Jácome (Jay) Armas

I am a theoretical physicist interested in the principles that connect physical systems across scales—from string theory, gravity and quantum matter to living materials and social dynamics. I am an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam, an affiliate associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, and a member of Amsterdam’s Institute for Advanced Study.

My research asks how collective behaviour emerges from underlying interactions and symmetries. I lead a group working on hydrodynamics and collective phenomena, connecting ideas from string theory and gravity with quantum matter, active and soft matter, astrophysical plasmas and complex systems. These connections are developed through collaborations with both theoretical and experimental researchers. Explore my research.

I coordinate the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) and am principal investigator of Emergence at All Scales. Through these initiatives, I bring researchers from different disciplines together to investigate emergence and to build links between scientific research, education and society.

My academic path has taken me from a degree in Engineering Physics at the University of Aveiro, including an exchange at Trinity College Dublin, to Part III Mathematics at Cambridge and a PhD in theoretical physics at the Niels Bohr Institute in 2012. After postdoctoral positions in Bern and Brussels, I joined the University of Amsterdam in 2018. Along the way, I completed a BA in philosophy at KU Leuven in 2017, extending my interest in how scientific knowledge is constructed.

Beyond research, I founded Science & Cocktails in 2010 and chair its non-profit foundation. I build bridges between science, society, art and culture, creating opportunities for researchers, artists and the public to exchange ideas. Through public events, education, film and artistic collaborations, I bring scientific questions into everyday cultural life. I see these encounters as a two-way exchange: science can inspire new forms of artistic expression, while art and culture can open new ways of asking questions and engaging with scientific ideas. It has been recognised with the Genius Prize for science communication (2014) and the European Physical Society’s High Energy and Particle Physics Outreach Prize (2023). I also edited Conversations on Quantum Gravity (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Music, visual art and writing have long been part of my life alongside physics. My projects range from a cultural and scientific newspaper to interactive installations and collaborations in dance, theatre and audiovisual performance. Explore my outreach work or art projects.

Contact: j.armas@uva.nl · In the media