Complexity Science Hub

🚧 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀. Europe may seem relatively sheltered from climate change with fewer extreme events and strong adaptive capacities. But our economy doesn't exist in isolation.

In a study, CSH researcher Andrea Vismara, together with colleagues from the European Central Bank, traces how physical climate shocks travel through global supply chains — and what that means for Europe's GDP as well as economies worldwide.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱
They combined country- and sector-level input-output data (which track how goods and services are bought and sold) with a simulation model.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁
📈 GDP losses in the Eurozone could surpass 10% – a figure nearly 15 times greater than the direct climate shock expected for the region
🗺️ In the Eurozone, the countries most at risk include Mediterranean countries with high direct exposure to physical climate risks, as well as nations with extensive trade links, such as Germany and Luxembourg
🌎 Global GDP losses could reach up to 18% under the most adverse climate scenario

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀:
It shows how much GDP is at risk across global regions due to spillover effects through trade. Each column represents a single disaster type.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀
Understanding where climate shocks enter the economic system — and how they amplify — is essential for assessing risks to the financial system. Climate change is a global challenge with economic consequences that don't respect borders.

🔗 Learn more: https://csh.ac.at/news/the-global-economic-ripple-effect-of-climate-change/

First published as a SUERF - The European Money & Finance Forum Policy Brief in 2024, the full paper is now out in Ecological Economics.

𝗪𝗶𝗲𝗻, 𝗨𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗵𝘁, 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝗟𝗼𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀 – vier Städte, vier völlig unterschiedliche Arten, sich fortzubewegen 🗺️ Unser neues 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝘇 für 🧑‍🏫 lädt Schüler:innen ein, genau das zu erkunden: Warum fahren Menschen in manchen Städten fast ausschließlich Auto – und in anderen kaum? Was sagen Bewegungsdaten über eine Stadt aus? Und wie sieht das eigentlich bei mir selbst aus?

Mithilfe einer interaktiven (basierend auf der Forschung von Rafael Prieto-Curiel und gestaltet von Datenvisualisierin Liuhuaying Yang) und einem zum Downloaden können Schüler:innen diese Fragen selbst erforschen – ganz ohne Vorwissen. (natürlich auch für alle geeignet, die die Schule bereits längst hinter sich gelassen haben, gerne rätseln und mehr über Mobilitätsverhalten herausfinden möchten 😉 ).

📥 𝗭𝘂𝗺 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱: direkt über CSH Goes School – https://csh.ac.at/teaching/wie-bewegen-sich-menschen-in-stadten-weltweit-fort/ (auch auf Plattformen für Unterrichtsmaterialien kostenlos zur Verfügung gestellt).

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𝗖𝗦𝗛 𝗚𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 ist eine Initiative des Complexity Science Hub (CSH), deren Ziel es ist, Kinder für Wissenschaft zu begeistern. Wir bringen Wissenschaft in den Unterricht – mit interaktiven, leicht verständlichen Materialien, die Neugier wecken und Spaß machen.

On 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 9, we're opening the next chapter of our Art & Science program – 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲'𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 ( 👉 RSVP here: https://csh.ac.at/events/art-science-with-andreas-leikauf-mirta-galesic-how-it-started/).

🖼️ Artist 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗶𝗸𝗮𝘂𝗳 is moving in at CSH with works that sit at the intersection of cultural memory and quiet unease. Images of things that happened (but maybe shouldn't have). Blending motifs across decades, his work revisits industrial-cultural myths – touching on loneliness, revolt, and the strange persistence of the past.

The event is the Kick-off for Andreas Leikauf's exhibition "How it started", curated by Galerie Karoline Hilger-Bartosch.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? 🧠 That comes from complexity scientist Mirta Galesic, who co-leads the research group at CSH. She uses natural science methods to find answers for the fundamental questions of social science – exploring how we form opinions, solve problems together, and influence one another.

The conversation between the two – centered around questions like: how do we take in our environment, online and offline? How does it shape our thinking? And at what point does an encounter actually shift our opinions? – will be moderated by the fabulous Sonja Joechtl.

📅 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻: June 9, 2026, 6 PM
📍 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: Complexity Science Hub (CSH), Metternichgasse 8, 1030 Vienna
🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://csh.ac.at/events/art-science-with-andreas-leikauf-mirta-galesic-how-it-started/ (entry free)

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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗦𝗛 𝗔𝗿𝘁 & 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 brings together artists and scientists through exhibitions, concerts, and readings in the historic Palais Springer-Rothschild. It creates a dialogue between two ways of understanding the world – that are not so different after all.

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 — 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆? For scientists venturing into social media, it's the question that should always come first. It sounds simple. But it really isn't.

Writing for academic journals and writing for social media are two very different skills. The gap between them can feel vast. But there are compelling reasons to bridge it – from discussing with researchers across disciplines and getting inspired to making science accessible and exciting to younger audiences.

