Cyril Rommens

About Me

I am a PhD student in the EU-funded doctoral network BeyondTheEdge at the Complex Systems and Networks Laboratory (COSNET), part of the Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI) at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. Under the supervision of Prof. Yamir Moreno, I study the physics of high-order interactions in complex systems.

I hold an MSc in Computational Physics of Complex Systems as dual degree from University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Free University Amsterdam (VU) (2022–2024), where I focused on emergent phenomena in complex systems. My master’s thesis, Free Energy of Simplicial Complexes in Functional Brain Networks, explored the interplay between topology and dynamics in neural systems. During this period, I also completed a research internship at the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (2024), where I worked on Bayesian inference, information homology, and topological data analysis of brain networks.

Before that, I earned two BSc degrees, one in Physics and Astronomy as dual degree from UvA-VU (2018-2021), and one in Medical Natural Sciences from VU (2017–2021), as well as a minor in Space Physics from The Arctic University of Norway (2022–2023).

Research Interests

I am fascinated by the study of complexity through the lenses of dynamical systems theory and multivariate information theory. My current work investigates how multivariate information measures capture high-order interactions by analyzing the dynamics of coupled oscillators on hypergraphs.

Gaining knowledge on these topics will allow us to deepen our understanding and improve our studies of both micro- and macroscopic behaviours of complex systems. One of my main applications is exploring how information is processed and stored in biological versus artificial intelligence systems, though the methods I study also apply to a wide range of complex systems — from neural dynamics to evolutionary processes in theoretical biology.

Beyond Research

In addition to my passion for physics, I am zealous about music and perform with the Dutch post-punk group Shaemless. The rest of my free time is spent on boxing and film. I look forward to connecting!