Education
Winter School
Are you ready for an intensive immersion into how complexity science can be applied to real-world questions? Do you want to integrate complexity science into your research? Join the Complexity Science Hub’s annual Winter School to learn collaboratively with a global cohort of early-career researchers.
The Complexity Science Hub offers its annual Winter School to early-career researchers who want to join a transdisciplinary network of colleagues to collaboratively explore complexity science. Winter School students will immerse themselves in complexity science as applied to particular real-world issues together with an expert faculty assembled from CSH’s expert researchers. The small program size affords extensive interactions among the entire group, which can lead to lasting connections and collaborations. Learn how theories and approaches from diverse disciplines can be used to understand and inform solutions to key challenges facing society and the planet – across systems and scales. The Winter School is an ideal way for early-career scholars and practitioners to deepen their use of complexity science theories and methods in their research.
Program Goals
The theme of the Winter School changes each year, allowing for deep review of a particular topic and the opportunity to connect with students and faculty with similar interests but different backgrounds and perspectives. The goal of every Winter School is to highlight how transdisciplinarity, collaboration, and rigorous quantitative methods can be used to understand the complex systems that underlie the world.
- Undertake a novel complexity science research project as part of a transdisciplinary team
- Learn how (and why) complexity science approaches might be applied in your own research
- Build collaborations and expand your professional networks, including with the world-class faculty
2025 : What's Next – Complex Systems in Our Changing World
What are the immediate and emerging challenges facing society over the next five to ten years? Job replacement by AI? Supply chain disruptions due to conflict? Threats to democracy and public health? Or obstacles to achieving a green transition? Understanding the underlying systems and their vulnerabilities through complexity science can help identify critical intervention points while avoiding unintended consequences.
The 2025 Winter School will bring together students, postdocs, researchers, and practitioners from diverse disciplines, alongside expert faculty from across the CSH network. Participants will explore production networks, innovation, labor markets, disease, cities, crime, and more — all while seeking new ways to integrate existing models and data to better anticipate the systemic consequences of shocks and prepare for the challenges ahead. The school invites those eager to combine their expertise with other domains to deepen their understanding of the critical systems that shape our world. Collaboration is key to building a resilient future for society and the planet.
2025 Director
2025 Dates & Venue
24–28 February 2025
Arrival & welcome dinner: evening of Sunday, 23 February
Start of the school: morning of Monday, 24 February
End of the school: midday on Friday, 28 February
Complexity Science Hub
Metternichgasse
1030 Vienna AUSTRIA
2025 Program Fee
- Double-room occupancy : EUR 635
- Single-room occupancy : EUR 850
Program fee includes accommodations, all meals, and course tuition.
Audience
The Winter School is aimed at graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early-career faculty, and research professionals. Interested participants from government, NGOs, industry, or other sectors may also find the program of interest.
Structure
Each Winter School is unique, but the program comprises three core elements:
- lectures by the faculty
- formal and informal discussions among faculty and students
- group projects and presentations by students
The Winter School is an intensive, residential experience and should be considered a full-time commitment. Students and faculty will share meals, and there may be evening events. Scheduled free time will be included so that students can explore the Winter School location with fellow participants and/or to continue informal discussions and collaborations.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants should have Masters-level coursework in quantitative discipline (social, natural or information sciences, mathematics, engineering) and/or practical experience working in a quantitative domain related to the project theme. Prior experience with complexity science methods is not essential. The program is conducted entirely in English, and participants are expected to have working proficiency.
How To Apply
The application deadline for the 2025 Winter School is 01 December 2024.
- The online application portal is accessible here.
- Applicants will submit: (1) curriculum vitae, and (2) letter of motivation describing their interest in the program and how it intersects with their current work or future plans.
Contact
Hannah Scholl is the Winter School program manager.
Please contact grad@csh.ac.at with any questions.
About the Complexity Science Hub
The Complexity Science Hub (CSH) is Europe’s research center for the study of complex systems. We derive meaning from data from a range of disciplines – economics, medicine, ecology, and the social sciences – as a basis for actionable solutions for a better world. Established in 2015, we have grown to over 70 researchers, driven by the increasing demand to gain a genuine understanding of the networks that underlie society, from healthcare to supply chains. Through our complexity science approaches linking physics, mathematics, and computational modeling with data and network science, we develop the capacity to address today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.