Yesterday, the fabulous Elise Cutts – currently FRONTIERS Journalist in Residence at the Complexity Science Hub – ran a lunchtime workshop on exactly this. She guided our researchers through the practicalities: how to be intentional about social media rather than just present on it, which platform serves which purpose – and coming back to the one big question that should always come first, she said: who do you actually want to reach, and why?

🌟 It was fantastic – huge thanks to Elise! Needless to say, the time flew (and this lunchtime might have ended with a few new social media accounts).

And a big thank you to all the researchers who took the time to dip a toe (or more) into the world of social media – Amélie Desvars-Larrive, Leonardo Niccolò Ialongo, Katharina Ledebur, Elma Hot Dervic, Vito D. P. Servedio, Miruna Cotet, Philipp Hilmbauer-Hofmarcher, Daniele Barolo, Guillermo Prieto Viertel, Léo Delalandre, Lasmi Marboun, Jakob Zsambok, Zakh Roth

🌟 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

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆: faces and bodies on covers are more diverse, campaigns are more inclusive, and the language is increasingly body-positive. But has the body ideal at the very heart of the industry really changed?

In a new study, published in , a team of researchers analyzed nearly 800,000 fashion images from 2000 to 2024 – spanning fashion shows, advertisements, magazine covers, and editorials.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱
The team tracked how model body sizes have evolved over time, across different regions, and within various segments of the fashion industry. To do this, they combined computer vision, network analysis, and clinical population health data.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁

👗 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲: While calls for diversity have grown louder and many brands have responded by casting more diverse models, the data shows that the average body size hasn't changed. "This means that the increase in more diverse body types is only driven by outliers and the industry, the standard, actually didn’t change,” says co-author Katharina Ledebur from the Complexity Science Hub.

↔️ 𝗔 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽: There is almost no overlap between the models on the runway and the actual population. Even so-called plus-size models are still below the average US body size.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀
Decades of research have shown that body ideals deeply shape how people feel about their own bodies, their eating behaviors, and their overall psychological well-being. When even plus-size models fall below the average American woman’s body size, the distance between the images people see and the bodies they live in is, as Ledebur puts it, very alarming.

🔗 Learn more: https://csh.ac.at/news/fashion-looks-more-diverse-today-but-the-body-ideal-hasnt-changed-in-25-years/
🔗 Read the paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2602380123

Authors of this study are: Louis Boucherie (Danmarks Tekniske Universitet - DTU ), Sagar Kumar (Northeastern University), Katharina Ledebur (Complexity Science Hub), August Lohse (Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen) and Karolina Sliwa (WU (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien))

🚨 We're hiring!
We're looking for a 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗔𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 to join our team at the Complexity Science Hub.

If you're passionate about keeping systems running smoothly — and want to do it in a place where your work directly supports cutting-edge research — we'd love to hear from you.

🕐 Part-time
📋 Permanent position
👀 Applications reviewed on a rolling basis

👉 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: https://csh.jobs.personio.com/job/2639353

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘂𝗽, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀. 𝗜𝘁 𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼 — when companies can't repay their loans, banks feel the strain. But assessments of systemic financial risk have largely overlooked another factor: banks' mutual credit dependencies on the interbank market.

CSH's Jan Fialkowski, Andras Borsos, Christian Diem and Stefan Thurner have developed a new model combining the effects of cascading failures in and the .

💡 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

1️⃣ Banks are bound together through networks of mutual credit exposure: when one institution suffers losses severe enough to prevent it from repaying its obligations, the lending bank incurs losses in turn. This chain reaction is called interbank contagion, and it can destabilize large parts of the financial sector, as exemplified by the 2007-08 financial crisis.

2️⃣ In the real economy, firms are linked through supply relationships. When one or more links in those chains break — through shortages, production failures or insolvencies — economic damage can propagate through the supply network like a shockwave. Such a scenario is now a live possibility given the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:
🦠 Simulations across 1,001 scenarios modelled on the Covid-19 shock show that supply chain contagion amplifies interbank contagion by 70%.
💸 The systemic financial risk posed by individual firms is amplified by 12–28% through interbank contagion.
📈 Extreme loss scenarios become substantially more likely in the presence of supply chain contagion.

🎯 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁:
The model gives regulators and banks a stronger basis for assessing systemic financial risk and designing targeted intervention measures in response to pandemics, trade wars, or naval blockades.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://csh.ac.at/project/effects-of-supply-chain-shock-propagation-on-financial-stability/

– If you are eager to advance complex systems research and its applications in network medicine and health data science – and if you share a commitment to improving society and our planet through science – this is your chance.

👉 Find more information and apply here: https://csh.jobs.personio.com/job/2463342

Learn more about research at the Complexity Science Hub in the field of 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 & 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 and meet the researchers behind it: https://csh.ac.at/research/research-topic/healthcare-medicine/