Over the past decade, the fields of network science and causal inference have each made significant statistical and algorithmic advances. Understanding node-to-node connections and cause-and-effect relationships are each seen as fundamental to studying complex natural and social systems. There is a natural synergy between these two perspectives: connections between nodes can act as conduits of causal influence, while external causal interventions can selectively precipitate node-level connections.

The inaugural CausNetS satellite at NetSci 2026 aims to bring these two fields closer together, with an overall aim of moving toward a causal network science. It will be held on June 1, 2026 in Boston, MA, USA as part of NetSci 2026, and attendees must therefore register here. This half-day satellite will feature a mix of invited and contributed talks.

Call for Abstracts

As part of the program we invite extended abstract submissions that are due by 11:59 PM AOE on March 10, 2026; see further details below. We welcome submissions across theory, statistical methodology, and applied work on real-world networked experiments, on a variety of topics at the intersection of causal inference and network science, including but not limited to:

  • Network interference or SUTVA violations;
  • Causal interventions on network structure;
  • Real-world networked interventions (offline or online);
  • Causal mechanisms of network spillovers;
  • Causal estimation under long-range interference;
  • Network confounding in causal inference;
  • Stochastic or probabilistic modeling for interference;
  • Causal inference under network misspecification;
  • Causal discovery on networks;
  • Transportability or generalizability of network causal effects;
  • Experimental or observational designs for measuring spillovers;
  • Optimal policy choice under interference;
  • Heterogeneous treatment effects on networks;
  • Temporal causal effects or network dynamics;
  • Applications to specific domains — epidemiology, sociology, econometrics, etc.

We note that there will be no proceedings published as part of this satellite and invite new, previously published, or ongoing work for submission. We especially encourage graduate students and early career researchers to submit an abstract.

Extended Abstract Details

Extended abstracts must be submitted via this Google form.

  • Length: no longer than 2 pages in 11pt font (including references and any figures)
  • Format: PDF file
  • Deadline: 11:59 PM AOE on March 10, 2026

Important Dates

  • Submission deadline: March 10, 2026 at 11:59 PM AOE
  • Notification of acceptance: March 13, 2026
  • Early-bird registration deadline: March 20, 2026
  • Satellite date: June 1, 2026

Organizers

  • Sahil Loomba, Chapman–Schmidt AI in Science Fellow, Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London
  • Dean Eckles, William F. Pounds Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
  • Johan Ugander, Associate Professor, Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University