Jana Lasser

Jana Lasser

Institute of Interactive Systems and Data Science, Graz University of Technology & Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Austria

I am a PostDoc at the Computational Social Science lab at the Graz University of Technology and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna.

Drawing from my experience in nonlinear dynamical systems, my current research activity centres around emergent phenomena in complex social systems. I employ methods from machine learning, data science and natural language processing to understand a diverse range of topics in the field of Computational Social Science. My current research interests include the spread of misinformation on social media platforms, the effectiveness of counterspeech strategies, the impact of prosociality on disease spread and the fracturing or our society’s understanding of “honesty”.

For my PhD in physics, I conducted research on pattern formation in salt deserts at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and received my degree from the Georg-August-University in Göttingen, Germany in 2019.

Next to my research I care deeply about how the scientific community functions and dysfunctions. I try to improve reproducibility and transparency of research by being an outspoken and active proponent of Open Science practices. During my time as the president of the Max Planck PhD association I learned about the rampant mental health problems of many academics and joined the COST Action on Researcher Mental Health where I lead the effort to conduct the largest ever survey on researcher mental health.

Email

jana[dot]lasser[at]tugraz[dot]at