HOOC - Higher Order Opportunities and Challenges
We are happy to announce the HOOC workshop on higher-order networks.
Network analysis has revolutionized our understanding of complex systems, and graph-based methods have emerged as powerful tools to process signals on non-Euclidean domains via graph signal processing and graph neural networks. However, graphs are ill-equipped to encode multi-way and higher-order relations – features that are essential to understanding many systems such as group-dynamics in social systems, multi-gene interactions in genetic data, or multi-way drug interactions.
Accordingly, there is a need for new analytical methods to address the challenges of higher-order data, and a growing body of work in this direction. With this workshop, we especially want to explore current challenges which arise when bridging theory and data. This means on the one hand discussing what higher-order methods have already been used with real-world data, and on the other hand, what challenges currently prevent modelling systems with higher-order interactions.
The workshop will take place from the 11th to the 13th of August 2025.
We look forward to welcoming you in Aachen, Germany!
About
Aachen is a small historical city, where most places can be reached by foot. Our meetings will take on the top floor of the Super C building pictured above (Templergraben 57, 52062 Aachen, Germany).
Registration is free of charge, with the exception of the workshop dinner. Attendees are responsible for their own travel and accommodation.
Registration deadlines
For submitting a contributed talk:
14 July 2025
For submitting a poster:
30 July 2025
For registering to the conference:
30 July 2025
If you missed a deadline but would still like to participate, please contact us directly.
Topics of interest
Speakers
Higher-order interactions for synchronization dynamics in network dynamical systems
Hypergraphs and their applications
Topic TBA
From Curvature to Homology: Exploring Higher-Order Structures through Random Walks
Topic TBA
Topological Convolutional Learning
Scalable Higher-Order Topology Identification from Nodal Observations
Learning Dynamics with Higher Order Structure
AHORN: Repository of Higher-Order Datasets
As part of this workshop, we will introduce the Aachen Higher-Order Repository of Networks (AHORN), which aims to provide a comprehensive collection of higher-order network datasets, particularly focusing on simplicial complexes, cell complexes and hypergraphs. This repository is designed to facilitate research and development in the field of higher-order networks by offering a variety of datasets that can be used for benchmarking, testing algorithms, and exploring new concepts in network science.
The project is similar in spirit to graph repositories like ICON, SNAP, and Netzschleuder but specifically tailored for higher-order datasets.
Agenda
Organized by the Computational Network Science group of the RWTH aachen.
In case of questions please reach out to netsci-events@cs.rwth-aachen.de.
Social programme
City tours
We have reserved guided tours of the city, organised by the Aachen tourism office, which will take place on the afternoon of the second day (Tuesday, August 12). There will be three options to choose from:
Participation is free.
All tours will begin up directly in front of the workshop venue at 16:00, last about 2.5 hours, and end at the Elisenbrunnen — just in time for the workshop dinner.
Workshop dinner
We have reserved seating at malê’ma for the workshop dinner, starting at 18:30.
Please note that payment is cash-only.
Available options