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ICTP International Chairs

Honouring Notable Researchers from the Global South

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ICTP International Chairs are prestigious visiting positions allowing distinguished physicists and mathematicians to spend extended time at ICTP. While in Trieste, these high-level researchers deliver lectures, lead discussion groups, guide research, and mentor scientists from disadvantaged countries. They make an invaluable impact on ICTP’s community by providing a unique opportunity for scientists in all stages of their careers and from all corners of the world to have direct exposure to the world's best scientific talent. Those scientists, in turn, share their knowledge with colleagues and students in their home countries.

 

Narasimhan International Chair in MathematicsXiaohua Zhu

The Narasimhan International Chair in Mathematics honours the late Mudumbai Seshachalu Narasimhan, an eminent mathematician from India with a long and distinguished career, including as former head of ICTP's Mathematics section. Xiaohua Zhu of Capital Normal University, China, is the first holder of this Chair. His research focuses on differential geometry and geometric analysis.

Ramanujan International ChairCarolina Araujo

ICTP's Ramanujan Chair is hosted in the Mathematics section and named in honour of Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887 – 1920). Since 2025, the chair has been held by Brazilian mathematician Carolina Araujo of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An algebraic geometer specializing in birational geometry and foliations, Araujo is a distinguished mathematician and a promoter of women in mathematics, with longstanding connections to ICTP. 

Virasoro International ChairSubir Sachdev

The Miguel Virasoro Visiting International Chair is hosted in ICTP's Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics section. It was launched in 2024 and has since been held by Subir Sachdev, a condensed matter physicist known for his important contributions to the understanding of entangled states of quantum matter.

Valery Rubakov International ChairJohn March-Russell

Hosted by the High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics section, the Valery Rubakov International Chair is named in honour of the prominent Russian theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions at the interface of particle physics and cosmology; Rubakov also served on the ICTP Scientific Council from 2010 to 2020. The first holder of the Chair is John March-Russell, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Oxford. March-Russell's research focuses on the foundational issues of the Standard Model, and its extensions as motivated by theoretical and experimental puzzles, as well as relevant aspects of General Relativity.