Our invited speakers bring together expertise from across different fields of complex systems science — from human mobility and urban dynamics to network theory, opinion dynamics and linguistics — providing insights into how complexity emerges in nature and society.

Rafael Prieto-Curiel

Rafael Prieto-Curiel is a Faculty Member at the Complexity Science Hub, where he works on topics including violence, mobility, migration, and urban dynamics. He works for the OECD and the World Bank, conducting spatial and demographic analyses of cities. He is the Scientific Advisor of Aleph. In 2024, he was awarded the “Science Breakthrough” award by the Falling Walls Foundation.
Previously, he was at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, working on urban dynamics as part of the Peak Urban project. He earned an MSc in Statistics and a PhD in Mathematics and Security and Crime at UCL. He also worked in the Emergency Attention Centre in Mexico City (C5) as Director of Strategic Analysis, where his work primarily consisted of crime forecasting and police and resource allocation.

Carmen Cabrera-Arnau

Carmen Cabrera is a Lecturer in Geographic Data Science (Assistant Professor) at the Geographic Data Science Lab, within the University of Liverpool’s Department of Geography and Planning. Her areas of expertise are geographic data science, human mobility, network analysis and mathematical modelling. Carmen’s research focuses on developing quantitative frameworks to model and predict human mobility patterns across spatiotemporal scales and population groups, ranging from intraurban commutes to migratory movements. She is particularly interested in establishing methodologies to facilitate the efficient and reliable use of new forms of digital trace data in the study of human movement.
Prior to her position as a Lecturer, Carmen completed a BSc in Physics, followed by an MSc in Complex Systems, specialising in Network Analysis. She then did a PhD in Applied Mathematics at University College London (UCL), focusing on the development of mathematical models of social behaviours in urban areas, against the theoretical backdrop of agglomeration economies. After graduating from her PhD in 2021, she was a Research Fellow in Urban Mobility at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), at UCL, where she currently holds a honorary position

Luis F Seoane

Luis F Seoane is a researcher in Complex Systems—working in that field in a very general sense. He has contributed studies to computational neuroscience, evolutionary dynamics, network theory, econophysics, or linguistics—among others. Very often, these studies tackle how a system’s complexity is changed as the system varies in size, number of components, number of parts, etc; and vice-versa: how a system’s complexity might affect its growth and constituting units. Since July 2025, he works at the Institute for Evolutionary Biology (IBE, UPF-CSIC) in Barcelona, where he heads the BIT Lab. Earlier, he completed postdocs at MIT, IBE, the Institute for Interdisciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC) in Palma de Mallorca, and the Spanish National Center for Biotechnology (CNB, CSIC) where he first launched the BIT Lab in 2023.

Maxi San Miguel

Maxi San Miguel (PhD in Theoretical Physics, University of Barcelona 1978) is Professor of Physics at the University of the Balearic Islands-UIB (since 1986) and founding Director of IFISC (Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems, UIB-CSIC(Spanish National Research Council), Palma de Mallorca, Spain. His academic career include positions and appointments at University of Barcelona, Temple University (Philadelphia, PA, USA), Università di Roma La Sapienza, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ, USA), University of Strathclyde (Glasgow), University of Technology of Helsinki and the Complexity Sciences Hub, Vienna. His research activity spans across different fields of Statistical and Nonlinear Physics (Stochastic Processes, Phase Transitions, Pattern Formation and Spatio-temporal Complexity, Complex Networks) and Computational Social Science, as well as Laser Physics and Photonics. He is the author of over 360 papers quoted over 18,600 times (h index=65) in top journals of Physics, Engineering, Ecology, Social Science and Multidisciplinary Science.
Maxi San Miguel was coordinator for Physics and Mathematics of ANEP (Spanish National Evaluation Agency), chairman of the EPS (European Physical Society) Division on Statistical and Nonlinear Physics (1998-2002), and vice-chair of the IUPAP (International Union on Pure and Applied Physics) commission on Statistical Physics (2017-20).
Maxi San Miguel has received the Medal of the Spanish Physical Society-Fundación BBVA in 2010 and the Senior Scientific Award 2015 of the Complex Systems Society.