Philosophy

Our lab name – referencing the Ancient Greek τέλος – serves as a constant reminder to reflect not only on the purpose(s) of all our activities but also on the values and practices underlying them. In this spirit, the following notes attempt to capture how we operate.

These notes are regularly discussed and updated by the lab team, and they give outsiders an intuition for how we operate. Currently, they are woefully incomplete, but they may eventually evolve into a more comprehensive lab guide.

Values

• In ourselves.
  • Excellence, enthusiasm, and diligence.
  • Independence, creativity, curiosity, and courage.
  • Seeking continual learning, introspection, self-development, and personal growth.
• In relation to others.
  • Empathy, honesty, and kindness.
  • Collegiality, reliability, and respect.
  • Sharing experiences and expertise, seeking feedback early and often.
• In the lab.
  • Joy! Science is fundamentally fun (which is easy to forget in academia), and we remind each other of that.
  • Trust, support, and clarity in communication.
  • Open science and FAIR resource sharing.
  • Aesthetics matter – we like to make things beautiful, even where that is not expected.
  • Diversity of backgrounds and brain wirings.
  • Equality and hierarchy-free interaction of all group members.
  • Inclusivity and sensitivity to individual needs.

Leadership

We take a scientific approach to everything, including running our lab.
Our approach to leadership in academia is informed by this excellent book.

Joining the Lab

We are always looking for curious minds to work with. Interdisciplinary backgrounds and nonstandard trajectories are welcome.

If you would like to collaborate, visit, intern, or join my lab for a postdoc, PhD, (under)graduate thesis, or semester project, feel free to email the PI.
As a student, make sure to enclose

• your full transcript,
• your CV, and
• a succinct and LLM-free description of your motivation.

We will not respond to inquiries that do not meet these criteria.
If you are a student applying in the context of a specific call, please follow the application guidelines and procedures of that call.

Funded by our ERC Starting Grant Project, we are currently especially looking for people to join us in building a computational theory of legal systems.
If you would like to work in the intersection of legal theory, computer science, and network science (and, depending on the career stage, bring some relevant background knowledge), please get in touch!

Summer Internships

We regularly host summer interns via the excellent AScI Summer Research Program.
When applications are open, you will find our project-specific application instructions here.
The primary audience for summer internship opportunities is Bachelor and Master students.

Visiting (Doctoral) Researchers

We are happy to host doctoral researchers and researchers in more advanced career stages via the AScI Visiting (Doctoral) Researcher Program.
The application deadlines and durations of supported visits differ by career stage.
The program requires a work plan to be prepared in coordination with the host lab.