The Severo Ochoa Project at IFT includes a predoctoral program for early-stage researchers pursuing a PhD in any of the IFT research lines. Funding from the Severo Ochoa FPI and “la Caixa” INPhINIT has been key to the success of this program. Additionally, we have launched specific SO(IFT) PhD positions through an international call in line with other international PhD programmes worldwide. Currently, over 60 early-stage researchers are working towards their PhD at IFT premises. You can find a complete list of them here.
SO(predoc)
Marienza Caldarola
marienza.caldarola@csic.es
Marienza graduated in Physics at the University of Bari, Italy, and obtained a master’s degree in Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Padua, Italy. She is currently pursuing a PhD at IFT under the supervision of Savvas Nesseris and Sachiko Kuroyanagi. Her main research interests focus on gravitational waves and machine learning applications to this field.
She held an SO contract in the period September 2022 – January 2024.
Rafael Carrasco Carmona
rafael.carrasco@ift.csic.es
Rafael is doing the PhD at the IFT UAM-CSIC under the supervision of Juan Pedraza. He completed his Physics degree at the University of Córdoba and his master’s degree at the Autonomous University of Madrid. His main research focuses on the AdS/CFT correspondence, braneworlds, and especially the relationship between quantum information and gravity. He held an SO contract in the period September 2022 – February 2024.
Karen Macías Cárdenas
karen.macias@estudiante.uam.es
Karen obtained a B.Sc. in Physics from Universidad Autonóma de Baja California (Mexico) in 2020 and a master’s degree under the supervision of Aaron Vincent at Queen’s University (Canada) in 2022. They are currently a la Caixa Doctoral INPhINIT Fellow at IFT under the supervision of David Cerdeño and Marina Cermeño. Karen’s main research interests are phenomenological aspects of Dark Matter and neutrinos. Specifically, she explores models of DM-neutrino and neutrino self-interactions with cosmological, astrophysical and particle physics data.
Álvaro Lozano Onrubia
alvaro.lozano.onrubia@csic.es
Álvaro obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics at Heidelberg University, Germany. He is currently pursuing his PhD under Luca Merlo and José Miguel No in the field of Beyond Standard Model phenomenology. A large part of his research focuses on aspects of thermal field theory applied to the study of cosmological phase transitions and mechanisms of baryogenesis. More generally, he studies the interplay between extensions of the scalar sector and solutions to open problems in the Standard Model. He held a SO contract between September 2022 and February 2024, and holds a FPI SO since March 2024.
Martín Pico Lorenzo
martin.pico@csic.es
Martín double-majored in Physics and Math at the University of Oviedo and completed his master’s degree at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He is doing his PhD at IFT under the supervision of Óscar Varela. His main research focuses on duality covariant reformulations of supergravity and consistent truncations within this formalism. He held a SO contract between September 2022 and January 2024, and holds an FPU contract since then until present.
SO(FPI)
Christian Aoufia
christian.aoufia@studenti.unipd.it
Christian got his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, later obtaining a Master’s Degree in Theoretical Physics at the University of Padua. He is currently pursuing a PhD at IFT under the supervision of Fernando Marchesano and Luis Ibáñez. His main research interest is in String Theory, and in particular on its underlying principles as a theory of quantum gravity and its phenomenology.
Gabriele Barbagallo
gabriele.barbagallo@estudiante.uam.es
Gabriele obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Theoretical Physics at the University of Pisa. Thereafter, he was awarded a research fellowship at INFN, where he worked on the application of AI techniques to analyze big data from high-energy physics experiments. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at IFT under the supervision of Prof. Tomás Ortin. His research interests include gravity, supergravity, string black hole thermodynamics, and the application of machine learning techniques to black hole physics.
Alfred Francesc Benedito Machancoses
alfred.benedito@ift.csic.es
Alfred completed his Bachelor’s degree in Physics at the University of Valencia, and later went on to study the Master in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics in Munich, a joint master programme between both LMU and TUM.
He is currently pursuing a PhD at IFT under the guidance of German Sierra Rodero. His main interest is Condensed Matter Physics and Quantun Information, particularly in the use of Quantum Field Theory and Conformal Field Theory techniques with applications to Topological Effects and Tensor Networks.
Alberto Castellano Mora
alberto.castellano@csic.es
Alberto did the undergrad in Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Later on, he did the masters studies at Cambridge University, in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences. Currently, Alberto is a fourth year PhD researcher under the supervision of Prof. Luis Ibáñez. His research interests are wide, ranging from Quantum Gravity, String Theory and Mathematics, to applications in Cosmology and Phenomenology.
Antonino D’Anna
antonino.danna@estudiante.uam.es
Antonino holds a degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of Turin. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Lattice Field Theory at the Instituto de Física Teórica under the supervision of Gregorio Herdoíza. His main research interest is the study of heavy quarks using non-perturbative lattice simulations.
