Networks are steadily being employed to understand diverse problems such as epidemic forecast, the spreading of information or disinformation, the impact of sudden onset emergencies, and to estimate population demographics. Recently, research efforts addressing the needs of the most vulnerable populations have also started to draw the attention of the broader scientific community. Notable examples are the Data for Development and the Data for Refugee challenges organized by Orange and Türk Telekom, respectively, and academics from our field, as well as the various data for social good initiatives and conferences such as Bloomberg’s Data for Social Good Exchange. However, the gap between the academic world and the organizations that could use the proposed methods and insights for their programmatic purposes is still wide.

This workshop intends to foster the discussion of network science’s role in addressing societal challenges. Showcasing relevant theoretical, empirical and operational work within network science research that can be applied for the benefit of humanity. We encourage participation of researchers working in all areas that concern the interaction of network science, complexity sciences, machine learning, and society.

We are looking forward to seeing the best of your new insights in the field of network science for social good.