• Assess the extent to which the cosmological principle may bias our cosmological inference;
• Explore the theoretical frameworks developed to relax or go beyond this assumption;
• Examine how cutting-edge cosmological observations can inform a more accurate description of the metric of the local Universe.

There is no registration fee.

Lecturer:  

• Leonardo Giani (Queensland U.)

Organizer:  

• Riccardo Sturani (ICTP-SAIFR/IFT-UNESP, Brazil)

All meetings will be held in IFT’s auditorium on the fourth floor.

• Monday, June 16, 14h – Video
• Tuesday, June 17, 11h – Video

Attention! Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA are required to apply for a tourist visa.

Accommodation: Participants whose accommodations are provided by ICTP-SAIFR will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Other hotel recommendations are available here.

The 4th School on Data Science and Machine Learning invites ambitious researchers ready to harness the transformative power of advanced artificial intelligence. Building on our successful four-year legacy, this year’s program features state-of-the-art topics reflecting the rapid evolution of AI in 2025. Machine Learning is revolutionizing every sector of society — from breakthrough medical diagnostics to intelligent systems supporting vulnerable populations to innovative public safety solutions. These advancements aren’t just technological achievements; they are catalysts for new public policies and social frameworks. In this context, equipping researchers with advanced ML knowledge is crucial for the field’s continued development and responsible application.

Target Audience and Learning Approach
Our program is tailored for advanced PhD candidates finalizing research, early-career postdoctoral researchers, professionals seeking to integrate cutting-edge AI into their work, and researchers from diverse backgrounds looking to apply AI to their disciplines. We have designed a balanced learning approach with morning theoretical sessions paired with afternoon hands-on practical exercises that bridge theory and application.

What Makes This School Unique
Our forward-looking curriculum covers foundation models, advanced generative AI, efficient scaling, and frontier applications. We proudly feature leading Brazilian AI researchers alongside international pioneers, creating a rich environment for knowledge exchange. Participants will not just learn algorithms — they will develop critical thinking around AI applications, ethical considerations, and domain-specific implementations.

Networking and Peer Learning
To foster collaboration and peer learning, all participants are required to bring a research poster to be presented during coffee breaks and lunch intervals. This is an opportunity to showcase your work, receive feedback, and engage in meaningful discussions with fellow participants and instructors. The poster should include a concise description of your current research. If machine learning is already part of your work, the poster should explain how it is being used and, if available, present preliminary or final results. These sessions are designed to spark new collaborations and provide insights that can directly benefit your research.

Recommended background

• Early-career researchers (e.g., PhD students, postdocs, or final-year Master’s students)
• Fields: natural sciences, engineering, computer science, mathematics, social sciences, or humanities with interest in AI/ML
• Basic programming knowledge in Python
• Familiarity basic statistics
• No prior machine learning experience required, but interest and motivation are essential
• Proficiency in English (school will be held in English)

Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN) Congress
The 10th Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN) Congress will be hosted by PUC-Campinas from November 8-10, 2025, just before our school. This prestigious international event offers young scientists an exceptional opportunity to present their research through USERN Junior Talks or poster presentations, with all poster participants receiving dedicated 3-minute presentation slots. The congress features exciting competition elements, including Best Talk and Best Poster contests, with top-performing junior researchers earning the prestigious opportunity to present their abstracts as featured “USERN Junior Talks.” Registration is now open with very affordable fees. For details and program information, visit usern.org.

There is no registration fee and limited funds are available for travel and local expenses.