Gaetano Di Marco
gaetano.dimarco@ift.csic.es
Gaetano’s research interests span all over the astroparticle field, with a special focus on the gamma-ray astrophysics. Under the supervision of Rafael Alves Batista and Miguel Sánchez-Conde, he is doing his doctoral thesis in the IFT DAMASCO group. His work encompasses both conventional astroparticle investigations and indirect dark matter searches through gamma-ray observations, focusing on axion-like particles. He is involved in developing the CRPropa simulation code and analysing data from the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray telescope.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at University of Padova.
Gonzalo Fernández Casas
gonzalo.fernandezcasas@estudiante.uam.es
Gonzalo is currently doing his PhD at the IFT under the supervision of Fernando Marchesano. He studied physics at the Complutense University of Madrid and did his master’s degree in theoretical and mathematical physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich. His interests focus on quantum gravity, string theory, and the phenomenological consequences they impose on effective field theories.
Jaime Fernández Tejedor
jaime.fernandez@csic.es
Jaime obtained his Bachelor’s Degree at UAM and completed his Master’s Degree at IFT. He is currently pursuing his PhD under the supervision of Javi Serra. His research interests focus on Beyond Standard Model Physics phenomenology, particularly the constraints imposed by unitarity and causality on Effective Field Theories.
Jesús Gambín Egea
j.gambin@csic.es
Jesús graduated with a degree in Physics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and earned his Master’s in Theoretical Physics from the IFT (UAM-CSIC). He is currently pursuing a PhD in Cosmology at the IFT, supervised by Guillermo Ballesteros. His research interests include gravitational waves, inflation, and quantum field theory techniques in the early universe.
David García Fariña
david.garciafarinna@estudiante.uam.es
David graduated in Physics and earned his master’s degree in Theoretical Physics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He is currently pursuing a PhD at IFT under the supervision of Daniel Areán and Karl Landsteiner. His primary research interests focus on gauge/gravity duality and its applications to strongly coupled quantum field theories and their hydrodynamic regimes.
Álvaro Lozano Onrubia
alvaro.lozano.onrubia@csic.es
Álvaro obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics at Heidelberg University, Germany. He is currently pursuing his PhD under Luca Merlo and José Miguel No in the field of Beyond Standard Model phenomenology. A large part of his research focuses on aspects of thermal field theory applied to the study of cosmological phase transitions and mechanisms of baryogenesis. More generally, he studies the interplay between extensions of the scalar sector and solutions to open problems in the Standard Model. He held a SO contract between September 2022 and February 2024, and holds a FPI SO since March 2024.
Fernando Pérez Panadero
fernando.p@csic.es
Fernando graduated in Physics and Mathematics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and then did his master’s degree at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He is doing his PhD at the IFT under the supervision of Carlos Pena. His main research interests are Lattice field theory and the non-perturbative effects of Quantum field theories such as Quantum Chromodynamics.
Sergio Rodríguez Benítez
sergio.rodriguezb01@estudiante.uam.es
Sergio completed his Bachelor’s degree at the Universitat de Barcelona before moving to Madrid to pursue a Master’s degree in theoretical physics at IFT-UAM. He is currently pursuing his PhD under the supervision of Juan Antonio Aguilar Saavedra. His main research interests focus on the phenomenology of elementary particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and other future colliders, and specifically on models with new vector-like quarks, which naturally emerge in extensions of the Standard Model aimed at solving the ‘hierarchy problem’.
Michelangelo Tartaglia
michelangelo.tartaglia@estudiante.uam.es
Michelangelo obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Milan, and his Master’s degree in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics at LMU and TUM in Munich.
He is currently pursuing a PhD at IFT under the supervision of Miguel Montero. His main research interest is String Theory, both in its formal and phenomenological aspects.
Cristobal Zenteno Gatica
cristobal.zenteno@estudiante.uam.es
Cristóbal studied his bachelor’s and master’s in physics at the University of Chile. Then, after a brief period of university teaching, also in Chile, he is currently pursuing a PhD at IFT under the supervision of Matteo Fasiello. Cristóbal’s main interests are cosmic inflation and the physics of the early universe, particularly how these theories could generate imprints on present (or near future) observables.
Jaime Zuriaga Puig
jaume.zuriaga@csic.es
Jaume is pursuing his PhD under the supervision of Miguel Ángel Sánchez-Conde and Viviana Gammaldi in the IFT DAMASCO group. He completed his undergraduate studies in Physics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and earned his master’s degree at the IFT. He is a member of the CTA Observatory collaboration, and his research focuses on the indirect detection of WIMPs Dark Matter candidates and their connection to gamma-ray astrophysics.