New Spaces for Mathematics and Physics – Formal and Philosophical Reflections

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A meeting of interest to the readers of this blog –
Dear colleagues,

In the framework of the ERC project Philosophy of Canonical Quantum Gravity, we are pleased to announce the workshop:
 New Spaces for Mathematics and Physics – Formal and Philosophical Reflections
It will take place during the week from September 28 to October 2, 2015, in the amphitheater Hermite of the Henri Poincaré Institute, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris.
Since the development of differential and algebraic varieties, the notion of space has traversed very radical transformations, both in pure mathematics and in mathematical physics. The objective of this workshop is to propose a formal, conceptual and historical vision of these evolutions by addressing recent notions of space in mathematics and physics (such as diffeologies, schemes, topoi, stacks, spin networks, homotopy types, noncommutative spaces, supermanifolds, etc.). More information is available on the workshop’s official website.
People wishing to attend are kindly asked to register by sending an email to ercpqg-espace@sciencesconf.org.
Scientific committee: Mathieu Anel and Gabriel Catren
Organisation: M. Anel, C. Cachot, G. Catren, J. Page and F. Zalamea

 

UIC Postdoc – Keizo Matsubara

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We are very happy to announce that our first hire to the Space and Time After Quantum Gravity project is Keizo Matsubara, currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rotman Institute of Western University: http://www.rotman.uwo.ca/members/keizo-matsubara/. He will be joining the philosophy department at UIC as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in September. Welcome on board!

Templeton Funded Project: Space and Time After Quantum Gravity

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We are thrilled to announce that the John Templeton Foundation is funding a major expansion of the Beyond Spacetime program for the next three years (AY 2015-18). A substantial grant (and support from our institutions) split between the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Geneva will support a range of activities: postdocs (including the one advertised earlier in the year) and predocs at both institutions; speakers and visitors to the two groups; essay prizes and edited volumes; a summer school in 2016; a conference in 2017; and the production of media for the public, generalists and specialists. (And of course research support for us!)

We’d like to thank the Templeton Foundation, their reviewers for very helpful feedback, our departments and institutions, and especially the members of the project’s Scientific Advisory Committee.

Watch this page, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or google+ (search for beyondspacetime), for information about the project and for ways getting involved! Information about our speaker series (which will be available on video), and for funding for short (1-2 week) visits to the research groups should be posted in the next few weeks.

Nick and Chris

Call for Applications: Bursaries to attend Beyond Spacetime II

Conferences, Seminar

Funding up to $200 is available for a small number of qualified PhD students wishing to attend the forthcoming Beyond Spacetime conference in San Diego (13-14 March 2015). Please go to https://beyondspacetime.net/2015-conference/ for details.

Postdoctoral Position at UIC

Job Announcements

The following post is now closed to applications.

Call for Applications: POSTDOC POSITION in PHILOSOPHY OF QUANTUM GRAVITY at UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO

The philosophy of physics group at the Department of Philosophy at UIC solicits applications for a two-year postdoctoral research position, starting August 2015. The position is contingent on confirmation of anticipated funding.

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the project’s research by pursuing their own research in the philosophy of quantum gravity and by collaborating on existing research efforts within the UIC group led by Professor Nick Huggett. They will be expected to participate in weekly project meetings during term, help with the administration and organization of the group’s activities, and contribute to the group’s outreach efforts. The project is one half of a collaboration between UIC and the University of Geneva, where Professor Christian Wüthrich is the group leader. More information on the project and the research groups is available at http://www.beyondspacetime.net.
Continue reading Postdoctoral Position at UIC →

Video available

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Sorry for the very long delay, due in large part to UIC’s lawyers failing to agree to terms with apple for proper affiliation with iTunes U, but you can now see video of the conference.

Title: Seminar on the Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Gravity

Register here: https://itunesu.itunes.apple.com/enroll/FP4-AXP-VN4

The bad news is that for now you can only view it on an iOS device with iTunes U installed. I truly apologize for this, but until UIC signs up, apple doesn’t allow proper public access (well, it’s the public access that UIC is worried about). But I didn’t want to hold back anyone who is able to access the material. (The bit you really need is the enrollment code in the URL: FP4-AXP-VN4)

I know we could just put it up on YouTube, but I keep putting off moving things there because iTunes U is very nice when it works.

Nick
11/12/14

CFP: Time in Quantum Gravity, San Diego, 13-14 March 2015

Seminar

Seminar on the Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Gravity

13-14 March 2015 – University of California, San Diego

Invited Speakers:

Alyssa Ney (Rochester)
Daniele Oriti (MPI for Gravitational Physics, Golm)
Amanda W Peet (Toronto)
David Rideout (UCSD)
Christian Wüthrich (UCSD)

The investigation of quantum gravity has been central to theoretical physics for at least two decades, but philosophy has only engaged with this field in very a fragmentary way. Building on the first such meeting that took place in Chicago in September 2013, the purpose of this meeting is to continue to bring together people with research agendas in quantum gravity, to present their work and develop some common understanding of philosophical topics, questions, approaches, and solutions. Because the field is very new, many of those involved are near or recent PhDs – along with established scholars, they are encouraged to attend, to share their work or learn.

We invite technically and philosophically informed presentations on any topics concerning the foundational implications for the nature of time of quantum gravity: for instance, could a theory do without time? What do quantum black holes reveal about the nature of causality? What is the relation between space and time in quantum gravity? What is the nature of dynamics in theories of quantum gravity? And so on. The paper presentations should be suitable for presentations in 30 minutes plus question period. Please submit an extended abstract of up to 1,000 words, together with the title of the talk. ABD graduate students or recent PhDs are particularly invited to submit abstracts.

Deadline for papers and proposals: 15 October 2014 (decisions by 30 December 2014) – please prepare them for blind refereeing. We do not anticipate sharing refereeing comments.

We will provide financial support of two kinds:

• For speakers without access to institutional travel funds we will offer honoraria. Please indicate in your submission if you do not have access to institutional funds and would like to be considered for these honoraria.

• For graduate students who cannot get their expenses covered through their institutions, we will offer bursaries. Recipients of these bursaries do not need to be speakers at the meeting. Please indicate in your submission or in a separate email if you qualify and would like to be considered for these bursaries.

Direct correspondence to: beyondspacetimeseminar@gmail.com.

For further information, please visit: https://beyondspacetime.net/
The organizers,

Nick Huggett
David Rideout
Christian Wüthrich

Funding Provided by the New Agendas for the Study of Time at the Center for Time at the University of Sydney.