Name: 15th Illicit Networks Workshop (INW 2026)
Start: 2026-06-29
End: 2026-06-30
Location: Complexity Science Hub

Programme

This is a tentative programme and is subject to change.

📄 Publication Ready (20 min) · 🔬 In-Progress Research (15 min)

Monday, June 29

9:00–9:10 — Welcome & Introduction (Bernhard Haslhofer, David Décary-Hétu & Rafael Prieto-Curiel)

9:10–9:15 — Introducing Global Crime & Taylor & Francis (Francesco Calderoni & Sadaf Hashimi)

9:15–9:45

Keynote

Collaboration or Disconnect? The Real Impact of Research in Law Enforcement.
Thomas Goger, Bavarian Central Office for the Prosecution of Cybercrime (ZCB)

9:45–10:30

Session 1 — Online Drug Markets

The role of darknet marketplaces for the supply of highly potent synthetic opioids 🔬
Meropi Tzanetakis and Teodora Groshkova

How Prescription Regimes Shape Illicit Demand and Supply in Online Drug Markets 🔬
Filippo Andrei, Ákos Szigeti and Richard Frank

The role of prescription drugs in darknet markets 🔬
Katharina Ledebur, Richard Frank and Bernhard Haslhofer

10:30–11:00 — Coffee Break

11:00–12:30

Session 2 — Drug Trafficking & Regulation

Decoding the Global Cocaine Supply Chain 📄
Bart Peters, Frederike Oetker, Robby Roks and Huijuan Wang

Beyond Source–Transit–Destination: Using Social Network Analysis and Clustering to Identify Dynamic Country Roles in Global Cocaine and Heroin Flow Networks 📄
Phillip Screen

Cocaine Trafficking via Container Ships, Dynamics between Corruption, and Inspections: A Neural Network Agent-Based Model 🔬
Maykol Rodriguez Prieto and Daniel Cárdenas Sánchez

The Evolution of Drug-Control Regulation: A Network Approach 🔬
Alyssa Meier and Corinna Coupette

The emergence crime-as-a-service money laundering networks in the Netherlands 📄
Paul Duijn

12:30–13:30 — Lunch

13:30–15:00

Session 3 — Organised Crime & Mafia Networks

Layers of Trust: Multiplex Social Ties and the Structural Organization of the Sinaloa Cartel Network from El Chapo’s Trial 📄
Francesco Calderoni

Exploring the Dynamic Interplay between Communication and Co-offending Using Relational Hyperevent Data on an Italian Mafia Network 📄
Tomáš Diviák, Caterina Paternoster, Jürgen Lerner and Francesco Calderoni

Structural Patterns in Interfamily Marriages in the ’Ndrangheta 🔬
Caterina Paternoster, Daniele Durante, Maurizio Catino and Alberto Aziani

Mapping the ‘mafia cultural-digital drift’. A digital ethnography of networks of Calabrian parochialism and ’ndrangheta values on TikTok 🔬
Anna Sergi

Predicting the formation of co-offending ties among Outlaw Motorcycle Gang affiliates 📄
David Bright, Callum Jones, Tomas Diviak, Chad Whelan and Hamid Azizi

15:00–15:30 — Coffee Break

15:30–16:40

Session 4 — Co-offending & Youth Networks

Social foraging for crime: A formal model of co-offending dynamics 🔬
Ruslan Klymentiev, P. Jeffrey Brantingham, Rafael Prieto-Curiel, Luis E. C. Rocha and Christophe Vandeviver

Evolving Ties: A Longitudinal Analysis of Youth Peer Network Dynamics in a British Columbia Youth Recreational Centre 🔬
Courtney Robertson and Martin Bouchard

The Role of Social Embeddedness in Violent Youth Co-offending 📄
Shaun McLaws, Molly McCarthy, Stephane Shepherd and David Bright

Structural determinants of youth violent victimisations: Evidence from Cambridgeshire, UK 📄
Paolo Campana, Noemi Corsini and Cecilia Meneghini

16:40 — Close of Day 1

18:00 — Social Dinner (details to follow)

Tuesday, June 30

9:00–9:15 — Day 2 Introduction

9:15–10:30

Session 5 — Corruption & Governance

Multiplex Illicit Networks in Global Sport Governance: A Social Network Analysis of Corruption in the FIFA World Cup Bidding Process 📄
Lucas Tosi Rodriguez, Sarah Osman and Stefano Caneppele

Adaptive dynamics of procurement corruption: A multilevel longitudinal network analysis of municipal contracting in Guatemala, 2012–2026 📄
Harald Waxenecker and Christina Prell

State capture in the Italian public procurement network 🔬
Marti Medina-Hernandez, Mihaly Fazekas and Janos Kertesz

Green-Collar Crime: A Social Network Analysis of Transnational Emissions-Credit Fraud 📄
Christian Leuprecht and Rhianna Hamilton

10:30–11:00 — Coffee Break

11:00–12:15

Session 6 — Cyber Crime & Fraud

Illicit Enterprise and Innovation: A Comparison of Two Financial Malware Networks 📄
Jonathan Lusthaus, Michael Levi, Rutger Leukfeldt, Thomas Holt and Edward Kleemans