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline: September 16, 2025 

Lecturers

TBA

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline: September 16, 2025 

Sunday: Toolbox Kickoff

Morning:

• 10:00-10:30: Registration and Welcome breakfast
• 10:30-12:30: Pandas – Data Wrangling 101

Afternoon:

• 2:00-3:30: Matplotlib – Data Visualization
• 3:30-4:00: Coffee break
• 4:00-5:30: PyTorch – Tensors & Computation

Monday: Foundations of Neural Networks

Morning:

• 9:00-09:30: Welcome and introduction to the school
• 9:30-10:30: Statistical Methods for Data Analysis I
• 10:30-11:00: Coffee break
• 11:00-12:30: Statistical Methods for Data Analysis II

Afternoon:

• 2:00-3:30: Neural Networks 101: Historical development and basic concepts
• 3:30-4:00: Coffee break
• 4:00-5:30: The Perceptron: Building blocks of neural networks (intuitive, visual approach)
• 5:30-6:30: Interactive session: Building a simple perceptron using visual tools (no coding)

Tuesday: Going Deeper with Neural Networks

Morning:

• 9:00-10:30: From Single to Multi-Layer Networks
• 10:30-11:00: Coffee break
• 11:00-12:30: Backpropagation Explained

Afternoon:

• 2:00-3:30: Activation functions and network training
• 3:30-4:00: Coffee break
• 4:00-5:30: Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) I: Understanding images
• 5:30-6:30: Interactive session: Demo of CNN in Action

Wednesday: Specialized Architectures

Morning:

• 9:00-10:30: Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) II: Understanding images
• 10:30-11:00: Coffee break
• 11:00-12:30: Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs): Processing sequences and time series

Afternoon:

• 2:00-3:30: Transformers: The architecture behind modern AI
• 3:30-4:00: Coffee break
• 4:00-5:30: Large Language Models and generative AI: Concepts and implications
• 5:30-6:30: Interactive session: Demo of LLM

Thursday: Applications and Domain-Specific Uses

Morning:

• 9:00-10:30: AI in natural sciences (physics, biology, chemistry)
• 10:30-11:00: Coffee break
• 11:00-12:30: AI for the Climate Emergency

Afternoon:

2:00-3:30: AI in humanities and social sciences
3:30-4:00: Coffee break
4:00-5:30: The Role of HPC in AI
5:30-6:30: Interactive session: Demo of Distributed Learning

Friday: Frontiers and Future Directions

Morning:

• 9:00-10:30: Foundation Models
• 10:30-11:00: Coffee break
• 11:00-12:30: Physics-enhanced Machine Learning

Afternoon:

• 2:00-3:30: Explainable AI
• 3:30-4:00: Coffee break
• 4:00-6:00: Panel discussion: “Ethics in AI”

 The schedule might be changed.

Attention! Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

BOARDING PASS: All participants, whose travel has been provided or will be reimbursed by ICTP-SAIFR, should bring the boarding pass  upon registration. The return boarding pass (PDF, if online check-in, scan or picture, if physical) should be sent to secretary@ictp-saifr.org by e-mail.

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA will be required to obtain a tourist e-visa for visits after April 10, 2025. Please check here which nationals need a tourist visa to enter Brazil.

Accommodation: Participants whose accommodations are provided by ICTP-SAIFR will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Other hotel recommendations are available here.

Poster presentation: Participants who are presenting a poster MUST BRING A PRINTED BANNER . The banner size should be at most 1 m (width) x 1,5 m (length). We do not accept A4 or A3 paper.

Biological systems operate across multiple scales — from molecular signaling inside cells to population-level dynamics in ecosystems. Despite their complexity, many of these processes can be described and understood using concepts and tools from physics. In recent years, the interface between physics and biology has emerged as a vibrant research frontier, combining ideas from statistical mechanics, soft matter, information theory, and dynamical systems to tackle problems in cell biology, ecology, and collective behavior.

This minicourse will introduce key theoretical and computational approaches that have proven successful in modeling and analyzing biological systems. Topics will include diffusion and stochastic processes, phase separation in biological media, cellular signaling, active matter, and ecological interactions. The lectures will be complemented by hands-on sessions where students will work through problems and simulations under the guidance of the lecturers.

The minicourse is aimed at advanced undergraduate and early graduate students in physics or in biology with a strong quantitative background, but other interested students are also welcome to apply. No prior expertise in biological modeling is required.

This is an initiative promoted by the Physics of Life South American Network, PoLSAN. More details on PoLSAN can be found here: www.ictp-saifr.org/polsan

There is no registration fee and limited funds are available for local expenses.

