How to propose 2026 Activities

The ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research invites proposals of 2025 activities organized by ICTP-SAIFR at either IFT-UNESP or Instituto Principia in São Paulo. (External ICTP-SAIFR activities organized at other locations can receive organizational support but not financial support.) All activities will be organized in a hybrid format where the speakers are in-person but participants can either be in-person or online. The 2026 activities will include schools and minicourses for Master´s and PhD students, short workshops and long programs for researchers, and outreach activities for the general public and high-school students and teachers.

To increase synergy between related activities, the calendar of 2026 activities will be divided into 3 general research areas which will occur in different 4-month periods of the year. From January-April, preference will be given to activities related to the Physics of Life (biological physics, complex systems, climate science, medical physics, etc.). From May-August, preference will be given to activities related to Fundamental Physics (particle physics, mathematics, field and string theory, cosmology, etc.). And from September-December, preference will be given to activities related to Quantum Systems and Artificial Intelligence (quantum optics, quantum materials, data science, machine learning, etc.)

The schools typically are for two weeks and involve 50-60 PhD students and 4-6 lecturers with financing of expenses for the lecturers and 25 students (10 from other cities in Brazil, 10 from other countries in South America, and 5 from other continents). Schools are expected to have only 2 or 3 lectures per day, and time for homework exercises and discussion. The funding for a two-week school is approximately 150,000 Brazilian reais with 70% of the budget for students and 30% for lecturers. Proposals should involve at least one local organizer and one organizer from outside Brazil. Examples of short and long versions of proposals are here and here.

The minicourses typically involve one or two invited lecturers, and include financing of expenses for the lecturers and for some participants from South American countries. Depending on the schedule of the lecturers, the minicourse can range from a few days to a few months.

The programs typically involve a small number of invited visitors coming to work together for an extended period, and the workshops typically are for 3-5 days and involve 20-30 speakers. Travel and local expenses can be provided for key long-term visitors in a program, and local expenses can be provided for speakers at the workshop. A limited number of programs/workshops can be held at Instituto Princípia in the Fundação IFT buildings in downtown São Paulo.

Proposals for 2026 activities will be discussed by the Scientific Council on February 18, 2025, so potential organizers need to submit proposals before January 15, 2025 using the following online application form. The proposal form will ask for the organizers, the dates of preference (which should be in the appropriate 4-month period corresponding to the research area of the activity), and a pdf file with a description of the proposed activity including a list of suggested speakers. The description should explain the motivation for the activity and provide an outline of topics, and the list of speakers should state which have already been contacted and expressed interest in participating. If possible, a pre-proposal should be sent by December 15, 2024 to director@ictp-saifr.org so that modifications can be suggested.

The number of activities is limited and proposals following the above guidelines will have a better chance of being approved. Please email any questions on activity proposals to director@ictp-saifr.org, and more details on the organization procedure can be found here. Previous ICTP-SAIFR activities can be found at these links:
2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 , 2024