ERC Advanced Grant at the UW Faculty of Physics – Professor Emanuel Gull

15 04 2024

Professor Emanuel Gull from the University of Michigan has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant, which he will carry out at the UW Faculty of Physics. This is the first time that a foreign awardee has chosen the University of Warsaw as the location for his research. The project will be dedicated to quantum algorithms and will involve the relocation of the researcher’s laboratory from Michigan to Warsaw.

Professor Emanuel Gull is a theoretical physicist, specialising in developing numerical methods to describe complex quantum many-body systems.

Multidisciplinary research at the Faculty of Physics

His five-year project “Predictive algorithms for simulating quantum materials” is dedicated to quantum materials. Professor Gull will combine existing methods and develop new ones based on techniques from quantum field theory, condensed matter theory, quantum Monte Carlo methods, applied mathematics or machine learning. It will therefore be research that spans many scientific disciplines. In his own words: “Quantum materials are materials, in which the strangeness of quantum leads to fascinating and technologically useful effects such as magnetism or superconductivity. We find such materials in hospital MRIs, sensors, high-voltage DC transmission lines, and electric car batteries”.

According to Professor Michal Tomza of the UW Faculty of Physics, leader of the Quantum Molecular Systems group, who is working on the quantum theory of ultracold matter and its interaction with light, Professor Gull’s research is perfectly in line with current topics being addressed at the faculty. Among other things, the methods he is developing can be used to explain and predict new experiments with cold atoms.

ERC grants at the University of Warsaw

European Research Council (ERC) grants are prestigious awards for groundbreaking research in a specific scientific field. They are divided into five categories: ERC Starting Grant, ERC Consolidator Grant, ERC Advanced Grant, ERC Proof of Concept and ERC Synergy Grants.

Researchers from the University of Warsaw are supported in the preparation of project proposals for ERC grants by the Office for International Research and Liaison of the University of Warsaw (BMPB UW), which has developed a comprehensive support programme for both the written and oral parts of the competition. This was funded by the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” (IDUB) programme. The BMPB UW organises information and training sessions, international mock panels prior to the second stage of the call, one-to-one consultations and, if the project is successful, prepares the grant agreement.

The office cooperates with an expert in research presentation – Professor Piotr Wasylczyk from the UW Faculty of Physics – and a native English speaker – Doctor Alisa Masiejczyk from the UW Faculty of Applied Linguistics – as well as with ERC panellists and ERC grant holders (peer reviews, control panels) and the National Contact Point for EU Research Programmes (the National Centre for Research and Development).