​ICTP-SAIFR​ will have resources to financially support 2019 activities on the IFT-UNESP campus ​in ​São Paulo​ that include schools, minicourses, workshops, etc​. Proposals ​of​​ 2019 activities will be discussed by the Scientific Council on February 5, 2018, ​and​ potential organizers need to submit proposals before December 31, 2017 using​ the​ ​instructions on the webpage http://www.ictp-saifr.org/?page_id=619

From Sept. 25-29, R. Melko (U. Waterloo & Perimeter I.), J. Carrasquilla (D-waves systems Inc.) and L. Sierens (Perimeter I.) introduced modern machine learning techniques for studying many-body problems encountered in condensed matter physics. Lectures emphasized relations between statistical physics and machine learning, while tutorials included hands-on experience in programming.

The second edition of this workshop for high-school teachers was held on Sept. 16-17 and presented modern physics concepts to high-school teachers from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Joinville. Organizers Gregory Dick (Perimeter I.) and Dave Fish (Perimeter I.) used hands-on activities to introduce wave-particle duality, dark matter, and particle physics to teachers who also received a set of classroom-ready resources to share with their students.

On July 25, Matias Zaldarriaga presented a lecture for the general public entitled “The history of the Universe, a work in progress”. Matias Zaldarriaga is an Argentinian cosmologist at IAS-Princeton and is a member of the ICTP-SAIFR Scientific Council. He has made important contributions to our understanding of the early universe and has been awarded various prizes including the Gribov Medal in 2005.

From July 10-15, the second edition of this IFT-Perimeter-SAIFR school took place with 80 of the top undergraduate students from all over Latin America. Minicourses on Fundamental Physics, Black Holes, Condensed Matter and Cosmology were presented by A. Arvanitaki and R. Myers (Perimeter) and A. Rocha and R. Rosenfeld (IFT). The highest-scoring students were accepted to a joint master`s program and will spend one year at Perimeter Institute and one year at ICTP-SAIFR/IFT-UNESP.