Inho Hong

I am an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Data Science, Chonnam National University, Korea and leading Computational Social Science and Complex Systems Lab (CSL). My research focuses on understanding society through data science and complex systems methods, with particular interests in urban data science, human mobility, social impact of AI, and application of natural language processing.

[Download CV] (updated on Mar 3, 2025).

Education

• Ph.D. in Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 2019.
  • Complex social systems (advisor: Woo-Sung Jung)
• M.S. in Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 2012.
• B.S. in Physics, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 2010.

Professional Appointments

• Chonnam National University, Korea
  • Assistant Professor, Mar 2023 - Present.
  • Graduate School of Data Science
• Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany
  • Associate Research Scientist, Mar 2023 - Feb 2025.
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Mar 2020 - Feb 2023.
  • Center for Humans and Machines (Director: Iyad Rahwan), Machines and the Future of Work Group (PI: Alex Rutherford)
• Seoul Institute of Technology, Korea
  • Visiting Researcher, Aug 2020 - Dec 2020.
• Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Korea
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Sep 2019 - Feb 2020.
  • Statisical Physics of Complex Dynamics Lab (Leader: Hang-Hyun Jo)
• Kellogg School of Management & Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, USA
  • Visiting Predoctoral Fellow, Oct 2017 - Aug 2018. (Supervisor: Hyejin Youn)

Recent publications

• D. Kim, D. Lee, J. Myung, C. Jung, I. Hong, D. Sáez-Trumper, J. Yun, W.-S. Jung, and M. Cha, “Information collection of COVID-19 pandemic using Wikipedia template network”, Journal of KIISE 49, 347 (2022). (in Korean) [paper]

• L. N. Ferreira, I. Hong, A. Rutherford, and M. Cebrian, “The small-world network of global protests”, Scientific Reports 11, 19215 (2021). [paper]

• C. Jung, I. Hong, D. Sáez-Trumper, D. Lee, J. Myung, D. Kim, J. Yun, W.-S. Jung, and M. Cha, “Information flow on COVID-19 over Wikipedia: A case study of 11 languages”, Companion Proceedings of the Web Conference 2021, pp. 627 (2021). [paper]

• O.-H. Kwon*, I. Hong* (*equal contribution), J. Yang, D. Y. Wohn, W.-S. Jung, and M. Cha, “Urban green space and happiness in developed countries”, EPJ Data Science 10, 28 (2021). [paper]

• I. Hong, A. Rutherford, and M. Cebrian, “Social mobilization and polarization can create volatility in COVID-19 pandemic control”, Applied Network Science 6, 1 (2021). [paper]

• I. Hong, M. R. Frank, I. Rahwan, W.-S. Jung, and H. Youn, “The universal pathway to innovative urban economies”, Science Advances 6, eaba4934 (2020). [paper]

• I. Hong, W.-S. Jung, and H.-H. Jo, “Gravity model explained by the radiation model on a population landscape”, PLoS ONE 14, e0218028 (2019). [paper]

• H. Kim*, I. Hong* (*equal contribution), and W.-S. Jung, “Measuring national capability over big science’s multidisciplinarity: A case study of nuclear fusion research”, PLoS ONE 14, e0211963 (2019). [paper]

Preprints

• O.-H. Kwon, I. Hong, W.-S. Jung, H.-H. Jo, “Multiple gravity laws for human mobility within cities”, arXiv:2305.15665 (2023). [arXiv]
• I. Hong, L. N. Ferreira, A. Rutherford, M. Cebrian, “Assessing the epidemic impact of protests during the COVID-19 pandemic”, medRxiv doi: 10.1101/2022.10.10.22280896 (2022). [medRxiv]
• A. Rutherford, M. Cebrian, I. Hong and I. Rahwan, “Impossible by Conventional Means: Ten Years on from the DARPA Red Balloon Challenge”, arXiv:2008.05940 (2020). [arXiv]

Honors (selected)

• Young Statistical Physicist Award
  • The Korean Physical Society, Apr 2021.
  • Award news by MPIB
• Best Paper Award
  • Korea Computer Congress 2021, Jun 2021.
• Excellent Poster Presentation Award
  • 2017 Korean Physical Society Spring Meeting, Apr 2017.
  • 2013 Korean Physical Society Fall Meeting, Oct 2013.
• Excellent Oral Presentation Award
  • 2016 Korean Physical Society Fall Meeting, Oct 2016.
• Global Ph.D. Fellowship Program
  • National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), Mar 2014 – Feb 2017.

Visiting experience

• Data Science Group, Institute for Basic Science (Korea), Feb 2020.
• Growth Lab, Harvard Kennedy School (USA), Jun 2017.
• Santa Fe Institute (USA), Feb 2016.
• Aalto University (Finland), Feb 2015.

Articles

• “Universality in Urban Growth” (in Korean), 물리학과 첨단기술 (Webzine published by the Korean Physical Society), May 11, 2021.
• “Open data and COVID-19: Wikipedia as an informational resource during the pandemic”, Medium, Apr 16, 2020.
• “Open data and COVID-19: Language diversity on Wikipedia”, Medium, May 14, 2020.

Media coverage (selected)

• “The universal pathway to innovative urban economies”, Science Advances (2020).
  • Forbes, Quartz, Fast Company, Northwestern Magazine, Northwestern NOW, 매일경제 (in Korean).
• “Social mobilization and polarization can create volatility in COVID-19 pandemic control”, Applied Network Science (2021).
  • IDW Online, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Heise Online, Berliner Zeitung, Deutschlandfunk.
• “Urban green space and happiness in developed countries”, EPJ Data Science (2021).
  • UNICEF Report, The Science Times, Phys.org, Science Daily, 중앙일보 (in Korean), 연합뉴스 (in Korean).