎥 Our beautiful Palais Springer-Rothschild was featured in on ORF 's .

You can watch it here (in German): https://on.orf.at/video/14287637/15930557/palais-springer-rothschild-zwischen-tradition-und-digitaler-zukunft

In just three minutes, journalist Lisa-Sophie Veits captures the history of the Palais. After being wonderfully restored by Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG), we moved in earlier this year. Philipp Marxgut shares in the segment what makes this building so special for us and our research at the Complexity Science Hub.

For more on its past, Manuela Legen-Preissl from the and Clemens Novak, project manager at BIG, who knows this building like few others, provide insights. Built at the end of the 19th century, the Palais changed hands several times, including being owned by Baron Springer and his wife Valentine Rothschild, whose name it still carries today.

👉 A bit of its history (in English) can also be found on our website: https://csh.ac.at/about-us/contact/

21/08/2025

🫵 Ready to tackle the world’s most complex challenges?
The is looking for candidates eager to apply large-scale data analysis, quantitative models, and complexity science to shed light on pressing global issues – from and to and .

We offer:
👉 Fully funded positions with competitive salary, health insurance, and travel budget
👉 Research exchanges in policy, business, and government
👉 A unique curriculum with master classes and global collaborations

Key info:
📅 Apply by 11 November 2025
ℹ️ Info sessions: 4 Sep • 10:00 | 16 Sep • 17:00 | 2 Oct • 12:00
🌟 Details & application: www.csh.ac.at/education/graduate-program

And here’s another plus: 🎡 – regularly ranked among the world’s most livable cities – blends a rich scientific legacy with cutting-edge innovation. Think coffeehouses ☕🍰, art 🖼️, music 🎻🎛️, architecture 🏰🏢, parks 🌳, vinyards 🍇, and scenic city strolls 🚶🧑‍🦽 – all the inspiration you need for your PhD student life.

👀 A glimpse?
Our Graduate Program in Complexity Science, part of the CSH Digital Innovation School, is now entering its third year. If you want to get a sense of what it’s like, you might want to start with this short interview with Juan Ochoa from last year’s cohort: https://csh.ac.at/news/spotlight-on-juan-ochoa/

Here you can find more interviews with our CSH researchers in the “Spotlight” series: https://csh.ac.at/events-news/news/

———
Members of the Complexity Science Hub are AIT Austrian Institute of Technology | BOKU University | Central European University | IT:U Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria | Medizinische Universität Wien | TU Graz | TU Wien | Universität für Weiterbildung Krems | Vetmeduni | WU (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) | Wirtschaftskammer

This program is made possible thanks to funding from the Bundesministerium für Frauen, Wissenschaft und Forschung and the Bundeskanzleramt Österreich

21/08/2025

🏥 An estimated 300 million people – about 3.6% of the global population – are international migrants. Yet studies consistently show that they access less frequently than native populations, which can lead to delayed treatment and poorer health outcomes.

Researchers at the Complexity Science Hub, together with the Medizinische Universität Wien, investigated whether these patterns also apply in Austria, where roughly 20% of residents do not hold Austrian citizenship. For their study, published in the , they examined around 13 million inpatient hospital stays of 4 million individuals.

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:

📉 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬: People living in Austria without Austrian citizenship have significantly lower hospitalization rates than Austrian citizens, representing only 9.4% of hospital patients and 9.8% of hospital nights. German citizens are an exception.

📈 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬: Non-citizen residents in Austria are more likely to be readmitted within a year following an initial hospital stay.

🚧 𝐏𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬: The combination of lower hospitalizations and higher readmissions suggests that individuals without Austrian citizenship may delay seeking hospital care until illnesses are more advanced, according to study first author Elma Hot Dervic.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭?
Neither the so-called “healthy migrant” effect (for example, the team only compared people of the same age groups) nor cultural factors alone explain these differences, according to the researchers. The findings of the study provide important insights into disparities in among migrant populations, with relevance not only for Austria but also for other countries facing similar challenges.

With Peter Klimek, Ola Ali, Carola Deischinger, Rafael Prieto-Curiel, Rainer Stütz, Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz

🔗 Read the full story: https://csh.ac.at/news/hospital-stays-among-migrants-in-austria-much-lower-than-among-austrians/

This project is co-financed by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Commission

20/08/2025

While in Vienna, CSH resident journalist Will Grimond was fascinated to learn about " ", or neighbourhood oasis made by and for residents to enjoy shared urban life. And he wrote a story about it for The Guardian (featuring Rafael Prieto-Curiel and the Complexity Science Hub): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/14/why-would-you-take-away-a-parking-place-the-city-where-anyone-can-build-an-urban-oasis

Stadt Wien

Grätzloasen – low-cost, urban ‘parklets’ built by volunteers – are on the rise in Vienna as sceptics are being won over by the splash of welcome greenery and boost to community spirits