Since 2016, when the two graduate schools signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the Berlin Mathematical School (BMS) and the Barcelona Graduate School of Mathematics (BGSMath) have organized joint Junior Meetings every two years, alternating between Berlin and Barcelona. The meetings aim to strengthen the schools’ doctoral and postdoctoral programs and foster exchange between their mathematical communities. This year, the fifth BMS–BGSMath Junior Meeting took place in Barcelona from September 2 to 4, 2026. The Berlin delegation received a wonderful welcome and warm reception from their hosts in Barcelona.

A total of 44 participants from Berlin joined the BMS–BGSMath Junior Meeting 2026 in Barcelona, which brought together 75 in total. Holger Reich, BMS Chair, Nadja Wisniewski, MATH+ Managing Director, and Annika Preuß-Vermeulen, BMS Coordinator, represented the BMS and MATH+. The scientific sessions covered a broad range of areas in mathematics, with the aim of offering topics of interest to all participants. The talks were designed to be accessible without requiring prior expertise in a specific field.

Each day began with a plenary talk. The three plenary speakers were Gissell Estrada (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Centre de Recerca Matemàtica), who spoke on “Bridging scales to learn cell–cell adhesion from partial trajectory data”; Guillem Blanco (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Centre de Recerca Matemàtica), who presented “The complex zeta function of a singularity”; and Christoph von Tycowicz (Zuse Institute Berlin), representing MATH+, who discussed “Geometric Learning & Inference on Manifolds.”

Sessions with two parallel tracks followed the plenary talk, giving the young mathematicians the opportunity to present their research and exchange views on the topics discussed.

Social activities, including joint lunches and dinners, as well as the breaks between sessions, offered numerous opportunities for junior and senior researchers, organizers, and representatives to interact and exchange ideas.

The collaboration seeks to foster strong scientific exchange, promote excellence in doctoral and postdoctoral training at both institutions, strengthen research collaboration between their respective mathematical communities, and enhance the multicultural environment of both graduate schools.

When they signed the MoU, the schools declared their intention to cooperate on initiatives promoting mobility and exchange among students and faculty members. These activities include  Junior Meeting, joint summer schools, mutual visits by advanced students and postdoctoral researcher from both institutions, and other joint scientific activities.

We look forward to the next BMS–BGSMath Junior Meeting in 2028, when MATH+ and its graduate school, the BMS, will welcome our colleagues from Barcelona back to Berlin.

LINKS:

• BGSMath Website of the BMS–BGSMath Junior Meeting 2026 in Barcelona
• BMS Website about the BMS–BGSMath Junior Meeting 2026