Jácome (Jay) Armas

I am a tenured assistant professor in theoretical physics at the University of Amsterdam. I work on string theory, quantum gravity, black holes, holography and hydrodynamics of soft/active matter, astrophysics, quantum matter and complex systems with applications to ecosystems and social systems. I work with a group of postdocs, PhDs and master students in these subjects. I am a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Amsterdam and also an external associated professor at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen.

I have a degree (licenciatura) in Engineering Physics (2007) from the University of Aveiro with one year (2006) in theoretical physics at Trinity College Dublin; a masters degree in advanced mathematics (Part III) from the University of Cambridge (2008); a PhD in theoretical physics from the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen (2012); and a BA in philosophy from KU Leuven (2017). I had postdoctoral positions at the University of Bern (2013-2014) and Université Libre de Bruxelles (2015-2017) before joining the University of Amsterdam in 2018 as an Assistant Professor.

A substantial amount of my time is dedicated to understanding Emergence and coordinating the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP), an interdisciplinary research centre bridging disciplines such as physics, computer science, chemistry, mathematics, logic and ecosystem dynamics.

In 2010 I founded the international science outreach platform and event series Science and Cocktails (S&C) running in 4 different cities and attracting more than 1000 people per event in Copenhagen. I received the Genius-prisen (Genius Prize) for science communication in 2014 and the Outreach Prize in 2023 attributed by the European Physical Society.

Throughout my career as a scientist I also worked on cultural and artistic projects. I’ve managed a newspaper, ran a cocktail bart/art gallery and cultural venues. I’ve been involved in various interactive art installations, music projects and book projects as an artist and in various art projects as a scientist.

Contact: j.armas (AT) uva.nl