Contact: psi[AT]petnica.rsLocation: Petnica, Valjevo, Serbia
Petnica Summer Institute (PSI) aims to provide lectures to early graduate students given by senior PhD students, postdocs, and researchers. PSI is organized every summer at Petnica Science Center (Valjevo, Serbia) and covers a wide range of topics in fundamental and applied physics.
This year’s school in theoretical physics focuses on quantum chaos, low-dimensional quantum gravity, and matrix models, with a special emphasis on applications to black holes.
See https://psi.petnica.rs/ for schools on Dark Universe and Scientific Machine Learning.
Aim: The school aims to provide intensive and thorough courses on a broad range of topics in quantum chaos, low-dimensional quantum gravity, and matrix models. The program is not limited to lectures, but will also include daily discussion sessions, problem-solving, and independent work.
For Whom: The school is intended for early graduate (MSc / junior PhD) students from all around the world. We will also consider motivated applications from senior undergraduates, as well as more senior PhD students. Students from the Balkan region/Southeast Europe are especially encouraged to apply.
Application Procedure: To apply, please fill out the form on the website. One letter of recommendation should be sent directly by a referee to psi (at) petnica.rs.
Application Deadline: May 3rd, 2026 (23:59 CET). Please ensure that the letter of recommendation is sent by the same deadline.
Fees and Support: The full cost for accommodation and meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) is 550 EUR per participant. Depending on the overall budget, the organizers may be able to provide partial financial support for a number of students, with priority given to students from the Balkans region / Southeast Europe.
Topics: Classical and Quantum Chaos; Black Hole Physics; Basics of Holography; JT/SYK Correspondence; Random Matrix Theory; Near-extremal Black Holes; Matrix Model Building
Lecturers:
Dionysios Anninos (King’s College London); David Berenstein (University of California, Santa Barbara); Panos Betzios (University of Ghent); Mihailo Cubrovic (IPB, Belgrade); Diego Liska (University of Geneva and EPFL, Lausanne); Edward Mazenc (ETH Zurich); Olga Papadoulaki (Ecole Polytechnique, Paris); Marija Tomasevic (CERN)