Program Overview

The Banff International Research Station (BIRS) in Banff, Canada and the Australian Mathematical Research Institute (MATRIX) invite proposals for a tandem workshop taking place simultaneously at MATRIX and BIRS in the week of November 22 - 27, 2026.

This joint initiative is designed to foster international collaboration in the mathematical sciences through coordinated, hybrid-format programming. The workshop will run concurrently at both sites, with each location hosting approximately 10–21 participants. Joint activities such as lectures or discussions will be scheduled to accommodate time zone differences (e.g., morning at MATRIX corresponds to afternoon the prior day at BIRS in Banff). Talks outside these time windows may be recorded and shared asynchronously across the two sites.

All proposal submissions must be submitted to BIRS and MATRIX separately to be considered eligible, using individual portals:

BIRS proposals platform: https://proposals.birs.ca

MATRIX application form: https://www.matrix-inst.org.au/call-for-programs/

prior to the deadline of 1 September, 2025.

MATRIX-BIRS Tandem Workshop 2026 Proposal Guidelines

Workshop name:
State the title of your tandem workshop in the format “MATRIX-BIRS Tandem Workshop 2026: TITLE“


Workshop organizers:
•  A proposal should contain at least two suggested organizers at each center (up to three at BIRS) who act as a common team of organizers for the tandem workshop and are commonly in charge of the proposal. Applicants should aim for gender balance among the organizers.

•  The BIRS organizing sub-committee can contain at most one member per institution.

•  The BIRS organizing committee must contain at least one organizer who self-identifies as a member of an under-represented group in STEM disciplines, and at least one organizer who is an early-career researcher (within ten years of their Ph.D. at the time of application).

•  For a successful proposal, organizers are required to submit a joint post-event report, which will be made publicly accessible.


Dates of the workshop
Must be the week of 22-27 November, 2026.


Format of the proposal(4-6 pages):
•  Description of the topic, timeliness, novelty, recent results, references, special lectures.

•  The proposed provisional program of the tandem workshop should take into account the different time zones. For example, schedule main talks with real-time transmissions in morning time slots at MATRIX and afternoon slots at BIRS (Banff, Alberta, Canada). More technical talks, longer talks etc. can be recorded via zoom for availability at the other center.

A competitive proposal should make a convincing case for the tandem structure of the proposed activity.


Participant list:
•  The proposals should contain two lists of intended invitees(10-20 suggested participants at MATRIX and 10-21 participants at BIRS) with explicit indication of the diversity and selection criteria, according to the centers’ rules.

•  The BIRS proposal should include expressions of interest from perspective participants, recorded through the BIRS portal. This helps organizers gauge the interest of the scientific community in the proposed event and signals its appeal to the selection panel. All the invitees who express interest in the proposed event will automatically be invited as physical workshop participants if the proposal is successful. BIRS recommends sending no more than 15 invitations, including organizers, to potential participants at the proposal stage, to allow for additions in case revisions are requested. The number of invitations should not exceed 21, the on-site capacity.

•   List of 10-20 suggested participants at MATRIX should be provided under the 'Additional Comment' section.

BIRS Support
Full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner) will be provided for the invited on-site participants, along with dedicated social space and breakout rooms. BIRS cannot provide travel support for participants or honorarium for speakers.

BIRS can facilitate travel support for eligible participants through existing partnerships, as detailed here: https://www.birs.ca/participants/travel-support/


Other External Funding

Please include a list of external funding if you have applied for and/or received for this workshop.


Review and Outcome

Workshop proposals will be reviewed by a MATRIX-BIRS joint-committee comprised of members of the institutes’ respective Scientific Committees. The outcome of your workshop proposal will be communicated to you by BIRS and MATRIX Programs Coordinator in November 2025.

Contact

If you have any questions about the submission process on the BIRS side, please contact the BIRS Office via email at [email protected].