Current Hamilton Scholars
Matthias Dennemann
Matthias Denneman obtained his undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Münster, Germany, before completing his master degree in mathematical physics at the University of Hamburg. His MSc thesis was on hyperkähler manifolds arising as moduli spaces from supersymmetric quantum field theories and their behaviour under mirror symmetry. He joined Trinity as a PhD student in 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Jan Manschot.
"I am interested in the study of quantum field theories, string theory and their connection to mathematical invariants. In my research project I study the physical and geometric structure of supersymmetric topological quantum field theories and their use to better understand the topology of smooth four-manifolds (eg via Donaldson-Witten theory)."
Christina Neumayer
Christina Neumayer began her PhD at Trinity College Dublin in September 2024 under the supervision of Professor Dmitri Zaitsev. She completed a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Mathematics, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, at the University of Vienna. Her research interests lie in the field of several complex variables.
"The goal of my project is to study the behavior of the Tower Multitype of Real hypersurfaces."
Vincenzo Reda
Vincenzo Reda is a third year PhD student in Mathematics, working under the supervision of Professor Marvin Anas Hahn. Vincenzo took his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Università della Calabria before starting at Trinity in September 2023.
"My research is in the field of combinatorial algebraic geometry, with a particular focus on problems in the interplay between algebraic geometry and theoretical physics. A central role in my work is played by tropical geometry, a relatively recent field that provides powerful combinatorial tools for addressing complex questions in algebraic geometry. I am very grateful to be a Hamilton Scholar, as it allows me to pursue my PhD in a stimulating and supportive research environment at Trinity."
Rodrigo Navarro Betancourt
Rodrigo Navarro Betancourt undertook his undergraduate studies at UNAM in Mexico and came to Trinity in 2021 to study at the MSc programme in Quantum Fields, Strings, and Gravity. He was awarded a Hamilton Scholarship in 2022 to support his PhD studies under the supervision of Professor Florian Naef. His forthcoming thesis is titled “A functorial approach to Kashiwara-Verge”.
"My research mainly revolves around the Kashiwara-Vergne and Grothendieck-Teichmüller Lie algebras. Drawing inspiration from string topology, I managed to prove that one injects into the other by exploiting their connection to the Goldman-Turaev Lie bialgebra. I am also interested in integrable systems and PDEs. Together with collaborators at Trinity, we proved that regular solutions to the two-dimensional Toda Lattice equation are fully determined by their Grassmannian parameter."
Thibeaut Misime
Thibaut Misime was selected as a Hamilton Scholar in Spring 2023 to work with Professor Nicolas Mascot. Even before arriving he also received a prestigious Ussher award from Trinity. Thibaut’s research is at the intersection between Algorithmic Number Theory and Diophantine Geometry.
"My work concerns Diophantine equations, that is to say solving polynomial equations in rational numbers. You could say that this is the oldest problem of mathematics, since the ancient Greeks were already studying it. While it may sound simple at a glance first, it is actually a famously difficult challenge. In fact, in spite of an extensive renewed interest of the mathematics community that has led to the development of new sophisticated mathematic tools throughout the 20th century, this problem is still not fully resolved. The modern approach attempts to tackle this problem by framing it in a geometric perspective, thanks to recent great progress in that area. The goal of my PhD is thus to generalise and implement these techniques, known as the 2-descent algorithm. Indeed, computers allow us to automate these methods and apply them to a large range of cases. More specifically, I am working on developing an algorithm which aims at bounding the Mordell-Weil rank of the Jacobian of a curve through the cardinality of its Selmer group. This is an essential step in the general process of detemining the set of rational points on a curve. It had already been done, but only for a very restricted type of curves. In contrast, my work will be able to handle any kind of curve. I have already made significant breakthroughs in this direction and managed to process several new cases which were previously out of reach."
Recent Hamliton Scholar Alumni
Liam Burke
Liam Burke works in the field of numerical analysis and high-performance computing. Based on his early PhD research that was supported by the Hamilton Scholarship, Liam was awarded an IRC postgraduate scholarship in 2022 and graduated with a PhD in 2025. After completing his PhD, Liam worked as a researcher at Charles University in Prague and is currently working as a researcher at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Liam’s primary research interests are in the development and analysis of Krylov subspace methods and other matrix algorithms for solving large-scale problems arising in High-Performance Computing applications.
Nicolas Lang
Nicolas Lang obtained his PhD in 2023 on novel theoretical and numerical methods in quantum chromodynamics.
"Through the generous support of the Hamilton Scholars programme I had the wonderful opportunity to do a PhD in theoretical physics within the lattice field theory group at Trinity. I went on to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Valencia, Spain, where I continue my work on hadron spectroscopy while also taking on new projects investigating the fundamental properties of quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong force. I am deeply grateful to the donors of the Hamilton Scholarship for making this possible."
Nicholas Aidoo
Nicholas Aidoo earned his PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Andreea Nicoara. He is currently a Teaching Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
"The Hamilton Scholarship has been instrumental in helping me live out my dream of becoming actively engaged in teaching and research in mathematics. Through this scholarship, I have now devoted myself more fully to collaborative research and essential teaching experiences. I am deeply grateful for the opportunities made possible by this support, which has strengthened by commitment to contibuting to the mathematical community."
Victoria Lebed
After two years as a postdoc at TCD funded by a Hamilton Fellowship, Dr Victoria Lebed joined the University of Caen – Normandie (France) as an Assistant Professor in 2018. Since then she has been pursuing the exploration of algebraic, topological and homological aspects of the Yang-Baxter equation. She is currently supervising a PhD student and a postdoc, and working on consolidating the international network of YBE specialists (in particular via the CNRS International Emerging Actions grant for collaboration with Belgium). She is also engaged into teaching (for instance as a coordinator of CUPGE, a university program preparing students for entering prestigious engineering schools), outreach activities, and community service (as a Vice-President of the Maths section of the National University Counsel).
Argia Rubeo
Dr. Argia Rubeo graduated with a PhD from Trinity College in theoretical physics in 2019. She subsequently joined the School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics at the University of Plymouth as a postdoctoral researcher. She is currently working at Bocconi university in Milan, where she manages the High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster in the Technology team.