MITHIC 2026

General Information

Multivariate Information Theory and High-Order Interactions in Complex Systems (MITHIC)

The behaviour of complex systems often arises from intricate interactions between multiple components, not merely pairwise but higher-order interactions. Traditional analysis tools are limited in detecting such complex dependencies. Multivariate Information Theory (MVIT) offers a robust framework to capture and quantify these interactions, providing tools such as Total Correlation, O-Information, and Partial Information Decomposition.

This workshop aims to bring together early-career researchers, students, and domain experts to explore MVIT, both from theoretical and practical perspectives. Thematic focus areas include applications in a range of complex systems — covering neuroscience, epidemics, and systems biology — with special attention to the overlap between MVIT and high-order network theory. By blending instruction with collaborative exploration, the MITHIC workshop seeks to advance understanding of how to use multivariate dependencies to study collective behaviour emerging from high-order interactions and to foster new interdisciplinary research directions.

About the Workshop

Are you working with high-dimensional datasets? Curious about how complex, emergent behaviour arises from interactions among many variables? Join us for MITHIC 2026, a hands-on workshop exploring how Multivariate Information Theory (MVIT) can help you uncover hidden structures and high-order dependencies in Complex Systems. Learn the theoretical and practical tools for analysing interactions beyond the pairwise level, focusing on collective dynamics. We will explore key MVIT metrics like Total Correlation, O-Information, and Partial Information Decomposition, and their applications across disciplines.

Important dates

Application opens: 1 December, 2025
Application deadline: 13 February, 2026 (included)
Notification of acceptance: 2 March, 2026*
Workshop dates: 11-13 May 2026

* Subject to change based on application volume.

Application Open

Application

We welcome graduate students, postdocs, and researchers in physics, biology, neuroscience, AI, data science, and related fields. Prior programming experience in Python is helpful but not mandatory. The workshop is free of charge, thus limited to a maximal number of 30 participants. These will be selected based on the quality of their applications. To apply, please use the online application form.

We will provide lunch and a coffee break each day. Also, we invite you to a social dinner to complete the event, free of charge. However, we do not cover travel or accommodation expenses.

Student Grants

We also provide a limited number of student grants to help cover travel or accommodation expenses of young scholars with limited or no access to financial resources. Applicants wishing to be considered for a travel grant should indicate this in their application form and provide a brief motivation. Successful applicants will be notified along with their acceptance letters.

Venue

The conference will be held at
Institute for Bio-computation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI)
Mariano Esquillor, Edificio I + D
Campus Río Ebro, Calle María de Luna, 1, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain

Program

The afternoons will be dedicated to interactive, hands-on tutorials using Python-based MVIT toolkits. Participants will learn to apply metrics such as Total Correlation, Multivariate Mutual Information, and O-Information to synthetic and real datasets. Each group will be encouraged to explore a research question through guided project work, culminating in short presentations. Participants will be grouped and supported through prepared Jupyter notebooks and curated datasets. Optionally, they may bring their own data.

Topics include

Theory and practice of MVIT metrics
Real-world examples in neuroscience, epidemics, and finance
Connections to High-Order Network Theory and Topological Data Analysis

What to Expect

Expert lecture on MVIT and complex systems
Python-based tutorials for MVIT analysis
Group work on participant-defined research questions
Collaborative roundtables linking MVIT to broader theories

Provisional Timetable:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
Welcome and introduction to the workshop	Keynote seminar	Discuss progress and issues with the projects. Exchange advice and ideas.
Coffee Break	Coffee Break	Coffee Break
Keynote seminar	Working on the projects	Working on the projects
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
Presentation of participant projects	Working on the projects	Finalizing the projects and prepare a presentation
Division into groups and begin project work	Discussion: Connecting Higher-order structure and MVIT	Groups presentations
Closing: Q&A	Closing: Q&A	Social dinner

Organisers

The MITHIC workshop brings together researchers from diverse fields to explore how Multivariate Information Theory and high-order interactions shape the behaviour of complex systems. This event is organised by researchers actively contributing to the intersection of complex systems science, information theory, and higher-order network dynamics. Additionally, the workshop is closely connected to the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network, ‘BeyondTheEdge’. This EU-funded doctoral network explores how non-pairwise, higher-order interactions drive complex dynamics in networks. BeyondTheEdge unifies three key themes — foundations, structure, and dynamics — into a cohesive framework for understanding complex systems. MVIT is a promising field for bridging these areas. One of the organisers, Cyril Rommens, is an early-stage researcher in this project, providing a direct connection between the workshop and the consortium. For more information about BeyondTheEdge visit: beyondtheedge.network

Cyril Rommens

PhD researcher in Complex Systems and Information Theory. He holds an MSc in Computational Physics of Complex Systems from the University of Amsterdam, with research on brain networks and topological data analysis. His work focuses on high-order interactions in complex systems, combining information theory and statistical physics to link structure and dynamics in multivariate systems.

Pietro Traversa

PhD researcher in Complex Systems, with a background in Physical Engineering and an MSc in Physics of Complex Systems from institutions in Turin and Paris. His work focuses on hypergraphs and higher-order dynamics in real systems, such as metabolic and gene networks. He was a Junior Researcher at the CENTAI Institute and contributed to the EU-funded KATY project, collaborating with the CEA lab in Grenoble.

Prof. Yamir Moreno

Director of BIFI, head of the COSNET Lab, and Professor of Physics at the University of Zaragoza. His work focuses on complex systems, including disease dynamics and network science. He has published more than 290 papers (53,000+ citations, h-index 86) and co-authored the most cited Physics Reports article. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Complex Networks, has led several EU projects, and has advised the EU and WHO. He is a Fellow of the APS and the Network Science Society and has received major awards in complex systems science.

Accommodation

Zaragoza is one of Spain’s major cities. The capital of the Region of Aragon is located on the banks of the Ebro River, halfway between Madrid and Barcelona. There are many reasons to come to this open, cosmopolitan and friendly city. Today Zaragoza is a bustling and expanding city with a population of more than 600,000 inhabitants. As its urban development continues to grow, it is now spreading out on both sides of the Ebro river. Thanks to its solid industrial background, buoyant commercial aspect and first-class hotel infrastructure, Zaragoza has become an ideal center for conferences, trade fairs and congresses. This is also aided by its strategic position at the center of the main provincial capitals.

Zaragoza has an excellent and varied hotel infrastructure. Generally, the prices of many of the flagship hotels of upper-middle range are not high at all and remain stable throughout the year. This contributes to a great extent so that both tourists and businessmen can enjoy the amenities and gastronomy of this multicultural city.

Here is our recommended selection based on the proximity to the city and price-quality ratio:

HOTEL ALFONSO - HOTEL PALAFOX - HOTEL VINCCI ZARAGOZA - NH COLLECTION GRAN HOTEL ZARAGOZA - HOTEL ZENIT DON YO - HOTEL ORIENTE - HOTEL SILKEN REINO DE ARAGÓN - NH CIUDAD DE ZARAGOZA