Newsletter 2023-II
Call for applications to participation
- Arbeitsgemeinschaften in 2023/2024
- Oberwolfach Seminars 2023 for graduate students and postdocs
- Banach Center - Oberwolfach Graduate Seminars in 2023
- Oberwolfach Research Fellows
General news
Workshop format
Travel and meeting restrictions have been reduced during 2022 such that we could go back from hybrid workshops to our traditional workshop format again, with an emphasis on in-person participation. In March 2023, almost all protective measures against the corona virus in public spaces have been dropped in Germany. The newly installed audio- and video equipment at the MFO can be used in future to invite a very small number (2-5) of additional experts who for strong personal reasons (such as government travel restrictions, pregnancy or care responsibilities) cannot attend the meeting in person but would participate online. The selection of these online participants can be made by the meeting organizers up to a few weeks prior to a workshop according to the replies to the initial invitations. While such additional online participation is easy to realize with our new video conference system, we do not intend to change the character of the workshop program and will restrict video recording and streaming of talks and lectures to these special participants.
Capacity and departure day
Unfortunately, there is a restriction of Oberwolfach visitor capacities due to a severe shortage of staff at the MFO.
As a consequence, instead of typically 53 visitors in a full workshop we will for the foreseeable future now only be able to accommodate 48 visitors. A similar reduction of about 10% also applies to our other scientific programs. We hope that we will be able to hire more staff eventually and return the institute to full capacity in the future.
In connection with the general restriction of our capacity, all workshops now end on Friday afternoon, with departure before dinner-time. Lectures can be held on Friday morning (9 am - 12:30 am) and optionally after lunch (1:30 pm - 4:00 pm). Friday is also the general departure day, i.e. afternoon or evening. Since June 2023, accommodation at the MFO until Saturday is generally not possible, unfortunately.
If travel connections demand a departure on a saturday, the MFO will make a strong effort to find accommodation at a nearby hotel or at the airport (in particular in cases where travel arrangements have already been made). In this case we need to be informed in due time (as soon as possible, at least one month prior to the workshop). A list of nearby hotels is also provided at the information page for invited researchers in the section "travel information".
Check out time of the rooms is Friday 9:30 am and there will be lunch at 12:30 pm, but in general no dinner on Friday. We will organize a number of free taxi transfers from the MFO to the train station in Hausach on Friday afternoon or evening.
MaRDI Newsletter
MaRDI (Mathematical Research Data Initiative) is a Germany-wide initiative to address challenges in mathematical research. It is aimed mainly at mathematicians to change how we do mathematics using FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) research data. The MFO is part of the consortium which is coordinated by the Berlin Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS) and currently includes 23 other partners (universities and research institutes, scientific infrastructure facilities, clusters of excellence as well as the German Mathematical Society DMV and the European Mathematical Society EMS). The fifth issue of the MaRDI Newsletter “Math & Data Quarterly” about knowledge graphs has just been released. Interested readers can read the newsletter here, and subscribe here.
Call for applications to participation:
Arbeitsgemeinschaften in 2023/2024
Every year there are three week-long Arbeitsgemeinschaften (study groups) in Oberwolfach with about 50 participants. The idea of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft is to learn by giving one of the lectures on the topic under study. Currently the following Arbeitsgemeinschaften are open for application:
QFT and Stochastic PDEs
17 Dec - 22 Dec 2023 (ID: 2351)
Roland Bauerschmidt, Cambridge UK
Massimiliano Gubinelli, Oxford
Martin Hairer, London/Lausanne
Hao Shen, Madison
Deadline for application: 8 September 2023
Geometry and Representation Theory around the P=W Conjecture
31 Mar - 5 Apr 2024
Tamas Hausel, Klosterneuburg
Davesh Maulik, Cambridge MA
Anton Mellit, Vienna
Olivier Schiffmann, Orsay
Junliang Shen, New Haven
Deadline for application: 1 November 2023
The Arbeitsgemeinschaft is open to everybody, participation is by application to the organizers via ag@mfo.de. See our webpage on the Arbeitsgemeinschaft for details how to apply.
Oberwolfach Seminars 2023 for graduate students and postdocs
These seminars are not workshops or conferences, but summer schools which address to excellent and promising graduate students and post docs. The complete program can be viewed at www.mfo.de/scientific-program/meetings/oberwolfach-seminars/poster-seminare-2023-web.pdf. Two seminars in fall 2023 are still open for application.
Scattering Resonances in Quantum Mechanics, General Relativity and Hyperbolic Dynamics
19 Nov - 25 Nov 2023 (ID: 2347a)
Semyon Dyatlov, Cambridge MA
Colin Guillarmou, Orsay
Peter Hintz, Zürich
Maciej Zworski, Berkeley
Deadline for application: 1 September 2023
Variational and Information Flows in Machine Learning and Optimal Transport
19 Nov - 25 Nov 2023 (ID: 2347b)
Wuchen Li, Columbia
Bernhard Schmitzer, Göttingen
Gabriele Steidl, Berlin
Francois-Xavier Vialard, Paris
Deadline for application: 1 September 2023
You can find more information, deadlines and the individual posters with programs at www.mfo.de/www/schedule/2023/seminar and
https://www.mfo.de/scientific-program/meetings/oberwolfach-seminars
Applications including full name, postal address, e-mail address, CV and publication list, present position, university, name of supervisor of Ph.D. thesis, a short summary of previous work and research interests should be sent in one pdf-file to the Vice Director of the MFO via seminars@mfo.de.
Banach Center - Oberwolfach Graduate Seminars 2023
These seminars are similar as Oberwolfach Seminars but are organized in cooperation with the Banach Center (Warsaw) and take place in the Będlewo conference center.
Model Reduction and Approximation: Projection-, Tensor- and Data-based Methods
12 Nov - 18 Nov 2023 (ID: 2346a)
Bernard Haasdonk, Stuttgart
Anthony Nouy, Nantes
Mario Ohlberger, Münster
Stefan Volkwein, Konstanz
Deadline for application: 1 September 2023
Optimal Transport Theory and Hydrodynamics (from Euler to Monge and vice versa)
12 Nov - 18 Nov 2023 (ID: 2346b)
Yann Brenier, Paris
Mikaela Iacobelli, Zurich
Filippo Santambrogio, Villeurbanne
Deadline for application: 1 September 2023
You can find more information, deadlines and the individual posters with programs at www.mfo.de/www/schedule/all/training. Applications including full name, postal address, e-mail address, CV and publication list, present position, university, name of supervisor of Ph.D. thesis, a short summary of previous work and research interests should be sent in one pdf-file to the Vice Director of the MFO via seminars@mfo.de.
Oberwolfach Research Fellows
The Oberwolfach Research Fellowship (OWRF) is the new umbrella format for longer term research stays. Small groups of researchers who want to come for a more extended period to Oberwolfach to carry out joint research in the stimulating atmosphere of the MFO can apply. For fresh post-docs, it is additionally possible to apply for a Leibniz Fellowship in order to become an Oberwolfach Leibniz Fellow (OWLF). Within OWLF, applications as a single researcher are also possible. Projects from all areas of mathematics can be supported by these programs, in particular, interdisciplinary research and cooperation is encouraged.
In view of the good audio-video facilities at the MFO, there is a new option to apply for an OWRF research stay which includes a hybrid cooperation with a parallel research group at another place in the world. This can be a university or another research institute with a substantial distance to the MFO, usually outside Europe. It is up to the applicants to arrange such a cooperation with the other university or institute and to submit an additional application there if necessary.
All information about the programs and the different options can be viewed on our webpage on longer-term research stays.
Call for proposals
Mini-Workshops in 2024
The fixed weeks and deadlines still open to propose an Oberwolfach Mini-Workshop in 2024 are
| Dates of Mini-Workshops | Deadlines for proposals |
| 17 Nov - 22 Nov 2024 | 15 March 2024 |
| 8 Dec - 13 Dec 2024 | 15 March 2024 |
As an option, a proposal for a Mini-Workshop can contain an additional component of online-participants (not more than the number of on-site participants) such that the Mini-Workshop will be realized in a hybrid format. This can make sense in case of a strong scientific cooperation between the proposed on-site participants with a group of international researchers elsewhere who will not be able to travel (e.g., because of pandemic restrictions). In this case, the proposal should also contain a concept and schedule of the activities with regard to the cooperation over different time zones.
For each of these weeks the decision about the Mini-Workshops takes place about 3 weeks after the corresponding deadline for application, which is about half a year before the week of the Mini-Workshop.
Applications should be sent as pdf-files to the Director Prof. Gerhard Huisken, via proposals@mfo.de. See also our guidelines for proposals.
Tandem-Workshops in 2024
Tandem-Workshop 2024 at MATRIX and MFO
The Mathematical Research Institute Oberwolfach (MFO), Germany, and the Australian Mathematical Research Institute MATRIX invite proposals for a tandem workshop taking place simultaneously in a hybrid format at MATRIX and MFO in the week of 22-28 September 2024.
For details, please see the recently published call. Deadline for application is 31 August 2023.
Tandem-Workshop 2024 at MFO and RIMS
The Mathematical Research Institute Oberwolfach (MFO), Germany and the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS), Kyoto University, Japan invite proposals for a Tandem-Workshop taking place simultaneously in a hybrid format at MFO and RIMS in the week 22-28 September 2024.
For details, please see the recently published call. Deadline for application is 31 August 2023.