Recent News and events

Summer internships

17/03/2026 12:00

map Anfiteatro Abreu Faro, Complexo Interdisciplinar

Only in the screen at the Mathematics Building entrance.

Get Ready for Náboj 2026: The International Team Math Competition!

13/03/2026 09:30

@ Instituto Superior Técnico - Universidade de Lisboa

Get ready for Náboj 2026, the international mathematics competition whose Portuguese edition will be hosted by Instituto Superior Técnico. In this fast-paced contest, teams from five secondary schools race against the clock to solve as many problems as possible in 120 minutes. Unlike standard school exercises, Náboj problems are designed to challenge ingenuity and logical thinking, making the competition exciting for both newcomers and experienced olympiad participants. Teams compete in Junior (up to 10th grade) and Senior categories, with the chance to compare results internationally against students from over a dozen countries. Registration is now open, so gather your team, put your problem-solving skills to the test, and discover the infinite beauty hidden in mathematics!

GEMS (GEometry MeetingS)

13/03/2026

@ Universidade do Minho

The next edition of GEMS (GEometry MeetingS) is coming soon. This is a collaborative initiative supported by five Portuguese research centers aimed at strengthening the geometry research community. The meeting will feature topics ranging from the topology of higher-dimensional automata to critical metrics and primitive immersions. These regular gatherings provide an informal and engaging environment for researchers to exchange ideas and explore emerging trends in geometry and related areas. For any information, please feel free to contact the organizers.

Teaching Assistants (Monitors) in 2026/2027 - Applications until April 21

11/03/2026 — 21/04/2026

Following the model of the current academic year, the Department of Mathematics at IST will be opening Teaching Assistant (Monitor) positions for the 2026/27 academic year.

These positions are preferentially intended for students enrolled in the 1st year of the following master’s programs in 2026/27:

Application to Master’s Programs:
Applications for these master’s programs at the Department of Mathematics are open for final-year undergraduate students (or graduates) who have completed at least 138 ECTS credits.
(https://tecnico.ulisboa.pt/pt/ensino/estudar-no-tecnico/concursos-de-acesso/mestrados/)

Other Eligibility Cases:
A small number of monitor positions may be awarded to:

  • Exceptionally good students of the Licenciatura em Matemática Aplicada e Computação (LMAC) who will be in the 3rd year in 2026/27.

  • Students who will be in the 2nd year of MMAC or MECD in 2026/27 and do not hold a research grant during the monitoring period.

Position Details:

  • Contract Duration: 5 or 10 months.

  • Gross Salary: Approx. 590 EUR/month (including holiday and Christmas subsidies).

Duties:
Monitors may be assigned to:

  • Teach practical classes for one course per semester/period (max. 4 hours/week), depending on departmental needs and the student’s preferences/skills. Courses include, for example: Linear Algebra, Calculus I-III, Probability and Statistics, Computational Mathematics, Programming, Theory of Computation, Discrete Mathematics.

  • Teach laboratory classes (up to 5 hours/week).

  • Provide other types of equivalent support deemed necessary by the course coordinators.

How to Apply:
Interested students should send an email with the subject "Application for Monitor" by April 21st to:

Prof. João Rasga - joao.rasga@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Required Documentation:

  • Motivation Letter

  • CV

  • Transcript of Records / Screenshot of grades to date, including the weighted average.

  • Name of one or two professors who can provide a reference.

Additional Notes:

  • PS1: Please note that the research units associated with the Department of Mathematics (CAMGSD, CEMAT, and SQIG) periodically offer research grants (preferentially for 2nd-year master’s students).

  • PS2: Master’s students in 2026/27 can only be monitors for the Department of Mathematics if they are enrolled in MMAC or MECD.

Alumni Talks Women Edition 2026

09/03/2026 12:30

map Salão Nobre, Instituto Superior Técnico

Only in the screen at the Mathematics Building entrance.

Time2Talk

09/03/2026 — 11/03/2026

@ Centro de Congressos, IST, Piso -2

Time2Talk is an event that aims to bring together students, teachers, and professionals, creating a space for dialogue, sharing experiences, and reflecting on different paths and areas of application of Mathematics. Over the three days, the program will include lectures, workshops, roundtables, a company fair, and various opportunities for socializing.

Meeting with BNP Paribas

05/03/2026 09:00

Only in the screen at the Mathematics Building entrance.

Advanced School of Mathematics launches with Opening Ceremony

28/02/2026 10:00

@ Salão Nobre

On February 28th, the Salão Nobre welcomed 150 selected students from across Portugal for the opening ceremony of the Advanced School of Mathematics. This new talent development program, organized by the Department of Mathematics in collaboration with TreeTree2, brought together young learners from grades 6 to 11 for a journey into advanced mathematics. The ceremony featured addresses from Professor Rogério Colaço, President of Técnico, and Professor José Mourão, President of the Department of Mathematics, followed by a lecture from Professor Henrique Leitão and a musical performance by the IST Student Camerata. After lunch with their instructors, the students then began their first hands-on mathematical activities, marking the start of this exciting initiative.

Coffee with Career Center

24/02/2026 — 26/02/2026

Only in the screen at the Mathematics Building entrance.

Breakthrough derivation of the Boltzmann equation 

22/02/2026

A breakthrough in mathematical physics resolved a major open problem by rigorously deriving the Boltzmann equation from the dynamics of individual atoms

In a landmark paper, Long time derivation of the Boltzmann equation from hard sphere dynamics, mathematicians Yu Deng, Zaher Hani, and Xiao Ma rigorously derived the Boltzmann equation describing the behavior of a gas at the mesoscopic scale, directly from Newton''''''''''''''''s laws applied to individual spherical (hard) atoms. This work extends a 1975 theorem by Oscar Lanford, which proved such a connection for short-time. 

A recent article from Quanta Magazine article straightforwardly describes this achievement. A key idea consists in using techniques from the study of wave interactions to create a "cutting algorithm" managing the complexity of possible collision histories among particles. This is then used to prove that complicated, recurring collisions are extraordinarily rare. This work appears to give insight into the problem of understanding how the arrow of time seen at the macroscopic scale emerges from time-reversible laws ruling the microscopic world. This result, together with previous work, solves an aspect of Hilbert''''''''''''''''s Sixth Problem.