Complexity Science Hub

19/02/2025

CSH's coolest is coming up! Join visualization pros Liuhuaying Yang and Paul Kahn, along with a talented team of experts from the worlds of art, , journalism, and . Don’t miss out—applications are open until March 20! 👉 https://vis.csh.ac.at/vis-workshop-2025/

17/02/2025

“Amazing dataset! Can you share it?” Elma Dervic has heard this question many times—but she always had to say no. Her dataset, which includes 45 million hospital stays over 17 years in Austria, contains highly sensitive medical .

🔐 “Medical data is highly sensitive and protected by multiple security measures for a good reason—it belongs to real people,” says Dervic. But this raises a crucial question: How reproducible can medical research be? It’s a question that has followed her throughout her research career.

💡 Then she had an idea. While she couldn’t share patient records, she could share comorbidity networks—a relational matrix that reveals how diseases are connected without exposing any personal details.

👏 The result? A data paper published that allows other researchers to use these networks. But that’s not all—her blog post (at Springer Nature: https://communities.springernature.com/posts/disease-networks-for-everyone) offers a fascinating look behind the scenes, and an interactive brings the data to life.

This approach shows that transparency and data privacy in medical research don’t have to be in conflict.

With Peter Klimek, Stefan Thurner and Katharina Ledebur
Learn more: https://csh.ac.at/news/amazing-dataset-can-you-share-it/

14/02/2025

We are looking for a Postdoc!
Are you passionate about understanding how global changes impact economies and societies? At the Complexity Science Hub, we study supply chains using unique data and complexity research to explore , , and .

Join our collaborative team to develop an Agent-Based Model (ABM) that simulates how global transitions affect local communities and businesses. You’ll work with diverse datasets on firm-level supply chains, resource flows, and material stocks—bringing fresh perspectives to real-world challenges.

📍 Vienna, Austria | 🌍 Inclusive & supportive work environment | 🕵️ Full-time position

Interested? Apply now! ➡ https://csh.ac.at/engage/jobs/

11/02/2025

Today is the 10th anniversary of International Day of Women and Girls in Science—an opportunity to recognize women's contributions to and recommit ourselves to ensuring all and thrive.

At the Complexity Science Hub, we celebrate the remarkable work of our rising and renowned women scientists. With diverse backgrounds, including physics, data visualization, and psychology, they are shaping and leading the research on complexity science.

Working together, Ola Ali, Liuhuaying Yang, Mirta Galesic, and other brilliant scientists at CSH are working to extract meaning from the vast amount of data representing our planet’s various dimensions: economics, migration, health, climate change, social values, urban development, and more.

Women make up only 35% of STEM students, according to Unesco. This disparity underscores the importance of initiatives like the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Let's keep championing women and girls in science!

11/02/2025

📰 Study Debunks Claims of Bias Against Conservative News Outlets by NewsGuard 🗞️

A new study from the Complexity Science Hub has analyzed the reliability of NewsGuard, the leading media rating service, and found no evidence supporting allegations of bias against conservative news outlets. In fact, the study suggests that NewsGuard’s approach is fair and consistent in how it evaluates sources, regardless of political ideology.

🇺🇸 Why it matters: With rising political pressures in the US, especially from the far-right, the study’s conclusions come at a critical time. There’s been increasing political rhetoric accusing NewsGuard of censorship, and this research provides strong evidence to counter those claims.

Key findings:
📰 No bias found: The study found no inherent bias in NewsGuard’s ratings of right-leaning news outlets, even in the United States, where media trustworthiness is especially low.
📰 Stable ratings across countries: NewsGuard’s trustworthiness scores have remained consistent over time and across nine countries—including the US, UK, Canada, and Germany—proving the platform's global reliability.
📰 US trustworthiness lowest: News media outlets based in the US consistently earned lower trustworthiness ratings than those based in other countries, particularly for right-leaning sources.



👉

A recent study evaluating the NewsGuard database, a leading media reliability rating service, has found no evidence supporting the allegation that NewsGuard

04/02/2025

Are generative AI tools like ChatGPT threatening freelance jobs? Not really, says a new study.
"Rather than the feared wave of job losses, our study reveals a clear shift in demand," explains Maria del Rio-Chanona, External Faculty Member at the Complexity Science Hub and Assistant Professor at UCL.

🔻 Where is demand decreasing?
Jobs considered replaceable—such as repetitive writing tasks—have seen major declines:
📉 50% fewer jobs for writing "About Us" pages
📉 30% drop in translation jobs for Western languages
📉 ~20% decline in other language translations
Short-term gigs and experienced freelancers are particularly affected.

🔺 Where is demand increasing?
📈 Machine learning jobs are up 24%
📈 Demand for AI chatbot development has nearly tripled
📈 Skills that complement AI—like critical thinking, complex problem-solving, and interpersonal skills—are on the rise.

