The 12th PhD Summer School in Discrete Mathematics has concluded successfully
The 12th Doctoral Summer School in Discrete Mathematics took place at UP FAMNIT between 7 and 13 September 2025. The event was co-organised by UP FAMNIT, Institute Andrej Marušič (UP IAM), the Slovenian Discrete and Applied Mathematics Society (SDAMS), and the Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics (IMFM), in collaboration with the Center for Discrete Mathematics at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education (UL PEF).
The scientific meeting attracted 72 participants, who engaged in a rich programme of lectures and discussions about their research work. In addition to Slovenian participants, attendees came from the following countries: France, Poland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Italy, Brazil, Crete, the Czech Republic, China, Iran, Serbia, Belgium, Great Britain, Slovakia, India, Germany, Australia, the USA, New Zealand, Spain, and Egypt.
Once again, the main lectures were delivered by leading names in the field of discrete mathematics:
- Aida Abiad (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands): Eigenvalue bounds for the independence number of graph powers and their application to coding theory
- Bence Csajbók (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary): New directions for direction sets
- Cristina Dalfó (University of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain): Factored lifts of graphs and their spectra: The Abelian and non-Abelian cases
- Luke Morgan (University of Western Australia): The linear dimension of permutation groups
Reflections from Aida Abiad, Associate Professor and head of the Algebraic Combinatorics group at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e): "The 12th summer school on Discrete Mathematics, held at the beautiful city of Koper (Slovenia), has been a great success, once more. The two minicourses offered have been very useful for students and staff to learn about two important mathematical tools (the container method, spectral graph theory). Also, the invited talks gave a glance of current research being pursued in the field of discrete mathematics. But maybe the highlight of the school was the student talks, where one could see students at their best, showcasing their latest results in a very appealing way. Also, the 'best student talk award' brought a healthy competition atmosphere and a motivational feeling. And last but not least: the organized daily sport activities were very well received by the students (and staff!); they contributed to the team bonding and added a healthy and fun component after a working day. "
As in previous years, students competed for the Best Student Talk award. The committee, consisting of Giusy Monzillo, Luke Morgan, and Russ Woodroofe, decided that the winner was Nils Van de Berg for his presentation titled "Counting cospectral graphs made via switching."
The two minicourses were delivered by Sebastian Cioaba and Rajko Nenadov.
Among the students who gave 15-minute presentations were also UP FAMNIT alumni Jelena Glisic and Mirza Redzic. Mirza is currently a PhD student at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, while Jelena is pursuing her PhD at Charles University in Prague. She also shared her thoughts on the experience:
"I’m very glad that Famnit organises this conference—it’s a great opportunity to return and reconnect. The conference is a great chance for PhD students to meet and see what others are working on. The topics are very diverse—many are from algebraic theory, which Famnit is also known for, but there are talks on other areas as well. We had two mini-courses that were quite interesting and introduced some useful ideas. The invited lectures were fascinating, and there were also many student presentations. It’s a great opportunity for everyone, especially for those presenting their work internationally for the first time—as it was for me. The atmosphere is very friendly and relaxed. Since many participants are students, the pressure isn’t overwhelming."
The event was supported by ARIS – the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (MVZI).
You can access the Book of Abstracts.