For the first time, Vienna will become the global center of network scientists from July 10 to 14, 2023. Researchers from physics, computer science, biology, social sciences, economics, and more will gather at NetSci 2023, the flagship conference of the Network Science Society. This year’s edition is organized by the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) and the Central European University (CEU).
“NetSci 2023 is undoubtedly the largest and most important event in network science. It brings together researchers from different disciplines who otherwise rarely have the opportunity to exchange ideas. I am particularly looking forward to the new ideas that will emerge among the participants and contribute to further developing this exciting field of research,” says CSH president Stefan Thurner, one of the scientific chairs of the conference.
Interdisciplinary and diverse
A key component of Netsci’s program is its interdisciplinarity and diversity. Shlomo Havlin, from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and external faculty member at CSH, will be one of the keynote speakers. Havlin has made major contributions to the study of dependent networks such as power grids and communications networks, and will discuss the application of superconducting elements.
The conference will also feature Mirta Galesic, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute and a resident scientist at CSH. Galesic, who studies complex social phenomena, will discuss how internal dynamics and external influences shape our beliefs, and why some people and collectives change their beliefs more readily than others.
Why network science?
János Kertész, head of the Department of Network and Data Science at CEU and external faculty member at CSH, outlines the importance of the emerging field of network science. “Network and networking are buzzwords – with good reason, as knowledge about social or economic structures can boost efficiency considerably. Network science, the discipline for studying structures produced by interactions, has undergone explosive development during the last decades,” says Kertész, who’s also one of the scientific chairs of NetSci 2023.
“We uncovered the scaffold of complexity, discovered the laws governing the growth of large networks, and understood the dynamic processes on them. It brings fruits for a wide range of fields from epidemiology to drug design, from mitigating economic crises to improving the internet, and from fighting crime to mapping out the connections in the brain,” explains Kertész.
Vienna
Vienna’s hosting of NetSci 2023 emphasizes the city’s importance as a science hub. The city is home to 24 universities with nearly 200,000 students and almost 30,000 lecturers. The CSH and the Department of Network and Data Science at CEU are Austria’s leading network science institutions. The city of Vienna, among others, supports them.