Short Bio

Sophia Baum is a PhD candidate in the Supply Chain Science group at the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) and TU Vienna. Her research is part of the Supply Chain Intelligence Institute Austria (ASCII) project, which applies exploratory, data-driven methods to map and analyse global supply chains.

She holds a BSc in Physics (2020) from Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg and an MSc in Physics (2024) from the University of Vienna. Prior to starting her PhD, Sophia completed her Master’s thesis at CSH on the interdisciplinary application of ferromagnetic concepts to supply chain networks. During her studies, she also participated in an exchange programme at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign (UIUC).

PhD Project - Mapping Global Firm-Level Supply Networks

Supervised by Stefan Neumann and Peter Klimek

Sophia’s research focuses on uncovering firm-to-firm supply chain networks using AI-augmented statistical methods, with a particular emphasis on sectors involving critical raw materials. As comprehensive global data on company-to-company relationships are largely unavailable, she develops novel approaches to infer supply links from publicly available data and information at scale. Her work aims to better understand how supply network structures can be improved in terms of resilience, efficiency, sustainability, and political stability.

Publications and Conferences

Journal Papers

• Baum, S., Laber, M., Brucker, M., Yang, L., Thurner, S., Klimek, P.  Adaptive Shock Compensation in the Multi-layer Network of Global Food Production and Trade (2024). arXiv preprint https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.03502 (under revision)
• Baum, S., Hess, M., Klimek, P.  Systemic Risk in Critical Raw Material Value Chains (2025) (under preparation)

Presentations

• “Superposed shocks in adaptive multi-layer networks of global food production and trade”. CCS2025 (Food Systems Satellite). Lightning Talk. Siena. IT. September 04, 2025
• “Systemic Risk in Critical Raw Material Value Chains”. CCS2025 (Supply Chain Satellite). Lightning Talk. Siena. IT. September 03, 2025
• “Adaptive shock compensation in the multi-layer network of global food production and trade”. CCS2025. Contributing Talk. Siena, IT. September 02, 2025
• “Systemic Risk in Critical Raw Material Value Chains”. CSH Seminar. Vienna, AT. July 8, 2025.
• “Adaptive shock compensation in the multi-layer network of global food production and trade”. CCS2024. Contributing Talk. Exeter, GB. September 06, 2024