News

Francesca is one of the organizers of SPARK (Advancing Research and Knowledge), a new format for scientific meetings at DIPC. Each year, one or more events will bring together around 30 scientists for a four-week self-organized program focused on a selected research topic.

Participants will engage in small-group collaborations, informal seminars, tutorials, and lectures. They will, in principle, be hosted at DIPC, facilitating active participation of local researchers and fostering exchanges between scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, potentially leading to new ideas and collaborations.

This format has been designed to provide the ideal setting for the exchange of ideas among researchers from different fields and with diverse perspectives, fostering collaboration and the development of new research approaches.

The program will also include a satellite workshop open to the whole scientific community.

Find more information here.

We were delighted to see Francesca at the gala podium at FFG Forum 2026, bringing together leading voices from business, research and innovation to discuss the future of Austria’s economic and technology landscape.

This year’s forum focused on the potential of key technologies and the ecosystems needed to successfully bring innovation into application. The discussions highlighted both the opportunities and challenges ahead — and the importance of creating the right conditions for innovation to thrive.

Each year, Forbes Italia selects its 100 most successful women — executives, scientists, athletes, and artists who are leading and transforming the country. In 2026, Francesca is one of them. Congratulations to Francesca on this well-deserved recognition of her outstanding work! See the full list here.

Over the past few days in Innsbruck, we had the pleasure of welcoming talented bachelor, master, and early PhD students to explore the fascinating world of ultracold quantum matter.

The program featured twelve inspiring lectures by experts from Innsbruck, Vienna, and Trento, covering topics ranging from laser cooling and trapping to Bose–Einstein condensation, ultracold Fermi gases, ultracold molecules, strongly correlated quantum gases, and optical lattices. Participants also had the opportunity to visit the state-of-the-art laboratories at the Universität Innsbruck and the Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation (IQOQI) in Innsbruck, gaining firsthand insight into cutting-edge research.

A heartfelt thank you to all the lecturers for sharing their expertise, to the students for their enthusiasm, curiosity, and engaging discussions, and to everyone who contributed to making this event a success.

Thanks to my fellow organizers, Grimm Rudolf and Hanns-Christoph Naegerl, and to Silvia Bonazza for her outstanding administrative support in making this Summer School possible.

We hope this experience has inspired the next generation of researchers in quantum science, and we look forward to welcoming you again at future editions!

📸 Image credit: David Jordan / IQOQI

We congratulate Manex Ugarte-Egana from Mondragon University (Basque Country), who joined our group for his Bachelor thesis project from November 2025 to July 2026 and has now defended his excellent work on a ARTIQ-based control sytem for our new labs!

Last week, we had a lot of fun at our group event, which brought together all our group members, friends and family, current visitors, and former group members. We enjoyed delicious food from the grill and an exciting ping-pong tournament with more than 20 participants. This year’s well-deserved winner is Leonardo!