UFOCLAN
UFOCLAN (Universal quadratic forms and class numbers) is the number theory research group at Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Department of Algebra.
Team members
- Vita Kala (PI)
Postdocs
- Nicolas Daans (01–11/2023)
- Stevan Gajović (from 03/2023)
- Daniel Gil Muñoz (08/2021–06/2023)
- Siu Hang “Gordon” Man (from 09/2022)
- Mentzelos Melistas (from 01/2023)
- Błażej Żmija (10/2021–06/2023)
PhD students
Jakub Krásenský (from 2018)
Ester Sgallová (from 2021)
Mikuláš Zindulka (from 2021)
We regularly have funding for hiring new postdocs and PhD students. Interested very strong candidates are welcome to email Vita with informal inquiries. See also this tenure-track position.
In particular, Vita may accept a new Ph.D. student who would start their studies in October 2023 (an earlier start is not possible).
Ph.D. studies at our faculty typically take 4 years; active students receive an adequate stipend (~1000 EUR per month).
Application requirements are
curriculum vitae,
motivation letter,
transcripts (from Bachelor’s and Master’s studies), and
1 recommendation letter,
and should be submitted by email to Vita Kala (see Contact info); the recommendation letter must be emailed directly by its author. Informal inquiries concerning the position are also welcome.
Evaluation of applications will start on February 1, 2023 and will continue until the position is filled.
News
Vita wrote a survey paper that gives a (hopefully) accessible overview of our research in the last few years – have a look!
We welcome several new postdocs to our team! Siu Hang “Gordon” Man (already from September 2022), Mentzelos Melistas, Nicolas Daans, and Stevan Gajović (from March 2023).
Magda Tinková received the Josef Hlávka prize for her research conducted during her PhD studies in our group.
Mentzelos Melistas will join us in Prague in January 2023 as the final postdoc hired in our recent job call.
Our student Martin Raška, as well as Vita, both received Dean’s teaching award for excellent student questionnaire results in 2021/22. (Martin’s first solo paper also just got accepted by JNT.)
Pavlo’s and Vita’s short paper solving weak Kitaoka’s conjecture and weak lifting problem was accepted by Bulletin LMS.
The winner of the recent job call, Stevan Gajović, accepted our job offer. He should join our team in March 2023 (for 2.5 years).
Funding
GAČR Junior Star project
from the Czech Science Foundation GAČR, 2021–2025
success rate 9%, total budget 1 000 000 USD
Primus grant
Universal quadratic forms: geometry and analysis
from Charles University, 2020–2022
GAČR Junior grant
Quadratic forms and numeration systems over number fields
from the Czech Science Foundation GAČR, 2017–2019
outcomes of the grant were evaluated by the grant agency as excellent (top 20%)
University research center UNCE
PI Jan Krajíček
Methods of Algebra and Logic
Our seminars
Number Theory Seminar
Algebra Colloquium
If you want to give a talk in either of these seminars, please let one of the organizers (eg Vita) know!
We have mailing lists for both seminars with weekly talk announcements – if you want to join them, please also let Vita know.
Team publications
See here.
Past team members
- Matteo Bordignon (01/2022–01/2023)
next job: postdoc at KTH Stockholm - Giacomo Cherubini (09/2020–10/2022)
next job: permanent position at Sapienza University of Rome - Alessandro Fazzari (09–12/2021)
next job: postdoc at American Institute of Mathematics - Tomáš Hejda (01/2017–12/2019)
next job: work for Overleaf - Eric Nathan Stucky (08/2021–08/2022)
next job: adjunct faculty member at Champlain College - Tomáš Vávra (01/2017–08/2020)
next job: postdoc at University of Waterloo - Ezra Waxman (08/2018–07/2019)
next job: postdoc at Dresden University with Minerva Fellowship - Pavlo Yatsyna (01/2020–07/2022)
next job: postdoc at Aalto University - Magdaléna Tinková (PhD student, 2017–2021)
next jobs: assistant professor (tenure track) at Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Information Technology, Department of Applied Mathematics; and postdoc at TU Graz funded by Postdoc grant from Czech Science Foundation