🎯 Does experience make a difference?
Yes! Fields impacted by ChatGPT, such as writing and translation, saw the biggest decline in demand for experienced workers. In programming, however, junior-level demand dropped, while companies are seeking more senior professionals.

🔬 What did researchers analyze?
The study, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization by Elsevier, examined over three million job postings on a global freelance platform—covering data from one year before and after ChatGPT’s release.

Learn more: https://csh.ac.at/news/how-is-generative-ai-impacting-the-freelance-job-market/

04/02/2025

🏃‍➡️ Frank Neffke has been keeping a busy schedule lately, and for good reason. He recently delivered a keynote at the , where he shared his perspective on how economies learn as collectives—challenging traditional views on . The event’s collaborative format, aimed at bringing together early-career researchers and established scholars.

Last week, Frank continued to engage with a broader audience, speaking at Alphabet's series, where some of the brightest minds, including Nobel laureates, have previously shared their work. His talk, "Inventing Modern Invention: The Professionalization of Technological Progress in the US," examined how the US shifted from an agricultural economy to a leader in science, technology, and industry through the lens of patent data.

It’ll be exciting to see where his research leads next. 🌍✨

31/01/2025

What do , , and have in common? Complexity science helps us understand them all.

It was a particular honor and great pleasure for us to have the opportunity to participate in yesterday’s "Verwaltung im Diskurs" event, organized by the Austrian School of Government (ASG). This new format allowed us to present a selection of the diverse research conducted at CSH and to bring insights from complexity science into the policy discourse.

🔹 What is complexity, and how can we recognize it?
Peter Klimek introduced the concept of complexity and showed how it emerges in systems like global supply chains.

🔹 Understanding digital currencies and preventing misuse
Svetlana Abramova presented innovative methods for analyzing cryptocurrency transactions—key to combating cybercrime. Her research is conducted in collaboration with the Bavarian State Prosecutor’s Office and INTERPOL.

🔹 Big data in crisis situations
Peter Klimek demonstrated how data modeling supports crisis management, from forecasting pandemic waves to responding to extreme weather events.

🔹 How data helps fight organized crime and build more sustainable cities
Rafael Prieto-Curiel explored how data science can reveal criminal networks and support urban planning for more sustainable and livable cities.

It was a pleasure to welcome you!


Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport | Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung | Klimaschutzministerium | Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Wirtschaft | Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung | Bundesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz | Österreichische Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde | Bundesrechenzentrum | Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde

31/01/2025

It starts with a harmless flirt on social media or dating platforms—and ends in extortion. , the blackmailing of individuals with intimate photos or videos, is on the rise, also posing a growing challenge for law enforcement.

To tackle this, the Complexity Science Hub and the Bavarian judiciary joined forces. Together with his team, CSH researcher Bernhard Haslhofer developed an analysis tool that traces cryptocurrency transactions linked to sextortion, uncovering connections between cases.

At a press conference today, Bavarian State Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich, Deputy Director of the Bavarian Central Office for the Prosecution of Cybercrime Bavaria ( ) Thomas Goger, and Bernhard Haslhofer presented insights:

📈 New digital approaches are essential since traditional forensic methods struggle with the vast number of cases and data volume.
👨‍💻 Young men are particularly targeted worldwide.
📩 Spam attacks are increasing – perpetrators increasingly send emails falsely claiming to possess intimate material.
💡 Many case connections – Haslhofer’s team analyzed 4.5 million sextortion spam emails, tracing them back to just 96 campaigns and 12,533 Bitcoin addresses.

If you or someone you know has been affected, you are not alone. Support is available, and there are steps you can take to protect yourself:

✅ Stop communicating with the perpetrator
✅ Do not pay
✅ Change your passwords
✅ Set up a Google alert with your name
✅ Preserve all evidence
✅ Report to law enforcement

More insights in the full report: https://csh.ac.at/news/sextortion-a-growing-global-issue-how-can-we-fight-back/

29/01/2025

A scientific day – but with a twist! ✨ Rafael Prieto-Curiel and Andrea Vismara traded their offices for the yesterday, sharing research insights on the future of cities. What do young minds think about urban life? And how do they perceive the challenges shaping the cities of today and tomorrow? 🤔 It was truly impressive to see the depth of knowledge the students already have and super exciting to learn more about their perspectives.

A big thank you to for hosting us! 😊

29/01/2025

The metaphor Vito Servedio, a senior scientist at the Complexity Science Hub, uses to describe his most recent paper should come as no surprise to anyone who knows him. “It’s like grating cheese,” says Servedio.

What if you could break apart a like grating cheese—isolating its most crucial elements, fragmenting it into disconnected pieces to reveal where disruptions would be most devastating? That’s the power of fitness centrality, a new method introduced by Servedio and colleagues in a recent study published in Journal of Physics: Complexity.

