External programs

External programs 2024

Learning over Structured
High-Dimensional Objects:
Theory and Complexity

Many modern, large-scale datasets are structured as graphs, matrices, tensors, and other combinatorial objects. A central challenge across mathematics, statistics, and theoretical computer science is to understand the limits of inference, when these limits can be achieved computationally, and where fundamental barriers arise.

Recent progress has provided evidence of computational-statistical gaps in many such problems. Low-degree polynomials, Sum-of-Squares, the overlap gap property, and other signatures of hardness, together with average-case reductions, have emerged as powerful frameworks for studying these questions in random models with planted structure. These developments have sharpened our understanding of computational phase transitions while also raising fundamental questions about the scope and limitations of existing techniques.

This six-week program will bring together leading and early-career researchers working on high-dimensional inference, random graphs and graphons, random matrices and tensors, average-case complexity, and related topics. It will feature two workshops and a PhD course, complemented by seminars, reading groups, and collaborative working sessions.

The CIMPA and the Bernoulli Center collaborate to fund the participation of young researchers, including doctoral students and those who have completed their doctorate within the last 5 years or are under the age of 36. This opportunity is aimed at individuals based in developing countries, as defined by the IMU-CDC. You can find more information and how to apply on this page.

 

Multiscale Methods in Percolation
& Interacting Particle Systems

This programme will be held from 10 to 28 May 2027. During the first two weeks, the academic schedule will be deliberately light, with a combination of seminars and minicourses designed to leave ample time for informal discussions and collaboration. The third week will take the form of a workshop and will welcome a larger number of participants.

The key scientific aim of the programme is to bring together leading researchers in percolation theory and interacting particle systems in order to facilitate the dissemination and exchange of state-of-the-art developments in these fields, as well as to discuss future directions.

Quantum Designs, Stark Units
and Hilbert’s 12th Problem

The programme Quantum Designs, Stark Units and Hilbert’s 12th Problem will take place from 31 May to 18 June 2027 at the Bernoulli Center at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The meeting will focus on SIC-POVMs and their connections with number theory-including the Stark conjectures-frame theory, and quantum physics. Its aim is to create sustained opportunities for specialists from these areas to exchange ideas, establish a common language, and begin new collaborations.

Synergies in-non-equilibrium QFT:
from heavy ions to the cosmos

The programme “Synergies in non-equilibrium QFT: from heavy ions to the cosmos” will take place from 21 June to 9 July 2027 at the Bernoulli Center at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Non-equilibrium quantum field theory plays a central role in both heavy-ion physics and primordial cosmology. Despite the vastly different physical scales involved, the two communities face closely analogous problems such as thermalisation, phase transitions, non-thermal fixed points, turbulent dynamics, and the emergence of effective descriptions. They also make use of closely related theoretical tools, including the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism, kinetic theory, classical-statistical methods, and effective field theory. These techniques have nonetheless developed largely independently in the two fields. The aim of the programme is to bring the communities together, exchange methods and perspectives, and identify problems where progress in one area can inform the other.

The programme opens with an international school for early-career researchers on real-time and out-of-equilibrium QFT techniques (21–25 June) followed by two symposia: Non-equilibrium phase transitions and critical dynamics (28 June–2 July) and Far from equilibrium dynamics and thermalisation (5–9 July).

There will also be a retreat week at Les Diablerets from 11 to 16 July.

 

 

Call for Research Programs 2025

 

The Bernoulli Center calls for research program proposals in the areas of mathematics, theoretical physics, and/or theoretical computer science. The deadline for proposal submissions is June 16, 2024 and the period covered by the call is May to December 2025. 

Proposals should include the following information:

  1. Program name
  2. Names, short CV’s, and email addresses of organisers
  3. Duration of the program and preferred dates
    Programs can range from four to nine weeks in duration. Please do indicate your preferences regarding dates, but try to be as flexible as possible.
  4. Scientific program
    Give a detailed description of the proposed program, including an overview of the topic area, recent achievements, future research directions, timeliness of the proposal, relation to programmes held at other research institutes, etc. This should include a summary that is accessible to research mathematicians working in a completely unrelated field, as well as a more detailed (up to three pages) part accessible to experts working in adjacent areas.
  5. Program structure
    This should include a description of the planned activities like workshops (including number of participants and durations), weekly seminars, public lectures, minicourses, etc. We encourage you to contact colleagues working in your area at EPFL to explore the possibility of offering PhD level courses that can be counted for credit by EPFL students.
  6. Potential participants
    The list of potential participants should be about 15-25% longer than the proposed size of the program to account for cancellations. Ideally, potential long-term participants will already have been contacted for a tentative agreement. The center will provide shared office space for up to 10 researchers, with additional modular space available for discussions or shared desk space, and it can accommodate workshops / seminars with about 50 participants.
  7. Budget in CHF
    Please do include a detailed budget with your proposal. A guideline budget ranges from around CHF 80k for a four weeks programme to around CHF 140k for a nine weeks programme. Participants will be encouraged to use their own travel funds when possible.
Note: The SwissMap research station at Les Diablerets is located nearby and, depending on availabilities, can also be used to organise a workshop / retreat during a Bernoulli research programme.
 

Please send your proposal to Martin Hairer (martin.hairer@epfl.ch ) for consideration.

The long-term research programs will start once the center expansions / renovations are completed.