Newsroom
Stay informed with our latest news and announcements on this page. For more in-depth content, we also encourage visitors to explore our bimonthly STRUCTURES Newsletter magazine, which features a variety of articles, interviews with members, and background information on our latest research and activities.
We are pleased to welcome Felix Otto (MPI Leipzig) for the next Mathematical Colloquium on Thursday, 23 April 2026, at 16:15 in the Mathematikon lecture hall. Felix Otto, Director of the MPI in Leipzig and a leading expert in analysis and partial differential equations, will give a talk entitled “Convection-enhanced diffusion, and Brownian motion on the Lie group SLn”.
Abstract:
This talk draws a connection between a well-known phenomenon in fluid dynamics and an object from differential geometry. On the one hand, the ubiquitous phenomenon is that advection by a turbulent divergence-free drift effectively (and dramatically) enhances the diffusion of particles in n-dimensional Euclidean space. On the other hand, the object from differential geometry is a natural notion of Brownian motion on SLₙ, the Lie group and Riemannian manifold of matrices of unit determinant; it is a tensorial version of geometric Brownian motion.The connection is established by tracking the relative position of a pair of particles as a function of their initial configuration and involves a change of time variables: the “time” parameter for the Brownian motion on SLₙ is given by the logarithm of the effective diffusivity of the particles, which increases with physical time.
This is joint work with Peter Morfe and Christian Wagner.
All interested colleagues and students are warmly invited to attend.
Further information:
We are delighted to announce the next event in our Machine Learning Galore! series, focusing on Scientific Machine Learning, which will take place on Wednesday, April 29, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at INF 205 Mathematikon (5th floor). The event features lab presentations by principal investigators, followed by brief presentations from junior scientists showcasing their latest work. Extended discussions will offer ample opportunity for in-depth exchanges.
Event Details:
- Lab presentations:
- Sascha Diefenbacher
- Lutz Greb
- Christoph Schnörr
- Science Talks:
- Sascha Diefenbacher: Forecasting Generative Amplification
- Andreas Albers (Greb lab): Machine Learning for Molecular Property Prediction: Revisiting Empirical Chemistry with Big Data
- Jonas Cassel (Schnörr lab): Vector Bundle Data Models and Geometric Deep Learning
Registration is free but required via the ML-AI portal:
https://www.mlai.uni-heidelberg.de/en/machine-learning-talks-on-campus
About Scientific Machine Learning:
Scientific Machine Learning is a collaborative initiative by the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) and the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence. Its mission is to foster interaction and exchange within the local machine learning community, and to support its development by consolidating activities and resources that might otherwise remain scattered across individual institutions or disciplines. The initiative aligns closely with the objectives of STRUCTURES, which aims to advance fundamental research, and with IWR’s focus on applying machine learning to address long-standing challenges in the natural and life sciences, engineering, and the humanities.
Further information:
We congratulate our member Alicia Castro on receiving funding through the Olympia Morata Programme of Heidelberg University, following a competitive selection process.
Dr. Alicia Castro is a postdoctoral researcher at STRUCTURES and a member of the STRUCTURES Young Researchers Convent (YRC). Her research at the Institute for Theoretical Physics explores the fundamental structure of spacetime at the smallest scales, where familiar notions such as distance, volume and dimension break down. Using methods from random geometry, her work examines how these classical properties emerge in the context of quantum gravity and how they fluctuate.
In this approach, quantum spacetime is modelled as a collection of many possible geometries rather than a single fixed one. This makes it possible to capture microscopic fluctuations of spacetime expected in quantum gravity, and lays the foundation for more detailed studies of the microscopic structure of the universe. “I aim to connect the mathematical ideas of random geometry with the physical behaviour of spacetime, offering a clearer picture of how the universe behaves under extreme conditions,” Alicia Castro says.
“With the support of the Olympia Morata Programme, I will establish the foundations of an independent research agenda that positions me to apply for grants to start my own group,” she adds.
The Olympia Morata Programme supports excellent postdoctoral researchers with outstanding qualification projects, as they work toward higher academic qualifications (e.g. habilitation or equivalent achievements). The programme targets female and gender-diverse researchers, aimed at supporting their academic career progression as part of Heidelberg University's commitment to promoting equitable opportunities in academic careers. As part of the programme, recipients are appointed to two-year fixed-term positions and benefit from additional training and career development opportunities. The programme is named after Olympia Fulvia Morata, a 16th-century humanist scholar who taught in Heidelberg.
Further information:
We are delighted to announce the first edition of the Geometry Space Surrey workshop, which will take place June 8-10, 2026 at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK. Supported by the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence at Heidelberg University, the workshop is the first event of its kind, bringing together researchers working at the interface of symplectic geometry and astrodynamics.
The aim of the meeting is to bring together researchers from both communities to discuss recent developments at the intersection of these two fields, identify promising directions for future research, and foster new collaborations. By creating a dedicated forum for exchange, the workshop seeks to encourage sustained dialogue between mathematicians and researchers working in space dynamics.
Over three days, the programme will feature six plenary lectures, 15-20 contributed research talks, and a poster session for early-career researchers. In addition, a social dinner in Guildford is planned for the evening of the second day. Interested participants may also choose to stay on the morning of Thursday, June 11 for a guided tour of the SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Limited) facilities, to see first-hand how satellites are being built for specific missions.
