ICMAT Newsletter #31 - 2025

October at ICMAT

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Here is the ICMAT monthly newsletter, which includes the latest news and forthcoming activities related to the Institute and its members.
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News
ICMAT launches Spain’s first high-performance mathematics programme for university students

MIP students and mentors, together with the ICMAT direction. Image: ICMAT/Álvaro Minguito

ICMAT is taking a new step in the training of mathematical talent of excellence. This October it has launched the Mathematics Intensive Programme (MIP), the first intensive training programme for undergraduate mathematics students in Spain. 

In this first year of MIP, four students who have just begun a Mathematics degree in Madrid are taking part, selected from over a hundred applicants. They are Sofía Paz Chacón, a Mathematics student at UAM, Gonzalo San Vicente, a student of the double degree in Mathematics and Physics at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), Iván López Navarro, studying Mathematics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), and Justo Juan Salcedo Otero, enrolled in Mathematics at UCM and in Physics at the National University of Distance Education (UNED). Each of them has been assigned an ICMAT researcher as their mentor for the next four years: Diego Córdoba, Mario García Fernández, Andrei Jaikin and David Martín de Diego.

More info
ICMAT ALUMNI
Roger Casals: from ICMAT to professor at UC Davis via MIT
Roger Casals is an expert in symplectic and contact topology. Image courtesy of Roger Casals.
ICMAT launches ICMAT Alumni, a section that features profiles of researchers who completed their PhD theses at ICMAT and who currently have recognized academic careers. Roger Casals, Professor of Mathematics at UC Davis (USA), opens this section: “The impact of ICMAT is evident in my working style: always striving for top-level standards and open to all kinds of mathematics”, he said.
Read Casal's profile
Mathematics and quantum theory to decipher reality beyond intuition
Do we live in a simulation? There is no evidence of it, but some people support this theory about reality, known as the simulation hypothesis. Image generated with AI.

On 4 November at 19:00 Alberto Ibort (UC3M-ICMAT) gives the lecture “Is reality as we believe? Mathematics and quantum theory to decipher it”, as part of the series Mathematics at the Residencia, at the Residencia de Estudiantes (Madrid). The talk offers a journey through the theories that have redefined what we understand as “reality”, from Isaac Newton’s cosmology and Albert Einstein’s relativity to Roger Penrose’s three worlds and the simulation hypothesis, in light of new quantum technologies. “Mathematics is the only sense that allows us to see clearly in the quantum universe”, says Ibort.

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ICMAT takes part in a scientific exchange event between China and Spain

ICMAT will be one of the four Spanish centres of excellence featured at the event. Image: Íñigo de Amescua/ICMAT

On 14 October, the Embassy of Spain in Beijing (China) organised “Spain–China Exchange: Connecting Talent, Fostering Excellence and Cutting-edge Research”, a scientific event where representatives from leading organisations and institutions from Spain and China shared best practices and explored avenues for collaboration between both countries. Among the speakers, Javier Aramayona, Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT), who introduced the centre and its main areas of action. The event was opened by Juan Cruz Cigudosa, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain, and Chen Jiachan, Vice-Minister of Science and Technology of China.

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Recent theses defences at ICMAT
David de Hevia Rodríguez during the defence. Image courtesy of De Hevia
"The Complemented Subspace Problem in Banach lattices", David de Hevia Rodríguez
  • Date of defence: 24 October 2025
  • Advisor: Pedro Tradacete (ICMAT-CSIC)
Hang Lu Su defended her thesis on 3rd October. Image: Hang Lu Su
"Una caja de herramientas para órdenes izquierdos de baja complejidad", Hang Lu Su
  • Date of defence: 3 October 2025
  • Advisor: Yago Antolín Pichel (ICMAT-UCM)
Currently visiting ICMAT
  • Marco Vergani (Florence University), until 06/11/2025
  • Mischa Elkner (ISTA, Austria), until 23/12/2025
  • Giulia Cardoso Fantato (Universidade de Sao Paulo), until 31/01/2026
  • Jean Chessa (École normale supérieure de Lyon), until 15/03/2026
  • Andoni de Arriba de la Hera (UNED), until 30/04/2026
  • Aram Harrow (MIT), until 28/06/2026
Full list of visitors
Next ICMAT activities
ICMAT is organising the following key activity in the coming months:
Furthermore, ICMAT hosts weekly thematic seminars where researchers from each area share their latest results.
Complete activities programme
Open Calls

5 Severo Ochoa Postdoctoral Positions at ICMAT. ICMAT offers 5 postdoctoral positions for excellent early-career researchers in mathematics who wish to pursue their research career at ICMAT. The contracts will be for a period of two years, starting before 1 October 2026. The application process will be handled through MathJobs. 
Deadline: 1/12/2025

1 Severo Ochoa Postdoctoral Position in Quantum Information Theory at ICMAT. ICMAT offers one postdoctoral position in Mathematics and Quantum Information Theory. The position is aimed at outstanding early-career researchers who wish to pursue their research career at ICMAT. The successful candidate will join the Ignacio Cirac Laboratory at ICMAT, coordinated by David Perez-Garcia, which focuses on the mathematical aspects of quantum technologies. The contract will be for a period of two years, starting before 1 October 2026. The application process will be handled through MathJobs. 
Deadline: 1/12/2025

1 Severo Ochoa Postdoctoral Position in Geometry at ICMAT. ICMAT offers one postdoctoral position in Geometry for excellent early-career researchers in mathematics who wish to pursue their research career at ICMAT. The appointed researcher will join the Hitchin-Ngô Laboratory at ICMAT, coordinated by Oscar García-Prada. Candidates across the field of algebraic and differential geometry are encouraged.  The contract will be for a period of two years, starting before 1 October 2026. The application process will be handled through MathJobs. 
Deadline: 1/12/2025

1 Postdoctoral Position in Geometry at ICMAT. ICMAT offers one postdoctoral position in Geometry for excellent early-career researchers in mathematics who wish to pursue their research career at ICMAT. The appointed researcher will join a collaboration project led by Oscar García-Prada (ICMAT-CSIC) and Jochen Heinloth (Universität Duisburg-Essen), dedicated to the study of the topology of moduli spaces. The contract will be for a period of two years, starting before 1 April 2026. The application process will be handled through MathJobs. 
Deadline: 1/12/2025

ICMAT in the media
Keep in touch
Have we forgotten anything? Do you want to add any news, visit or upcoming activity? Please, do not hesitate to write us at communication@icmat.es and we will include the information in the next newsletter.
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2025 Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas

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