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline: October 1, 2025

Lecturers & courses:

• Silvina Ponce Dawson (UBA): Cell signaling
• Pablo de Castro (ICTP-SAIFR): Diffusion, Phase Separation & Active Matter
• Rafael Menezes (ICTP-SAIFR): Theoretical Ecology

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline: October 1, 2025

TBA

 The schedule might be changed.

Attention! Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

BOARDING PASS: All participants, whose travel has been provided or will be reimbursed by ICTP-SAIFR, should bring the boarding pass  upon registration. The return boarding pass (PDF, if online check-in, scan or picture, if physical) should be sent to secretary@ictp-saifr.org by e-mail.

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA will be required to obtain a tourist e-visa for visits after April 10, 2025. Please check here which nationals need a tourist visa to enter Brazil.

Accommodation: Participants whose accommodations are provided by ICTP-SAIFR will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Other hotel recommendations are available here.

Poster presentation: Participants who are presenting a poster MUST BRING A PRINTED BANNER . The banner size should be at most 1 m (width) x 1,5 m (length). We do not accept A4 or A3 paper.

Over the last decades, new correspondences have been discovered between Yang-Mills theory and gravity including a duality between color and kinematics and the double-copy prescription relating Yang-Mills and graviton amplitudes. Furthermore, the computation of scattering amplitudes has been a growing field which, in addition to the usual particle physics applications, has shown that the knowledge of scattering amplitude methods is very useful in the investigation of classical gravitational physics.

The ‘QCD meets Gravity’ conference brings together researchers to discuss formal aspects and applications of Yang-Mills theory, gravity, and the connections between them. Over the last years, it has become the main annual event in the field and the 2025 conference at Principia Institute, organized by ICTP-SAIFR, will be the first time the conference will be held in South America. The conference will be preceded by the ‘QCD Meets Gravity’ School. You can find information on the previous QCD meets Gravity events here: QCD Meets Gravity X (Taiwan  2024), IX (CERN 2023),VIII (Zurich 2022), VII (UCLA 2021), VI (Northwestern 2020), V (UCLA 2019), IV (2018), III (UCLA 2017), II (UCLA 2016), I (Edinburgh 2016)

There is no registration fee and limited funds are available for local expenses. 

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline*: November 2, 2025

*If you are currently looking for a new job/academic position and want to give a talk, you should apply by September 8, 2025.

Invited Speakers

TBA

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline*: November 2, 2025

*If you are currently looking for a new job/academic position and want to give a talk, you should apply by September 8, 2025.

TBA

 The schedule might be changed.

TBA

Attention! Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

BOARDING PASS: All participants, whose travel has been provided or will be reimbursed by ICTP-SAIFR, should bring the boarding pass  upon registration. The return boarding pass (PDF, if online check-in, scan or picture, if physical) should be sent to secretary@ictp-saifr.org by e-mail.

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA will be required to obtain a tourist e-visa for visits after April 10, 2025. Please check here which nationals need a tourist visa to enter Brazil.

Accommodation: Participants whose accommodations are provided by ICTP-SAIFR will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Other hotel recommendations are available here.

Poster presentation: Participants who are presenting a poster MUST BRING A PRINTED BANNER . The banner size should be at most 1 m (width) x 1,5 m (length). We do not accept A4 or A3 paper.

Gauge theories and gravitational interactions form the basis of our current understanding of the universe. To realize them in a unified framework is a formidable task, yet common properties have been uncovered through a duality between color and kinematics and the subsequent double-copy perspective. More recently, observations of gravitational waves have triggered a surge of research in this field, and modern amplitudes-based techniques have been very useful for the general relativistic two-body problem.

In this advanced school, students will learn modern techniques for computing scattering amplitudes which are not usually seen in standard graduate courses, and will interact with renowned researchers in the field. The conference “QCD meets Gravity” will follow this one-week school. You can find information on the previous QCD meets Gravity events here: QCD Meets Gravity X (Taiwan  2024), IX (CERN 2023),VIII (Zurich 2022), VII (UCLA 2021), VI (Northwestern 2020), V (UCLA 2019), IV (2018), III (UCLA 2017), II (UCLA 2016), I (Edinburgh 2016)

There is no registration fee and limited funds are available for travel and local expenses. 

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline: September 8, 2025

Lecturers

• Henrik Johansson (Uppsala U., Sweden)
• Julio Parra Martinez (IHES, Paris, France): Scattering amplitudes and gravitational waves
• Radu Roiban (Penn State U., USA)
• Riccardo Sturani (IFT-UNESP/ICTP-SAIFR, Brazil)

Announcement:

Click HERE for online application

Application deadline: September 8, 2025

TBA

 The schedule might be changed.

TBA

Attention! Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

BOARDING PASS: All participants, whose travel has been provided or will be reimbursed by ICTP-SAIFR, should bring the boarding pass  upon registration. The return boarding pass (PDF, if online check-in, scan or picture, if physical) should be sent to secretary@ictp-saifr.org by e-mail.

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA will be required to obtain a tourist e-visa for visits after April 10, 2025. Please check here which nationals need a tourist visa to enter Brazil.

Accommodation: Participants whose accommodations are provided by ICTP-SAIFR will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Other hotel recommendations are available here.

Poster presentation: Participants who are presenting a poster MUST BRING A PRINTED BANNER . The banner size should be at most 1 m (width) x 1,5 m (length). We do not accept A4 or A3 paper.

Gravitational and electromagnetic signatures of black hole superradiance are a unique probe of ultralight particles that are weakly-coupled to the Standard Model. In this minicourse, we will explore the fundamentals of the superradiance mechanism, from the underlying thermodynamics to the dynamics of unstable field configurations. Specifically, we will solve for the scalar field of a superradiance cloud around a black hole and study its properties. Finally, astrophysical and particle physics implications will be briefly discussed.

There is no registration fee.

Speakers:  

• Nils Siemonsen (Princeton University, USA)
• Maxence Corman (Max Planck Institute, Germany)

Organizer:  

• Riccardo Sturani (ICTP-SAIFR/IFT-UNESP, Brazil)

All meetings will be held in Room 2 on the third floor.

Thursday May 15:

• (16:00 – 17:40) 1st class, Nils Siemonsen. – Video

Monday May 19:

• (14:15 – 15:15) Seminar by Maxence Corman: Nonlinear dynamics of compact object mergers beyond General Relativity. – Video

• (16:00 – 17:40) 2nd class, Nils Siemonsen. – Video
  

• (16:00 – 17:00) Seminar by Nils Siemonsen: Searching for New Physics with Gravitational Waves. – Video

Attention! Some participants in ICTP-SAIFR activities have received email from fake travel agencies asking for credit card information. All communication with participants will be made by ICTP-SAIFR staff using an e-mail “@ictp-saifr.org”. We will not send any mailings about accommodation that require a credit card number or any sort of deposit. Also, if you are staying at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista, please confirm with the Uber/Taxi driver that the hotel is located at Rua Pamplona 83 in Bela Vista (and not in Jardim Etelvina).

BOARDING PASS: All participants, whose travel has been provided or will be reimbursed by ICTP-SAIFR, should bring the boarding pass  upon registration. The return boarding pass (PDF, if online check-in, scan or picture, if physical) should be sent to secretary@ictp-saifr.org by e-mail.

Visa information: Nationals from several countries in Latin America and Europe are exempt from tourist visa. Nationals from Australia, Canada and USA are required to apply for a tourist visa.

Accommodation: Participants whose accommodations are provided by ICTP-SAIFR will stay at Hotel Intercity the Universe Paulista. Other hotel recommendations are available here.

Poster presentation: Participants who are presenting a poster MUST BRING A PRINTED BANNER . The banner size should be at most 1 m (width) x 1,5 m (length). We do not accept A4 or A3 paper.