By identifying the most vital in any network—from and systems to grids and —fitness centrality provides a faster and more efficient way to pinpoint weak points before they cause chaos. Unlike previous methods, which require costly recalculations, this approach streamlines the analysis, making it practical even for vast, complex networks.

Find out more about the study 👉 https://bit.ly/3CBu80U

27/01/2025

🌟 What a night! 🌟 Full of dancing, laughter, and... let’s be real, everyone looked amazing! 😍 The CSH scientists had an unforgettable time at the Vienna Ball of Sciences! 💃🕺✨

23/01/2025

What’s the one scientific term that could make the world a better place?

🎧 CSH President Stefan Thurner joined the “Auch das noch?” by DIE ZEIT to talk about his daily work—making sense of massive datasets and transforming them into actionable knowledge for society. Curious about what complexity really means? While it might sound abstract, Stefan shares real-world examples that couldn’t be more relevant today.

He discusses how measures could be implemented without severely harming the economy, why the isn’t as anonymous as many people think, what it was like at the start of the COVID-19 when normal operations paused to provide data-driven assessments—from ICU bed capacities in Austria to the effectiveness of measures—and what he hopes for a better .

Without giving too much away, the one scientific term that could make a difference isn’t particularly exotic. Instead, it’s a concept that society simply needs to be reminded of.

Special thanks to hosts Petra Pinzler & Stefan Schmitt!

You can find the podcast here: https://www.zeit.de/wissen/2025-01/datenanalyse-komplexitaetsforschung-stephan-thurner-krisenpodcast (or find it on your favorite podcast platform)

22/01/2025

Spoiler alert! CSH scientist Zlata Tabachová talks about her research in an exclusive interview with Radio Prague International. Tune in later this March to hear all about her journey from Prague to Vienna and learn more about her fascinating work on supply chain networks.

21/01/2025

📚 Can pass a PhD-level test? Not yet. 🤖❌

Artificial intelligence has made impressive strides in many fields, but can it pass a PhD-level history exam? A study by the Complexity Science Hub suggests that , including OpenAI’s GPT-4, Llama, and Gemini models, still fall short when it comes to understanding the complexities of global history.

In the study, Jakob Hauser, Maria del Rio-Chanona, Peter Turchin and colleagues tested advanced AI models on a graduate-level historical knowledge benchmark derived from the comprehensive Seshat Global History Databank—a vast, evidence-based resource that spans over 36,000 data points and 600 societies worldwide.

According to the results, the AI chatbots struggled with historical knowledge. GPT-4-Turbo emerged as the best-performing model but still only achieved a 46% balanced accuracy—barely above the baseline of random guessing.

Check it out 👉

Can ChatGPT pass a PhD-level history test? According to a CSH study, the answer is “not yet.” GPT-4 Turbo couldn’t get most of the answers right.

20/01/2025

Donald Trump is being inaugurated as US President again—an election outcome that has surprised many. But why do election results keep catching people off guard?

Mirta Galesic, Henrik Olsson, and their team at the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) have shown that so-called "Wisdom of the Crowd" questions, where people estimate how others will vote, produce significantly more accurate predictions than simply asking about personal voting intentions. "We've found this improvement in eight elections so far – the US elections 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2024, the 2017 French and Dutch elections, the 2018 Swedish elections, and the 2024 Austrian elections," says Galesic. Yet, these methods are still rarely used in election surveys.

Learn more:

Donald Trump has been re-elected as US President—surprising many, perhaps a little less so for Mirta Galesic and her team at CSH. Here's why.

17/01/2025

Summer Internship Opportunity! 🚀

Only a few days left! If you want to spend next summer at the Complexity Science Hub, dive into the fascinating theories and tools of complexity science, and gain hands-on research experience—now’s your chance! Applications are open until January 31.

🔗 https://bit.ly/4hBQPlq

10/01/2025

How can we tackle security challenges across Latin America more effectively?

Rafael Prieto-Curiel from the Complexity Science Hub recently presented his research at the Regional Security and Justice Summit in Barbados, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as part of its Alliance for Security and Justice. The event brought together , , and from across the Americas to address critical challenges in citizen security and justice, encouraging collaboration to build safer and more equitable societies.

He highlighted the socio-economic factors driving these phenomena and their profound impacts on both local communities and regional stability. He emphasized that combating large transnational organizations requires a unified approach, advocating for the establishment of a regional alliance. Such an alliance, he argued, would enable the sharing of intelligence, the harmonization of policies, and the coordination of strategies across nations. With this, he aimed at sparking dialogue about the importance of collective action in addressing these complex challenges.

More details can be found here: https://www.iadb.org/en/who-we-are/topics/modernization-state/citizen-security-and-justice/alliance-security-justice-and