“The goal is to see how symplectic geometry, a branch of abstract mathematics aimed at understanding physics in a geometric way, can influence space mission design and optimization,” said Dr Arthur Limoge, a STRUCTURES YRC alumnus at the Surrey Space Centre, who is organizing the workshop with Dr Nicola Baresi of Surrey Space Centre and University of Surrey mathematicians Prof David Lloyd and Prof Tom Bridges. “We want to enable space engineers to interact with mathematicians and space industry experts to see how we can gain understanding of complex space mission design problems such as trajectory design and surveillance in the Sun-Earth-Moon system," added Nicola Baresi.
Registration is now open on the workshop website. Early-bird rates are available until 14 April 2026, and registration closes on 14 May. During the registration process, participants will be able to submit abstracts for the research talks and poster session. Submissions are welcome on any topic relating to astrodynamics, symplectic/differential geometry, Hamiltonian dynamics, geometric mechanics, geometric integrators, geometric optimal control, and related areas.
The workshop is supported by the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence at Heidelberg University, which promotes interdisciplinary research into the mathematical and physical structures underlying complex systems. By encouraging dialogue between mathematics and space dynamics, the meeting reflects STRUCTURES’ broader interest in fostering connections between fields that rarely interact directly.
Further information:
On Thursday, April 23, 2026, various institutes across Heidelberg University will open their doors for Girls'Day, a nationwide initiative aimed at inspiring girls to explore career paths in IT, craftsmanship, natural sciences, and technology – fields where women are still underrepresented. Several STRUCTURES members and participating institutions are offering an engaging course programme for the Girls'Day.
As part of the full-day program “Physics Up Close” at Heidelberg University's Department of Physics & Astronomy, numerous research groups will open their doors and provide female students with exciting insights into current research topics – ranging from quantum physics and astrophysics to environmental physics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. The courses are complemented by the initiative “MINTmachen!”, hosted by the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science and DKFZ, which offers a diverse programme consisting of lectures and workshops on the topics of mathematics and computer science.
A few places are still available. Registration for the workshops is possible at the following webpages:
- Physics Up Close Webpage: https://www.physik.uni-heidelberg.de/girlsday/programm?menuid=274
- MINTmachen!: https://www.mathinf.uni-heidelberg.de/de/outreach/mintmachen/girlsday-2026-mintmachen
Further information:
We are delighted to announce that Heidelberg University has convincingly defended its status as a University of Excellence. The announcement came today (Wednesday, 11 March 2026) from the German Science and Humanities Council and the German Research Foundation. The continued status as a University of Excellence means that the university will receive funding for another seven years in order to continue strengthening its scientific and scholarly performance capability based on a strategic concept for the whole institution.
Prof. Dr Frauke Melchior, Rector of Ruperto Carola, states: “We are proud and happy to have brought about this significant success for our university and for Heidelberg as a research location. It is the result of a fantastic joint effort in which many members from all areas of our university have collaborated with enthusiasm and perseverance over a long period.”
A long-term programme of the federal and state governments, the “Excellence Strategy” pursues the goal of promoting research excellence in internationally competitive fields; it also seeks to strengthen universities in Germany institutionally and to optimize the German system of higher education. The current decision was about extending funding for universities that have already achieved excellence status. What tipped the balance here – unlike in previous competition rounds – was an evaluation of measures to date and evidence of a capacity for self-renewal. To that effect, Heidelberg University was assessed on site on the basis of its self-evaluation report by an international group of reviewers and members of the Committee of Experts. Together with the science ministers of the federal and state governments, this committee formed the Excellence Commission that has now taken the funding decisions. The funding for the Universities of Excellence starts on 1 January 2027.
Further information:
From 7–10 April 2026, the 56th Heidelberg Physics Graduate Days will once again bring together doctoral researchers of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Heidelberg. The Graduate Days, which take place biannually, offer advanced students and researchers a biannual spring/autumn school featuring different topics from various fields of physics.
The Graduate Days reflect the breadth of modern physics, shaped by outstanding speakers and their fields of expertise: from the evolution of the Dark Universe with John A. Peacock, primordial gravitational waves explored by David James Weir, and future perspectives on the Higgs Boson presented by Freya Blekman, to quantum simulations with ultracold atoms by Christian Groß, holographic dualities introduced by Johanna Erdmenger, and the physics of field theories discussed by Dr. Aaron Held.
The programme further spans applied and interdisciplinary perspectives: from magnetic materials for sustainable energy with Katharina Ollefs, fusion research with Felix Warmer, soft matter and biophysics explored by Jan Kierfeld, to environmental and ocean physics using isotopic tracers with Anne-Marie Wefing.
A special highlight of the program is the Hans Jensen Invited Lecture, delivered by Jesse Thaler on “Centaur Science: Adventures in AI + Physics”.
As a public lecture, this talk opens the Graduate Days beyond HGSFP and invites a wider audience to engage with the growing interplay between artificial intelligence and fundamental physics.
Further perspectives connecting fundamental research and real-world applications are contributed by Martin Pauly of exnaton in the industry lecture.
Further information: