Math PhD Days in Pisa

Feb 4, 2026, 8:15 AM → Feb 6, 2026, 5:40 PM Europe/Rome

The PhD Schools in Mathematics at the University of Pisa and the Scuola Normale Superiore are organizing a meeting for master’s students interested in applying for a PhD position in Pisa. The aim of this event is to introduce prospective candidates to the vibrant research environments of both institutions.

In a lively and welcoming atmosphere, participants will have the opportunity to attend presentations by potential supervisors and engage in discussions with them. The program includes:

• Research talks by professors and researchers from the Scuola Normale Superiore and the University of Pisa, showcasing their areas of interest.
• Informal meetings with current PhD students, offering insights into their work and personal experiences in Pisa.

The list of speakers will be announced soon.

Limited financial support, including partial or full reimbursement of travel and/or accommodation expenses, is available for selected participants. A number of rooms have also been reserved at a university-owned residence and may be allocated to prospective participants.

Registration (and funding requests) will close on January 11, 2026, at 1 pm (CET). Please read the How to Apply section before registering.

The event is organized by Luigi Ambrosio and Michele Benzi (Scuola Normale Superiore), as well as by Matteo Novaga and Francesco Sala (University of Pisa). It is supported by the “Dipartimento di Eccellenza” (CUP I57G22000700001), project of the Department of Mathematics of the University of Pisa, and by the Scuola Normale Superiore, within the framework of the MERITA Project (CUP E51I24000220006), funded under Mission 4 “Education and Research” – Component 1 “Enhancement of Services for Universities” – Investment 3.4 – sub-investment “Strengthening of Higher University Schools”, financed by the European Union – Next Generation EU.

Wed, February 4

2:00 PM → 2:15 PM Registration

2:15 PM → 2:35 PM Presentation of the PhD Course in Mathematics at Università di Pisa

Speaker: Roberto Frigerio (Università di Pisa)

2:35 PM → 3:00 PM Presentation of the PhD Course in Mathematics at Scuola Normale Superiore

In addition to the presentation of the PhD course, there will be the presentation of the research directions of Luigi Ambrosio and Giovanni Alberti

Speaker: Luigi Ambrosio (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

3:00 PM → 3:20 PM Probability and Statistics

Speaker: Franco Flandoli (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

3:20 PM → 3:40 PM Probability and Combinatorics

Speaker: Alessandra Caraceni (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

3:40 PM → 4:00 PM Optimal Transport and large Deviations for Deep Learning theory

Speaker: Dario Trevisan (Università di Pisa)

4:00 PM → 4:30 PM Coffee Break

4:30 PM → 4:50 PM Reflections, braids and hyperplane arrangements between combinatorics and topology

Presentation of the research directions of Filippo Callegaro e Mario Salvetti

Speaker: Filippo Callegaro (Università di Pisa)

4:50 PM → 5:10 PM Qualitative Research in Mathematical Education

Speaker: Anna Baccaglini-Frank (Università di Pisa)

5:30 PM → 6:30 PM Welcome Aperitif

Thu, February 5

10:00 AM → 10:20 AM Arithmetic Geometry

Speaker: Giulio Bresciani (Università di Pisa)

10:20 AM → 10:50 AM Stacks in Algebraic Geometry

Presentation of the research directions of Andrea Di Lorenzo, Mattia Talpo, and Angelo Vistoli

Speaker: Angelo Vistoli (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

10:50 AM → 11:10 AM Birational Geometry

Presentation of the research directions of Marco Franciosi and Gregory Pearlstein

Speaker: Marco Franciosi (Università di Pisa)

11:10 AM → 11:40 AM Coffee break

11:40 AM → 12:00 PM Dynamical Systems

Speaker: Claudio Bonanno (Università di Pisa)

12:00 PM → 12:20 PM Discrete time Random Dynamical Systems, a functional analytic approach

This talk explores discrete time random dynamical systems featuring regularizing noise.
I will present cases where complex systems having highly complex behaviors are effectively summarized by streamlined map-plus-noise models.
These models are data-driven, constructed directly from the system's own time series.
I will then discuss how the regularizing effect of noise facilitates the study of statistical properties via the associated transfer operator, highlighting current research directions pursued by the active mathematical community in Pisa.

Speaker: Stefano Galatolo (Università di Pisa)

12:20 PM → 12:40 PM Geometric Analysis

Speaker: Adolfo Arroyo-Rabasa (Università di Pisa)

12:40 PM → 1:00 PM Presentation of the IRT Group "Analysis of Nonlinear PDE" and Focus on a selected topic: Fluid Mechanics

Presentation of the International Research and Training Group IRTG 3132 – "Analysis of Nonlinear PDE" Unipi-SNS-Freiburg im Brisgau and presentation of research directions in fluid mechanics.

Speaker: Luigi Berselli (Università di Pisa)

1:00 PM → 1:20 PM Geometric Analysis and PDEs

Presentation of the research directions of Andrea Malchiodi and Alessandra Pluda

Speaker: Andrea Malchiodi (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

1:20 PM → 3:00 PM Lunch break

3:00 PM → 3:20 PM Geometric Topology

Presentation of the research directions of Roberto Frigerio, Bruno Martelli, and Gabriele Viaggi

Speaker: Gabriele Viaggi (Università di Pisa)

3:20 PM → 3:40 PM opology and geometry of higher Teichmüller spaces

Speaker: Andrea Tamburelli (Università di Pisa)

3:40 PM → 4:00 PM Differential Geometry

Speaker: Diego Conti (Università di Pisa)

4:00 PM → 4:30 PM Mathematical Logic

Presentation of the research directions of Alessandro Berarducci, Mauro Di Nasso, and Marcello Mamino

Speaker: Alessandro Berarducci (Università di Pisa)

4:30 PM → 5:00 PM Coffee break

5:00 PM → 6:00 PM Meeting with current PhD students

Fri, February 6

9:30 AM → 10:00 AM Presentation of the PhD Course in Computational Methods and Mathematical Models at Scuola Normale Superiore

Speaker: Michele Benzi (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

10:00 AM → 10:30 AM Presentation of the PhD Course in High Performance Scientific Computing at Università di Pisa

Speaker: Luca Heltai (Università di Pisa)

10:30 AM → 11:00 AM Numerical Analysis

Presentation of the research directions of Paola Boito, Fabio Durastante, Silvia Gazzola, Stefano Massei, Beatrice Meini, Cecilia Pagliantini, and Leonardo Robol

Speakers: Cecilia Pagliantini (Università di Pisa), Silvia Gazzola (Università di Pisa)

11:00 AM → 11:30 AM Coffee break

11:30 AM → 11:50 AM Numerical integration of PDEs and SPDEs

Speaker: Milo Viviani (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

11:50 AM → 12:10 PM Data Science and Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: research challenges and teaching activities

Speaker: Fosca Giannotti (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

12:10 PM → 12:30 PM Mathematical and quantitative finance

Speaker: Fabrizio Lillo (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

12:30 PM → 12:50 PM Computer Vision and Metrics of curves

Speaker: Andrea Mennucci (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)