Stefan is co-founder and president of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna and has headed the Institute for the Science of Complex Systems at the Medical University of Vienna as a full professor since 2010. Since 2007 he has been an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, USA. He received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the Vienna University of Technology in 1995 and in Economics from the University of Vienna in 2001. He held postdoctoral positions at the Humboldt University in Berlin and at Boston University before joining the University of Vienna in 1999 and later the Medical University of Vienna, where he habilitated in theoretical physics in 2001. With his engagement at the Santa Fe Institute, he shifted his focus from theoretical physics to biological and complex systems, which are now his preferred areas of scientific research.
Since 1995, Stefan has published more than 220 scientific articles and holds two patents. Stefan has (co-)organized numerous international conferences, workshops and summer and winter schools and has given more than 200 lectures. His work has attracted widespread media attention, including the New York Times, BBС World, Nature, New Scientist, Physics World, and has been featured in over 500 newspaper, radio and television articles.
Stefan is a member of many scientific committees and (editorial) boards. In 2017, he was named “Scientist of the Year” in Austria and received the Paul Watzlawick Ring of Honor in 2021.
