PRR Project

Summary

Job descriptionThe successful candidate will carry out research in line with the strategic priorities of the centre, strengthening existing lines of research and opening up new directions. They will actively promote international scientific collaboration with other leading centres and pursue funding opportunities. Thus, they will contribute to keeping the research efforts of the centre competitive, relevant and up to date. They will also contribute to the training of young researchers through the supervision of postgraduate students and the lecturing of Master´s and PhD level courses. Additionally, they will strive to promote the scientific culture of the centre through communication and outreach activities to take place both within the broader scientific community and the general public.*Scientific profile*We seek a candidate with an exceptional track record. This should be reflected in an excellent publication record and other marks of recognition by the international scientific community, such as invited lectures and  funded research projects. The candidates should also have a strong international network, and they should have experience in seeking and securing competitive research funding and in research management, as well as in student mentoring and graduate level teaching.The candidates research agenda should be aligned with the strategic research priorities of the centre (as outlined below) and have potential for creating synergies by bridging existing research themes in Algebra and Geometry, as well as opening new important avenues. Transversality will be a much-appreciated feature of the candidates. Namely, we expect them to have the ability to work across disciplines and to reach out to different research communities.RationaleAlgebra and Geometry have developed over the years into two of the most active and attractive research areas at CMUP. This is reflected by our excellent publication record, the many signs of recognition by the international community (invited lectures, editorships, funded research projects, invited participations in scientific evaluation panels, international networks, etc.) as well as by the very high demand from postgraduate students and researchers applying for fixed-term contracts. Thus, CMUP is now internationally recognised as a centre contributing to and defining the state-of-the-art in these areas.Very broadly our most important and active recent research themes lie within algebraic and symplectic geometry, group and semigroup theory, number theory, representation theory and ring theory. A hallmark of our research in Algebra and Geometry is the effort put into establishing bridges with other areas in, or even outside, mathematics. The main examples include:- algebraic and symplectic geometry: connections with differential geometry, Lie theory, physics, representation theory, topology;- group theory: connections with geometry, combinatorics, cryptography;- semigroup theory: connections with computer science, topology, dynamical systems;- number theory: connections with cryptography and computer science;- representation theory and ring theory: connections with algebraic geometry, combinatorics, Lie theory, quantum theory and theoretical physics.As can be seen from the above, there is great potential for both increasing synergies between existing research themes and for building on existing strengths to advance the research agenda of the centre in new and important directions, such as exploring connections with quantum mathematics and quantum computing, areas which are intimately related to modern algebra and geometry. At this point in time this potential can only be fully realised through the hiring of tenured researchers, who contribute to defining and achieving long term strategic goals of the highest importance in the area. Indeed, our current level of excellence has been achieved and maintained by the hard work, adaptability, and strategic outlook of the existing permanent research staff, as well as by our efforts over time to have in the centre excellent young researchers on fixed-term contracts. However, no permanent academic staff has been hired at the University of Porto in these areas for many years, and this strategy now needs to be supplemented by a careful renewal process of the permanent research staff of which the proposed position is an essential first step.