News, announcements, and research updates from the Chair for Computational Network Science at RWTH Aachen University.https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/en-ushttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-damin-gaussiangml/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-damin-gaussiangml/Our paper _Scalable Supervised Optimal Transport of Gaussian Mixture Models_ was accepted for publication at _NeurIPS 2026_. Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-higher-order-models-2027/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-higher-order-models-2027/We are excited to announce our [workshop on higher-order models](/higher-order-models-2027/), which will take place on 22–25 February 2027 in Aachen. Registration is free, and we are looking for abstracts for contributed talks and posters by 15 November 2026! Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-josh-goldman-start/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-josh-goldman-start/Josh Goldman is visiting us from the University of Toronto until the end of the year to work on topological deep learning in the context of metal–organic frameworks (MOF) Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-damin-brews-award/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-damin-brews-award/Damin Kühn wins the Brews & Breakthroughs presentation award of the centre for computational life sciences at RWTH Aachen for his talk "From Single Cells to Patients: Comparing Cell Distributions with Supervised Optimal Transport". 🎉🎉🎉 Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-david-moser-starting/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-david-moser-starting/David Moser starts as new PhD student in our group. Welcome David to the team. Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-vincent-josef-dont-be-afraid-of-ccs/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-vincent-josef-dont-be-afraid-of-ccs/Our paper _Don’t be Afraid of Cell Complexes! An Introduction from an Applied Perspective_ was accepted for publication at the journal _Applied Network Science_. Publication is still waiting on typesetting, but a preprint with the final content is available on [arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.09726). Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-tony-michael-dos-sparse/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-tony-michael-dos-sparse/Our paper _Efficient Sparsification of Simplicial Complexes via Local Densities of States_ (with [Francesco Tudisco](https://ftudisco.gitlab.io/) and [Nicola Guglielmi](https://www.gssi.it/people/professors/lectures-maths/item/545-guglielmi-nicola)) was accepted for publication at the _SIAM Journal on Mathematics of Data Science_. Publication is still waiting on typesetting, but a preprint with the final content is available on [arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.07558). Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-science-advances-paper/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-science-advances-paper/Together with Jiaze Li and Leto Peel we have published a [paper](https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aef2184) on commuity detection in hypergraphs in Science Advances. Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-preprint-ahorn/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-preprint-ahorn/Florian Frantzen and Michael Schaub coauthored the [preprint](https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.03491) "A repository for discovery and reuse of higher-order network datasets", which introduces [AHORN](https://ahorn.rwth-aachen.de/), a curated repository of standardized higher-order network datasets, and is now available on arXiv. Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-yu-leaving/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-yu-leaving/[Yu Xing](https://yuxing-1.github.io/) leaves the group to start a faculty position. Congrats Yu! Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-sest2026-congestion-management/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-sest2026-congestion-management/[Josef Hoppe](https://hoppe.io) will present the paper *Robustness of Reinforcement Learning-Based Congestion Management in Low-Voltage Grids* at [SEST 2026](https://www.sest2026.com/) in September. It is already available as a preprint on [arxiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.16004). Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-asilomar/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-asilomar/Three contributions by [Dhiraj Patel](https://dlpatel-math.github.io/dhiraj/), Jana Hauer, [Vincent Grande](https://vincent-grande.github.io/) and [Michael Schaub](https://michaelschaub.github.io/) have been accepted for presentation at the [2026 Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers](https://www.asilomarsscconf.org/). Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-nat_comm-kuramoto-higher-order/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-nat_comm-kuramoto-higher-order/We have a new [paper](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-75565-w) in Nature Communicatons entitled "Phase locking and multistability in the topological Kuramoto model on cell complexes". Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-07-damin-ccls-workshop/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-07-damin-ccls-workshop/[Damin Kühn](https://daminkuehn.de) led a hands-on workshop with the CCLS on applying machine learning to single-cell data, aiming to bridge computational genomics and machine learning. All [tutorials](https://www.daminkuehn.de/AnnData_PyTorch_Tutorials/getting_started.html) are freely available online and can be run directly in the browser. Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-vincent-preprint-circular/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-vincent-preprint-circular/[Vincent Grande](https://vincent-grande.github.io) has a new preprint on selecting interpretable circular coordinates from data on [arxiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.08230). Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-alex-sigmaphi/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-alex-sigmaphi/Alexandre René was invited to give a talk in one of the workshops of the SigmaPhi 2026 conference in Crete. Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-icerm-workshop/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-icerm-workshop/Michael Schaub gave a talk on Vectorial representations of topological features: a spectral perspective at the ICERM workshop Applied and Computational Discrete Algorithms in AI and Data Science. Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-discrete-laplacians/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-discrete-laplacians/Bastian, Michael and Vincent will represent NetSci at the Discrete Laplacians Workshop at the MPI for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-embodied-opinion-dynamics/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-embodied-opinion-dynamics/Yu Xing coauthored the preprint "Embodied Opinion Dynamics for Safety-Critical Motion Control in Dynamic Environments" which is now available on arXiv. Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-gsp-workshop/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-gsp-workshop/Josef Hoppe gave a talk at the Graph Signal Processing Workshop 2026 in Madrid. Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-vincent-unravel-symposium/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-vincent-unravel-symposium/[Vincent Grande](https://vincent-grande.github.io) gives a talk on Local Uncertainty, Global Information: Topology and Geometry in Complex Data at the [final UnRAVeL symposium](https://www.unravel.rwth-aachen.de/go/id/bjgvkb?lidx=1#aaaaaaaaabjgvqb). Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-hauer-wins-master-award/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-hauer-wins-master-award/Jana Hauer wins the Berthold Voecking award for the best Master thesis Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-rene-thesis/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-rene-thesis/Alexandre Rene has submitted the final version of his PhD thesis "Learning Interpretable Theories for Complex Neural Systems" at the University of Ottawa. Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-rawr-preprint/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-rawr-preprint/Bastian Epping and Michael Schaub coauthored the preprint "RAwR: Role-Aware Rewiring via Approximate Equitable Partition" which is now available on arXiv. Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-dhiraj-mixed-norm/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-dhiraj-mixed-norm/Dhiraj Patel coauthored the paper "Constructive approximation in mixed-norm spaces" which has been published in Analysis and Mathematical Physics. Sat, 09 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-teaching-winter/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-teaching-winter/Overview of our courses and seminars in Network Science for the winter term 2026/27.Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-prx-life-neural-manifolds/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-prx-life-neural-manifolds/Alexandre Rene coauthored the paper "Characterizing Neural Manifolds' Properties and Curvatures using Normalizing Flows" which has been published in PRX Life. Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-friedkin-johnsen-preprint/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-friedkin-johnsen-preprint/Yu Xing and Michael Schaub coauthored the preprint "Approximate Simulation-Based Verification of Compatibility of the Friedkin-Johnsen Model with Binary Observations" which is now available on arXiv. Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-schaub-workshop-dresden/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-schaub-workshop-dresden/Michael Schaub will join the Discrete Laplacians 2026 workshop as a keynote speaker, registration is open until 17.05.26! Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-jesse-visiting/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-jesse-visiting/Atuhurra Jesse, a PhD student at NAIST in Japan, will visit us for the next six months! Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-jad-dynamics/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-jad-dynamics/Damin Kühn, Leonie Rompelberg and Michael Schaub coauthored the paper "Unconscious elevated bottom-up processing in depression: Insights from dynamic causal modeling with EEG and fMRI". Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-michael-hypergraph-perspective/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-michael-hypergraph-perspective/Michael Schaub coauthored the paper "Hypergraphs and simplicial complexes in focus: A roadmap for future research in higher-order interactions" which has been published in Journal of Physics: Complexity. Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-michael-preprint/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-michael-preprint/Michael Schaub is coauthor on the paper "Higher order trade-offs in hypergraph community detection" which is now available on arXiv. Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-teaching-summer/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-teaching-summer/Overview of our lectures, seminars, and practical labs in Network Science and Biology for the summer term 2026.Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-hauer-starting/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-hauer-starting/Jana Hauer started her PhD researching about distributed optimization. Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-salto-workshop/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-salto-workshop/Michael Schaub and Vincent Grande gave talks at the SALTO Kick-Off Workshop "Higher-order interactions at the crossroads of geometry and topology" in Paris. Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-rcc-preprint-update/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-rcc-preprint-update/The preprint introduces a model for random abstract cell complexes and a method to sample 2-dimensional cell complexes. We've updated the preprint after improving the accuracy of the approximate sampling and the presentation in the paper. Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-moreno-soto-starting/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/26-moreno-soto-starting/Daniel Moreno Soto has begun his PhD work on coding mechanisms in neural networks. Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-msk-defense/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-msk-defense/Michael Scholkemper today successfully defended his thesis “On the Structural Analysis of Nodes in Networks” Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-rene-natcomm/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-rene-natcomm/Alexandre René’s paper “Selecting fitted models under epistemic uncertainty using a stochastic process on quantile functions” examines how one can improve the quantification of uncertainties when comparing models fitted to experimental data. Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-teaching-winter/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-teaching-winter/Overview of our courses and seminars in Network Science for the winter term 2025/26.Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-eusipco-cell-inference/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-eusipco-cell-inference/Our paper "Faster Inference of Cell Complexes from Flows via Matrix Factorization" got accepted at EUSIPCO 2025. We propose a novel approach to inferring 2-cells from flows using matrix factorization. Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-hooc-workshop/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-hooc-workshop/We are happy to announce the HOOC workshop on higher-order networks. Attendance is free! Go to https://conf.netsci.rwth-aachen.de for more information and registration. Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-kdd/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-kdd/Our paper "HLSAD: Hodge Laplacian-based Simplicial Anomaly Detection" has been accepted at KDD 2025. We propose a novel event and change-point detection algorithm for time-evolving simplicial complexes. Fri, 16 May 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-stamm-defense/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/25-stamm-defense/Felix Stamm today successfully defended his thesis “Models and Algorithms for Systematic Network Randomization” Tue, 22 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/24-iclr/https://netsci.rwth-aachen.de/news/24-iclr/Our paper "Learning From Simplicial Data Based on Random Walks and 1D Convolutions" has been accepted at ICLR 2024. We propose a novel approach to learning from simplicial data using random walks and 1D convolutions. Tue, 07 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT