PLENARY SPEAKERS

The research interests of Christian Kuehn lie at the interface of differential equations, dynamical systems and mathematical modelling. A key goal is to analyze multiscale problems and the effect of noise/uncertainty in various classes of ordinary, partial, and stochastic differential equations as well as in adaptive and higher-order networks. The phenomena of central interest are: patterns, bifurcations and scaling laws. On a technical level, Kuehn's work aims to build bridges between different areas of the study of dynamical systems.

 After studying at Jacobs University Bremen (BSc 2005) and at the University of Cambridge (M.A.St. 2006), Kuehn received his PhD in Cornell University in 2010. Subsequently he worked at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden as a postdoctoral researcher in the field of network dynamics. From 2011 to

2016 he was postdoctoral fellow at Vienna University of Technology in the Institute for Analysis and Scientific Computing, APART fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and a Leibniz fellow at MFO in 2013. He is Lichtenberg Professor at TUM (2016 Assistant Professor, 2021 Associate Professor, 2022 Full Professor).

Cecilia is a professor in the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Queensland in Australia. She completed her undergraduate studies in Guanajuato, Mexico and earned a PhD at the University of Maryland. 

Her research is centred on random dynamical systems, with a particular focus on developing theoretical frameworks for the study of transport and fluctuations, as well as on designing analytical and computational tools for approximating coherent structures and Lyapunov exponents. Cecilia’s scholarly achievements have been recognised through the award of a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. She has presented more than one hundred invited lectures across the world and has organised numerous national and international events in her field. She serves on the MATRIX Scientific Committee and on the Australian Mathematical Society Fellowship Committee.

Peter Ditlevsen specializes in dynamical systems theory, turbulence, and climate physics. His work focuses on predictability, abrupt climate shifts, and tipping points - thresholds beyond which climate systems may collapse into new stable states. He combines statistical methods with paleoclimate data from ice cores to reconstruct past climate dynamics, including predicting a potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

Patrícia Gonçalves specializes in interacting particle systems, with focus on hydrodynamic limits, fluctuations, and large deviations. She received her Ph.D. from IMPA in 2007 and currently serves as editor-in-chief of Electronic Communications in Probability. Her editorial roles have included the Annals of Probability and the Electronic Journal of Probability. A recipient of an ERC Starting Grant in 2016, she was an invited speaker at ICM 2022 and delivered the Schramm Lecture at the 2023 World Congress in Probability and Statistics.

Theodore Kolokolnikov focuses on pattern formation, PDEs, and mathematical modeling. His research spans dynamical systems, stochastic processes, and graph theory. He has been a faculty member at Dalhousie University since 2006 and is widely recognized for his interdisciplinary mathematical contributions.

Anna Levina leads the Self-organization and Optimality in Neuronal Networks group, supported by the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. Her research explores computational principles of brain organization, linking plasticity, criticality, and function. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen and has held positions at IST Austria and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences.

Claudia Maraston (Ph.D., Bologna, 1998) is an expert in galaxy formation and evolution, particularly in developing population synthesis models for galaxy spectra interpretation. She received the 2018 Eddington Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society for outstanding work in theoretical astrophysics, being only the second woman to earn the medal since its inception in 1953.

Cristiane Morais Smith researches strongly interacting systems and quantum materials. She has pioneered work on quantum fractals and quantum simulators, and published over 170 papers. Her honors include the Dresselhaus Prize (2016), Emmy Noether distinction (2019), and selection by the German Physical Society in 2020 as one of the 175 most inspiring physicists globally.

Miguel A. Muñoz is a statistical physicist whose research spans non-equilibrium phase transitions, critical phenomena, and stochastic processes. He is known for his contributions to self-organized criticality and complex systems, applying theoretical physics approaches to problems in ecology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience.

Arne Traulsen studied geophysics and physics in Kiel, Leipzig, and Gothenburg, earning his Ph.D. from Kiel University in 2005. He held positions at Harvard University and led several research groups at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology. Since 2014, he directs the institute's Department of Theoretical Biology, focusing on evolutionary dynamics and theoretical biology.

Peter Ashwin is Professor of Mathematics at Exeter, a SIAM fellow since 2024 and a member of the European Dynamics Days Advisory Board for several years. His PhD in mathematics at the University of Warwick was followed by positions at Marburg, Warwick, Nice and Surrey. His research uses tools from ergodic, singularity and group theory together with stochastic and numerical analysis to understand various aspects of nonlinear dynamical systems, motivated by applications in life and physical sciences. He is currently interested in developing applicable tools from nonautonomous systems to understand (and disambiguate) the phenomena of tipping, motivated by applications in climate and environmental sciences.

János Kertész (Dr. rer. nat., Eötvös University Budapest) is a network scientist. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Cologne and the TU Munich and worked in several research roles at the Institute of Technical Physics in Budapest. From 1991 to 2012, he was Professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, where he also served as Director of the Institute of Physics from 2001 to 2012. Since 2012, he has been Professor at the Central European University (CEU), where he founded the Department of Network and Data Science. His main research interest lies in network science, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary applications to social phenomena and human behavior. He is an elected member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and an external member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. His honors include the Finland Distinguished Professorship, the Széchenyi Prize of the Hungarian State, and the Benjamin Lee Professorship (Korea).