News & Announcements

Open positions, fresh reads from our blog, and the latest project notices.

Open positions

PhD

OXFORD-MPG PhD Program

Saarbrücken · Oxford · Full-time · Start: On a rolling basis

The Oxford-Max-Planck Doctoral Program is a collaborative venture between Oxford University and the Max Planck Society, offering students the opportunity to pursue a joint doctorate in computer science under the supervision of faculty from Oxford University’s Computer Science Department and from one of the four Max Planck Institutes specialising in computer science.

On a rolling basis Learn more

POSTDOC

Postdoctoral Position in Verification & Proof Automation with LEAN

Saarbrücken · Vienna · Full-time · Start: May 2026

We seek strong PhD-level researchers (including PhD candidates near completion) in CS, Math, or related fields with proven computational math aptitude and coding skills. Experience with LLMs and LEAN theorem proving is highly desired.

Deadline: 15.03.2026 More information

Thematic Programme

Dynamics beyond the Pisot Condition

Vienna · May 10 - June 25, 2027

Dynamics beyond the Pisot Condition is a thematic programme at the Erwin Schrödinger Institute (ESI) in Vienna, running May 10 – June 25, 2027. It looks at zero-entropy dynamical systems beyond the well-understood Pisot case, in three areas: non-Pisot substitutions, multi-dimensional continued fractions, and (infinite) interval exchange transformations. Each area gets a mini-course week followed by a conference week, plus a Women in Dynamics event (May 24–26). Participation is mainly by invitation, though interested people can contact the organizers.

By invitation only Learn more

Communication & Outreach

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Dec 03, 2025

Vers une vérification automatique des systèmes dynamiques discrets

CNRS Sciences Informatiques

Dec 03, 2025

Entretien avec Valérie Berthé

IRIF Portraits

Latest announcements

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July 28, 2026

MPI-SWS mourns the passing of Prof. Florian Luca, an extraordinary mathematician, colleague, mentor, and friend.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Professor Florian Luca, who passed away unexpectedly in late July 2026, in his midst of one of his regular research visits to the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) in Saarbrücken, Germany.

The death of Professor Florian Luca is an immeasurable loss: to his family and friends, to mathematics and theoretical computer science, and to all of us who had the privilege of knowing him and thinking alongside him. We extend our deepest condolences to Florian's family, and to his friends, students and collaborators around the world

June 27, 2026

Madhavan Venkatesh receives the IIT Kanpur Outstanding PhD Thesis Award 2026

Postdoctoral researcher, Madhavan Venkatesh, has been presented with the prestigious IIT Kanpur Outstanding PhD Thesis Award

Madhavan's doctoral research focused on Algorithmic Arithmetic Geometry and he completed it under the supervision of Prof. Manindra Agrawal and Prof. Nitin Saxena at the department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur. The award recognizes Madhavan's exceptional research work during his PhD studies.

Apr 08, 2026

Best ETAPS Paper Award 2026 for Isa Vialard, Joël Ouaknine and Quentin Guilmant

The prize of 'Best ETAPS Paper Award' has been presented to 'The value problem for weighted timed games with two clocks is undecidable' originally presented at FoSSaCS and recognized as the best theoretical paper contribution at ETAPS 2026.

The paper settles a long‑standing open problem by proving that weighted timed games with two clocks have undecidable strategy‑existence and value problems, thereby closing the gap between the known decidable one‑clock and the undecidable three‑clock results

Mar 19, 2026

PI Joël Ouaknine named as EATCS Fellow 2026

The EATCS Fellows Selection Committee has unanimously selected Joël Ouaknine as a Fellow of the EATCS for 2026, in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the algorithmic analysis of dynamical systems and related formalisms.

Joël Ouaknine is named as EATCS Fellow 2026 alongside Prakash Panangaden and Hagit Attiya for their outstanding contributions and landmark results in the field.

Blog highlights

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Interview

The Soft-Spoken Computer Scientist Behind an Award-Winning Thesis

5 min read · Feb 2026

In this interview, Toghrul reflects on the problem that shaped his PhD and how an “expected-to-be-undecidable” research question became a rich research programme.

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Interview

Piotr's journey in the Oxford-MPG Doctoral Programme

11 min read · Feb 2026

In this conversation, Piotr shares how he ended up in the programme, what surprised him about research, and what day-to-day life actually looks like when you're doing a PhD across two countries.

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