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No living organism escapes evolutionary change, and evolutionary biology thus connects all biological disciplines. To understand the processes driving evolution, we need a theoretical framework to predict and test evolutionary changes in populations. Population genetic theory provides this basic framework, integrating mathematical and statistical concepts with fundamental biological principles of genetic inheritance, selection, mutation, migration and random genetic drift. Population genetic models allow us to make quantitative predictions that can inform an experimentalist while designing new experiments, and give us a deeper understanding of how evolution works. This School will cover topics such as rapid microbial adaptation, robustness and evolvability, evolution of complex traits, maternal inheritance, and evolution of genetic systems. For each topic, lectures will begin with basic concepts and end with recent advances in the field. A series of research seminars will also introduc...

Birational geometry is one of the current research trends in fields of Algebraic Geometry and Analytic Geometry. It came into prominence during mid-1980s, and has since seen a rise in research. The proposed lectures are on two topics of birational geometry.Speaker : Yohan BrunebarbeTitle : Hyperbolicity and Fundamental groups.Abstract : The course will focus on the interplay between the linear representations of the fundamental groups; the holomorphic (pluri) differentials and hyperbolicity of complex projective manifolds. It will also introduce the necessary tools and techniques of variational and mixed Hodge theories, to help prove that a local system of geometric origin on a 'special' manifold has a virtually abelian monodromy. The course will also explore on using non-abelian Hodge theory and harmonic maps to treat the general case.Speaker : Frederic CampanaTitle : Birational Geometry and Orbifold Pairs : Arithmetic and hyperbolic aspects.Abstract : Birational geometry aims at dedu...

No living organism escapes evolutionary change, and evolutionary biology thus connects all biological disciplines. To understand the processes driving evolution, we need a theoretical framework to predict and test evolutionary changes in populations. Population genetic theory provides this basic framework, integrating mathematical and statistical concepts with fundamental biological principles of genetic inheritance, selection, mutation, migration and random genetic drift. Population genetic models allow us to make quantitative predictions that can inform an experimentalist while designing new experiments, and give us a deeper understanding of how evolution works. This School will cover topics such as rapid microbial adaptation, robustness and evolvability, evolution of complex traits, maternal inheritance, and evolution of genetic systems. For each topic, lectures will begin with basic concepts and end with recent advances in the field. A series of research seminars will also introduc...

Birational geometry is one of the current research trends in fields of Algebraic Geometry and Analytic Geometry. It came into prominence during mid-1980s, and has since seen a rise in research. The proposed lectures are on two topics of birational geometry.Speaker : Yohan BrunebarbeTitle : Hyperbolicity and Fundamental groups.Abstract : The course will focus on the interplay between the linear representations of the fundamental groups; the holomorphic (pluri) differentials and hyperbolicity of complex projective manifolds. It will also introduce the necessary tools and techniques of variational and mixed Hodge theories, to help prove that a local system of geometric origin on a 'special' manifold has a virtually abelian monodromy. The course will also explore on using non-abelian Hodge theory and harmonic maps to treat the general case.Speaker : Frederic CampanaTitle : Birational Geometry and Orbifold Pairs : Arithmetic and hyperbolic aspects.Abstract : Birational geometry aims at dedu...

This is a joint ICTS-RRI Discussion Meeting on the geometric phase and its applications in optics and condensed matter. There has been much interest from the Indian scientific community on the topic of geometric phase. Since the early days, this topic has had diverse applications in condensed matter physics and optics. The subject has broad appeal and brings the higher mathematics of differential geometry and topology to concrete experimental predictions. World wide interest in the geometric phase was sparked by a paper in 1984 by Michael Berry, who has had long standing links with India and Indian Science. The subsequent realisation that S. Pancharatnam had anticipated the geometric phase in the context of polarisation optics, was another trigger.There have since been several advances in the application of geometric and topological phases in the areas of optics and condensed matter. In fact, research in the area of condensed matter has also influenced topological quantum computation. ...

This is a joint ICTS-RRI Discussion Meeting on the geometric phase and its applications in optics and condensed matter. There has been much interest from the Indian scientific community on the topic of geometric phase. Since the early days, this topic has had diverse applications in condensed matter physics and optics. The subject has broad appeal and brings the higher mathematics of differential geometry and topology to concrete experimental predictions. World wide interest in the geometric phase was sparked by a paper in 1984 by Michael Berry, who has had long standing links with India and Indian Science. The subsequent realisation that S. Pancharatnam had anticipated the geometric phase in the context of polarisation optics, was another trigger.There have since been several advances in the application of geometric and topological phases in the areas of optics and condensed matter. In fact, research in the area of condensed matter has also influenced topological quantum computation. ...