White-Label Fraud Ecosystems: Campaign Clustering and Multiplex Infrastructure Network Analysis of Online Investment Scams 📄
Ashleigh Rhea Gonzales Burnside and Ian MacKinnon

Hybrid Criminal Ecosystems: A Network Theory of Corruption–Cybercrime Convergence 📄
Issa Luna-Pla

Understanding illicit knowledge sharing on online platforms in the facilitation of economic crime and cyber crime 🔬
Rose Alexander, Jess Kelly, David Décary-Hétu and Samantha Dowling

12:30–13:30 — Lunch

13:30–15:00

Session 7 — Online Platforms & Digital Infrastructure

Operation Alice: Insights into Shared Cryptocurrency Infrastructure Across Dark Web Sites 🔬
Thomas Niedermayer and Eljo Haspels

Beyond Individual Vulnerability: A Temporal Network Analysis of Incel Radicalisation in Online Forums 🔬
Giorgia Caon

Beyond Events: Political and Structural Drivers of Interstate Cyber Relations 🔬
Gaia Michelazzi

Mapping the Shadows: Graph-Theoretic Intelligence and Behavioral Clustering Across the TRON Transaction Network 🔬
Tanmay Thapliyal and Rachit Agarwal

Modeling the evolution of human trafficking networks using Bayesian network reconstruction methods 🔬
Felipe Aros-Vera and Edward Asante

15:00–15:30 — Coffee Break

15:30–16:50

Session 8 — Terrorism, Violence & Policing

Understanding Self-Starter Terrorism: A Network Mobilization Perspective 📄
Michael Genkin and Alexander Gutfraind

Disrupting Terrorist Networks: Comparing the Effectiveness of Social Network Analysis-Informed Intervention Strategies 📄
Callum Jones, David Bright, Chad Whelan, Matthew Roughan, Lewis Mitchell and Cameron Cornell

Shaming Epstein’s licit and illicit networks 📄
Michael Levi

Selecting For Certainty: How Workplace Friendships Form and Function in Police Work 📄
Marie Ouellet and Sadaf Hashimi

16:50–17:00

Looking ahead. The Future of the Illicit Networks Workshop.

Scientific Committee Members

17:00 — Closing Remarks & Farewell

Registration

Space is limited due to room capacity. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis until June 12, 2026 or until sold out.

Ticket type	Price
Regular	€250
Student	€100

Key Dates

Proposals due

March 2, 2026

Notification

March 9, 2026

Registration deadline

June 12, 2026

Full papers due

June 22, 2026

Workshop

June 29–30, 2026

Venue

Welcome to the Complexity Science Hub!

The Complexity Science Hub (CSH) is Europe’s research center for the study of complex systems, based in Vienna. Founded in 2016, the CSH is home to around 80 scientists driven by the growing need for a genuine understanding of the networks that underlie society – from healthcare and cybercrime to supply chains.

Address: Complexity Science Hub, Metternichgasse 8, 1030 Vienna

Download Venue Guide (PDF)

Getting to Vienna

From Vienna Airport (Schwechat): Take the REX 7 (direction Wien Floridsdorf) or S7 (direction Wolkersdorf) to station “Rennweg” – approx. 25 minutes. From there it’s a 6-minute walk to CSH. Tickets can be purchased via the ÖBB app or at the red ticket machines at the station.

From Vienna Central Station (Hauptbahnhof): Take any S-Bahn (S1, S2, S3) or regional train to station “Rennweg” – approx. 10 minutes. Walk along Rennweg toward Unteres Belvedere, turn right into Metternichgasse; the CSH entrance is on the left.

Stations Nearby

Bus 4A (Am Modenapark) – 4 min walk
Tram 71 (Unteres Belvedere) – 3 min walk
Tram O (Rennweg) – 6 min walk
Metro U4 (Stadtpark) – 10 min walk
S-Bahn S1, S2, S3, S7 (Rennweg) – 6 min walk

Accommodation

NH Hotel Belvedere – 2 min walk from CSH
magdas Hotel – 10 min walk from CSH
Lindner Hotel am Belvedere – 5 min walk from CSH

About

The Illicit Networks Workshop (INW) includes the leading scholars and analysts from across the world that share a research interest in the use of network analysis in furthering the understanding of the activities of individuals, groups and organisations engaged in organised crime, gangs, transnational crime, terrorism, economic crime and corruption issues. The INW is designed with the goal of maximizing meaningful and on-going knowledge exchange among researchers, policy makers and those involved in policy, programme and practical engagement with illicit networks. While some members draw heavily on quantitative social network analysis, others utilise other methods (e.g., ethnography) for studying illicit networks. The focus is less on the relative merits of approach and more on the rigour of the science and value of the insights to theory building and practical policy solutions.

INW was launched by Andrew Goldsmith from Flinders University in 2008. Carlo Morselli (R.I.P.) joined the organizing committee in 2009 as the head of the Équipe de recherche sur la délinquance en réseau (ERDR) at the Université de Montréal. INW has been hosted in six countries since its inception.