Speakers

Francesca Vidotto

(UWO/Rotman)

My research explore the quantum aspects of the gravitational field. This involves a reflection on the nature of space and time, as well as the foundations of quantum mechanics. I am interested in the structural, relational and perspectival aspects in those theories. I am considering the contribution of different epistemologies, in particular feminist epistemology, in order to understand the relational ontology that emerges from current theoretical physics.

I am keen to supervise projects at the interface of physics and philosophy. I give priority to topics that inquire on the relational aspects in quantum mechanics, general relativity, quantum gravity and cosmology, as well as on the metaphysics compatible with these theories. The students I work with benefit of the stimulating environment at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics located in Waterloo.

Niels Martens 

(University of Utrecht)

I am currently a Marie Curie Fellow at Utrecht University (Freudenthal Institute & Descartes Centre), working on the philosophy of dark energy. As of September 2023 I will be a postdoctoral fellow at the Black Hole Initiative, Harvard, working on the philosophy of black holes. 

My research interests within philosophy of physics, metaphysics and philosophy of science focus on astronomy & cosmology (especially dark matter and dark energy), symmetries, physical quantities, spacetime & gravity, and the epistemology of scientific collaborations.

Siska De Baerdemaeker 

(University of Stockholm)

I am a lecturer at Stockholm University, where, previously I was also a postdoctoral researcher with Richard Dawid on a project on "Non-Empirical Theory Confirmation in Fundamental Physics".

My primary interests lie in history and philosophy of cosmology and astrophysics and general philosophy of science. I received my PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh (USA) in 2020. I completed an M.A. in philosophy and a B.Sc. in physics at KU Leuven (Belgium).

Piero Ullio 

(SISSA)

Nicola Rossi

(Gran Sasso)

I'm a permanent researcher at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (INFN). My research interests are mainly focused on experimental neutrino physics and dark matter direct search. In particular, I'm part of the following experiments: BOREXINO (solar neutrino detection from the pp-chain and CNO-cycle with liquid scintillator); PTOLEMY (R&D), detection of the cosmic neutrino background with tritium bound on graphene layers; LEGEND (search for neutrinoless double beta decay with germanium detectors). I'm currently involved in the LArNaI project (R&D project for dark matter search). In the past I was a member of the following collaborations: DarkSide-50, DarkSide-20k and DarkSide/ReD (dark matter search with double phase liquid argon detectors) and  SABRE (dark matter search with NaI crystals).