Friday, 23 September 2022 GROW 2022 – mathematicians from University of Primorska, SDAMS and University of Ljubljana successfully implemented another international conference
In 2020, mathematicians from University of Primorska and Slovenian Discrete and Applied Mathematics Society – SDAMS, in collaboration with Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana – FMF, obtained the privilege to organize the 10th Workshop on Graph Classes, Optimization, and Width Parameters – GROW 2022 which was held from 19 to 22 September 2022 at the University of Primorska in Koper.
The Workshop on Graph Classes, Optimization and Width Parameters (GROW) series of workshops bring together experts in both theoretical and practical issues to design new strategies for dealing with intractable graph problems.
This year's keynote talks were held by:
- Marthe Bonamy (French National Centre for Scientific Research – CNRS in University of Bordeaux) with the talk »One graph to rule them all: forbidden structures and universal graphs«,
- Bart M. P. Jansen (Eindhoven University of Technology) with the talk »Search-Space Reduction Beyond Kernelization« and
- Bojan Mohar (Simon Fraser University in Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics – IMFM) with the talk »On the structure of crossing-critical graphs«.
The workshop was coordinated by Martin Milanič (UP FAMNIT and UP IAM) in collaboration with Sergio Cabello (UL FMF). The organizing committee also included Nina Chiarelli and Matjaž Krnc (both UP FAMNIT and UP IAM), Peter Muršič (UP FAMNIT), Clément Dallard (LIFO, University of Orléans) and Kenny Štorgel (UP FAMNIT and Faculty of Information Studies in Novo Mesto).
Left to right: Martin Milanič and Sergio Cabello
»The organization required a lot of effort and work, which was paid off by the scientifically extremely successful implementation of the event, which included three plenary lectures, 26 other lectures, and two open problem sessions. Furthermore, the 65 participants had a number of lecture rooms at their disposal during the workshop for discussions in small groups. A special edition of the international SCI journal Discrete Applied Mathematics will be dedicated to the event,« summarized Martin Milanič.
The lectures were held in the Tramontana lecture hall at the Faculty of Humanities. Gathering of participants outside the lecture halls was made possible during a welcome reception held on Sunday, 18 September at UP FAMNIT, a hike on the Karst edge from Črni Kal to Socerb on Tuesday, 20 September, and a workshop dinner on Wednesday, 21 September. The day after the workshop the participants also had lecture halls available at UP FAMNIT to work in small groups.
Reception of GROW 2022 participants
»The conference was very well organized and it was nice to see that everyone was interacting and connecting with people they haven't met before. Groups of people have started working on new programs at this conference and it is great to see that we have such a community, because you get a feeling that you belong to some bigger group as well as in terms of getting all this information that you don't access easily online or through e-mail,« said Marthe Bonamy, who was also impressed by Koper and its beautiful sunsets.
Marthe Bonamy
Bart M. P. Jansen highlighted the importance of the cooperation of the scientific community and the exchange of knowledge, and he also emphasized the beauty of the local environment: »After several years in which physical conferences were impossible, it was wonderful to reconnect with colleagues and to meet the new generation of junior researchers in person. To do effective research it is important to know what others are working on and how far they have reached, so that we can build on the combined knowledge of the entire community to advance the state of the art. GROW has a wonderful mix of high-quality lectures by top researchers in the field and opportunities for informal discussions. The hike on the Karst plateau offered great views of the seaside while bringing researchers into contact with each other on a personal level. The venue in Koper is ideal for a meeting of this form: it has large modern lecture halls while the compact old town makes it easy to meet up for meals.«
Bart M. P. Jansen
Moments from the hike on the Karst edge from Črni Kal to Socerb
»The fact that we have such highly qualified scientists here is very important, as it is a field in which only the most active people can take on the role of organizers of regular conferences. From this point of view, hosting the conference is also a confirmation of the mathematical and scientific results of our professors. In addition, it can be a great experience for local students, who have the opportunity to see how such a conference is run,« added Bojan Mohar.
Left to right: Nina Chiarelli, Martin Milanič, and Bojan Mohar
GROW workshops have been held since 2001, and the 10th edition was held in Koper. The workshops are invitation-only, held every odd year - the last conference in 2019 was held by the research group at Technical University Wien.
The list of previous conferences is available here.
Thanks for the successful implementation of the conference go also to the UP FAMNIT student volunteers (Ina Bašić, Sadmir Kudin, Andrej Perković, Dorotea Redžepi, Gregory Robson, Nevena Stojnić, Ajla Šehović, and Draženka Višnjić).
Group photo with GROW 2022 organizers and participants
We are sharing some additional photo moments below.
