Complexity Science Hub

🌟 Last week, Vienna hosted the annual 𝗗𝗔𝗖𝗛-𝗖𝗦𝗦 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. The (enormous) question on the agenda: 𝗜𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸? And what role can data, research infrastructures, and computational social science hashtag play in responding?

This year marked a special milestone: the 3rd edition of the event, and the first year under its new name as the DACH-CSS Conference. While hosted in the DACH region, the conference welcomed participants from across countries, disciplines, and institutions to explore how computational methods can help us understand democratic societies in the digital age. From identifying disinformation campaigns via 🕸️ network analysis, to the risks of ⬛ black-box AI tools, 💽 to questions of data sovereignty: two packed days of keynotes, talks, and debate 💬.

1️⃣ Day 1 was hosted by Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, 2️⃣ Day 2 by Complexity Science Hub (CSH). With democracies under pressure from digital influence operations, platform opacity, and restricted data access, CSS researchers have both a unique lens and a real responsibility.

Highlights included keynotes by Philipp Lorenz-Spreen (TU Dresden / MPI for Human Development) on the power of online platforms, and Laura K. Nelson (University of British Columbia) on language models and interpretive variance, plus a lively panel on digital resilience and sovereignty.

🙏 A big thank you to everyone who presented, participated, and organized (Lisette Espín-Noboa, Mark Wittek, Dorian Tsolak, Nikolitsa Grigoropoulou, Ruben Bach, Sebastian Stier, Simon Kühne, Valerie Hase) – and to our co-host Central European University and sponsors WWTF, Akademie für Soziologie, Landesanstalt für Medien NRW, GESIS, Gradient Zero, KODAQS, ÖFG, Universität Klagenfurt, and others for making it happen.

And the community keeps growing: stay tuned for the 2027 edition at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences:
https://computational-social-science.org/

🖼️ © Elena Azzalini; and CSH