The fluid mechanics community in Bangalore has expanded enormously with different physics and engineering departments growing rapidly in the many institutes and industries. As a result of this, in the last few years, the institutes in Bangalore hosts an annual event  "Fluids Day" to strengthen the interaction amongst the fluid community in and around Bangalore. This event provides a perfect platform for M.S./PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, as well as early career scientists in industry to showcase their work by means of oral and poster presentations which not only facilitates cross-fertilization of ideas in basic research but also serves as useful bridges with industrial needs. The scope of Fluids Day covers all areas related to fluid mechanics, including theory, modelling, experiments and numerical simulations. We invite applications from researchers who are based in Bangalore.

The fluid mechanics community in Bangalore has expanded enormously with different physics and engineering departments growing rapidly in the many institutes and industries. As a result of this, in the last few years, the institutes in Bangalore hosts an annual event  "Fluids Day" to strengthen the interaction amongst the fluid community in and around Bangalore. This event provides a perfect platform for M.S./PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, as well as early career scientists in industry to showcase their work by means of oral and poster presentations which not only facilitates cross-fertilization of ideas in basic research but also serves as useful bridges with industrial needs. The scope of Fluids Day covers all areas related to fluid mechanics, including theory, modelling, experiments and numerical simulations. We invite applications from researchers who are based in Bangalore.

Blockchain technology is among one of the most influential disruptive technologies of the current decade. Researchers in India with related knowledge and expertise such as cryptology, distributed systems, mathematics, computational finances, and game theory, keenly seek out opportunities for formal programs on blockchain technologies, to explore the subject in depth.This three-day program is designed as a bootcamp, to help build up an understanding of blockchain technology through intense lecturing, discussions and direct interactions with experts in the field. The lectures are planned to cover topics from basic to the advanced levels, along with discussions on several open problems and research directions. Special focus will be given to two of the most fundamental problems in the field blockchain technology - scalability and privacy.Blockchain has been a field that is fast growing and with open structure, where concerns regarding privacy and scalability are important for its real worl...

Blockchain technology is among one of the most influential disruptive technologies of the current decade. Researchers in India with related knowledge and expertise such as cryptology, distributed systems, mathematics, computational finances, and game theory, keenly seek out opportunities for formal programs on blockchain technologies, to explore the subject in depth.This three-day program is designed as a bootcamp, to help build up an understanding of blockchain technology through intense lecturing, discussions and direct interactions with experts in the field. The lectures are planned to cover topics from basic to the advanced levels, along with discussions on several open problems and research directions. Special focus will be given to two of the most fundamental problems in the field blockchain technology - scalability and privacy.Blockchain has been a field that is fast growing and with open structure, where concerns regarding privacy and scalability are important for its real worl...

Machine learning techniques, especially “deep learning” using multilayer neural networks, have been highly successful in addressing a wide variety of computational problems in many domains of science and technology. However, a detailed theoretical understanding of why and how they work is not yet available. Some of the concepts and techniques of statistical physics, in which one routinely deals with theoretical descriptions of collective properties of systems consisting of very large numbers of interacting variables, are expected to be useful in analysing how deep networks function. The inherent variability of real-world data sets can be handled by techniques developed in the statistical physics of disordered systems such as spin glasses.  Also, it has been suggested that tools in statistical physics, such as renormalization-group transformations and quantum annealing, may be useful in improving the performance of deep networks. In addition, machine learning methods are now being used ...

Machine learning techniques, especially “deep learning” using multilayer neural networks, have been highly successful in addressing a wide variety of computational problems in many domains of science and technology. However, a detailed theoretical understanding of why and how they work is not yet available. Some of the concepts and techniques of statistical physics, in which one routinely deals with theoretical descriptions of collective properties of systems consisting of very large numbers of interacting variables, are expected to be useful in analysing how deep networks function. The inherent variability of real-world data sets can be handled by techniques developed in the statistical physics of disordered systems such as spin glasses.  Also, it has been suggested that tools in statistical physics, such as renormalization-group transformations and quantum annealing, may be useful in improving the performance of deep networks. In addition, machine learning methods are now being used ...