How to propose 2024 Activities

The ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research invites proposals for 2024 activities organized by ICTP-SAIFR on the IFT-UNESP campus in São Paulo. (External ICTP-SAIFR activities organized at other locations can receive organizational support but not financial support.) All activities will be organized in a hybrid format where the speakers are in-person but participants can either be in-person or online. The 2024 activities are expected to include several two-week schools for PhD students similar to the São Paulo International Schools on Theoretical Physics organized in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022, as well as minicourses and programs/workshops on specialized topics and outreach activities for the general public and high-school students.

The two-week schools typically have 50-60 PhD students and 4-6 lecturers with financing of expenses for the lecturers and 25 students (10 from other cities in Brazil, 10 from other countries in South America, and 5 from other continents). Schools are expected to have only 2 or 3 lectures per day, and time for homework exercises and discussion. The funding for a two-week school is approximately 150,000 Brazilian reais with 70% of the budget for students and 30% for lecturers. Proposals should involve at least one local organizer and one organizer from outside Brazil. Acceptable short and long examples of proposals are here and here.

The minicourses typically involve one or two invited lecturers, and include financing of expenses for the lecturers and for some participants from South American countries. Depending on the schedule of the lecturers, the minicourse can range from a few days to a few weeks.

The programs/workshops typically involve a few invited visitors for an extended period, together with a short workshop. Travel and local expenses can be provided for key long-term visitors and local expenses can be provided for the speakers at the workshop. A limited number of programs/workshops can be held at Instituto Princípia in the Fundação IFT buildings in São Paulo.

Proposals for 2024 activities will be discussed by the Scientific Council on February 6, 2023, so potential organizers need to submit proposals before January 15, 2023 using the following online application form. The proposal form will ask for the organizers, the dates of preference, and a pdf file with a description of the proposed activity including a list of suggested speakers. The description should explain the motivation for the activity and provide an outline of topics, and the list of speakers should state which have already been contacted and expressed interest in participating. If possible, a pre-proposal should be sent by December 31, 2022 to director@ictp-saifr.org so that modifications can be suggested. The number of activities is limited and proposals following the above guidelines will have a better chance of being approved. Please email any questions on activity proposals to director@ictp-saifr.org, and more details on the organization procedure can be found here.