New Max Planck-IAS-NTU Center to begin operations in Taipei in July

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) National Taiwan University (NTU) on Monday announced the establishment on its Taipei campus of a new Max Planck Center, in collaboration with the German-based Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science and the U.S.-based Institute for Advanced Study (IAS).

According to NTU, one of the top public universities in Taiwan, the new Max Planck-IAS-NTU Center for Particle Physics, Cosmology and Geometry will begin operations in July 2025 and unite expertise from Taiwan, Germany and the United States.

"Key activities will include focused workshops, international conferences, summer schools, and collaborative visits, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas across disciplines and geographic boundaries," according to a Monday press release from the Max Planck Institute for Physics.

According to press releases from all three institutions, the center will be led by three co-directors: Johannes Henn of the Max Planck Institute for Physics, IAS's Gopal Prasad Professor in the School of Natural Sciences Nima Arkani-Hamed, and NTU's Chee-Chun Leung chair Professor of Cosmology Daniel Baumann.

"One of the most remarkable discoveries of modern cosmology is that the hot Big Bang was not the beginning of time," Baumann said.

"By joining together experts in the fields of particle physics, cosmology, and geometry, we hope that this Center will produce new insights into these profound questions," he added.

Henn said the center "forms a global hub for excellence and knowledge transfer in theoretical physics."

He added that it "enables collaborative research across institutional and disciplinary boundaries, fostering synergies that span from novel mathematical frameworks relevant to quantum field theory to interactions of elementary particles and to the physics of the early universe."

Arkani-Hamed said that a decade ago, connections between particle physics, cosmology and geometry would have seemed "absurd," but he expects the center to help researchers make "major strides" in understanding links between these fields.

While the center will begin operations in July, the opening symposium will take place on NTU's campus from Sept. 1-3 and a "kick-off conference" is planned at IAS from March 16 to 20, 2026.

Funding for the center will be jointly provided by NTU and Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council, NTU said, with initial funding planned for five years.

NTU President Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said the university is honored to cooperate with two of the world's leading research institutions.

Chen said NTU is committed to promoting international collaboration and looks forward to breakthrough research.