Faculty and Associate Faculty
In 2024/25, Perimeter Institute was home to 27 research faculty members across nine research areas, as well as 4 teaching faculty members and 1 outreach faculty member. There are now 20 research associate faculty jointly appointed with 7 partner universities across Canada.
For a full list of faculty and associate faculty, including biographies, see Appendix.
Perimeter Research Chairs
Named for legendary scientists whose insights helped define physics, and supported by donors, Perimeter Research Chairs are doing groundbreaking research in their fields.
Asimina Arvanitaki
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Aristarchus Chair
Freddy Cachazo
Deputy Director (Interim), Perimeter Institute
Freeman Dyson Chair
Kevin Costello
Krembil William Rowan Hamilton Chair
Savas Dimopoulos (Visiting)
Stanford University
Coril Holdings Archimedes Chair
Davide Gaiotto
Krembil Galileo Galilei Chair
Luis Lehner
Carlo Fidani Rainer Weiss Chair
Robert Myers
Director Emeritus, Perimeter Institute
BMO Financial Group Isaac Newton Chair
Subir Sachdev (Visiting)
Cenovus Energy James Clerk Maxwell Chair
Kendrick Smith
Daniel Family James Peebles Chair
Neil Turok (Visiting)
Director Emeritus, Perimeter Institute
Carlo Fidani Roger Penrose Distinguished Visiting Research Chair
Pedro Vieira
Clay Riddell Paul Dirac Chair
Visiting Scientists
Perimeter’s visiting scientist programs bring members of the physics community from across Canada and internationally to participate in Perimeter’s vibrant research environment. Scientists at all career levels and across all physics research areas are encouraged to visit Perimeter under a number of programs, for visits ranging from several days to a year.
Over the 2024/25 year, 397 visitors came to Perimeter Institute under these programs, including Distinguished Visiting Research Chairs (DVRCs), Visiting Fellows, Affiliates, seminar speakers, and other collaborators and guests.
Distinguished Visiting Research Chairs (DVRCs)
Some of the world’s most eminent theoretical physicists come to Perimeter for extended visits as DVRCs, while retaining permanent positions at their home institutions. DVRCs use their time at Perimeter to collaborate extensively, present seminars, co-organize and attend conferences and workshops, and lecture in the Perimeter Scholars International (PSI) master’s program. DVRCs are appointed to renewable three-year terms. In 2024/25, four new DVRCs were appointed, bringing the total to 48. This year’s new appointees are:
Fay Dowker
Imperial College London
Yin-Chen He
Stony Brook University
Gilbert Holder
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Carlos Wagner
University of Chicago
For a full list of DVRCs see Appendix.
Visiting Fellows, Visiting Researchers, and Affiliate Members
Visiting Fellows
International physicists across a range of career stages are appointed as Visiting Fellows for renewable terms to visit Perimeter for up to six months each year while retaining their positions at home institutions. In 2024/25, seven new Visiting Fellows were appointed, bringing the total to 81.
Affiliate Members
Scientists from Canadian universities in the Affiliate network have a standing invitation to visit Perimeter at any time to do research. The goal of the Affiliate program is to foster interaction between Perimeter and universities across Canada and strengthen the Canadian physics community through increased collaboration. In 2024/25, two new Affiliates were appointed through the program. The total number of Affiliates in 2024/25 was 101, 47 percent of whom were located outside of Ontario.
Visiting Researchers
Perimeter encourages applications from Canadian and international scientists to come as Visiting Researchers for extended stays of up to a year, often through a sabbatical program with their home institution. In 2024/25, four Visiting Researchers came to Perimeter over a total of 452 days.
We welcome applications from scientists at various career levels and in all physics research areas for periods of time ranging from several days to a year.
Perimeter Distinguished Visiting Research Chair, Yin-Chen He
Partnerships
Perimeter Institute collaborates extensively with the Canadian and international research community through a variety of formal research and training partnerships. Perimeter engages with research and training partners across Canada to strengthen national research capacity in many focus areas, such as quantum science, radio astronomy, and cosmology, as well as in PhD student training and mentorship. International partnerships with high-calibre institutions across the globe foster research collaboration through visitor exchange and joint workshops and connect Canada to leading researchers from around the world.
Perimeter’s research and training partners in Canada are:
- Bishop’s University
- Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA)
- Carleton University EDIT-STEM
- Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD)Telescope (McGill University [lead], National Research Council of Canada, University of Alberta, University of Toronto)
- Dalhousie University
- Fields Institute
- IVADO
- McMaster University
- SNOLAB
- TRIUMF
- University of Guelph
- University of Toronto
- University of Waterloo
- York University
Perimeter’s international research and training partners are:
- Astroparticle and Cosmology Laboratory, Paris, France
- Chapman University, Institute for Quantum Studies, California, US
- Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- International Centre for Theoretical Physics, South American Institute for Fundamental Research, São Paulo, Brazil
- Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, Tokyo, Japan
- KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology), Kumasi, Ghana
- Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Simons Observatory, New York, US
- SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies), Trieste, Italy
- Tensor College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- University College London, UK
- University of Edinburgh, UK
- International Centre for Theory of Quantum Technologies, University of Gdansk, Poland
Industry Partnerships
Perimeter Institute also collaborates with industry partners through memoranda of understanding that give skilled talent at quantum companies the opportunity to work side by side with Perimeter researchers in the Perimeter Institute Quantum Intelligence Lab (PIQuIL).
Perimeter’s industry partners are:
- 1QBit
- Haiqu
- IonQ
- Irréversible
- Quantum Industry Canada
Explore further: A full list of Perimeter’s partners
Perimeter expands ‘PSI Start’ with new partnerships
The Perimeter Scholars International (PSI) Start Program, which offers undergraduate students a 10-week school covering modern topics in theoretical physics, is now formally offered in Bangladesh and Ghana following successful trial programs in both countries. An additional satellite has also been added at Bishop’s University in Québec, Canada. The satellite program is modelled on Perimeter’s original PSI Start Program, which enrolls around 40 students every summer and offers a 15-week research internship at Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario.
Students at Tensor College, Bangladesh, participate in PSI Start Winter School 2024. Tibra Ali.
PI People: Fields-AIMS-Perimeter Africa Fellows
Anteneh Gebrie explores unanswered questions in optimization theory
Mathematician Anteneh Getachew Gebrie found his way from Ethiopia to Perimeter Institute as the 2024 Fields-AIMS-Perimeter Africa Fellow through a partnership between Perimeter, the Fields Institute, and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). The fellowship aims to foster research opportunities and mentorship for rising African academics. Gebrie was drawn to the fellowship for the chance to collaborate with theorists who share his interest in unresolved questions within optimization theory.
At Perimeter, he worked alongside Levent Tunçel and Walaa Moursi, professors at the University of Waterloo, to tackle a particularly challenging open question in mathematical physics. His research culminated in two papers, and he believes the publications, linked to a prestigious institute like Perimeter, will have significant impact on his research, knowledge, and overall experience. After his fellowship concluded in the fall of 2024, Gebrie chose to continue his research with Tunçel and Moursi as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Waterloo.
“I'm born in Ethiopia, raised in Ethiopia, and studied up to the level of master's in Ethiopia. All my experience, education, and background are from Ethiopia. I wish to go back and serve my country, to change the education system. That’s truly my interest. That's my plan.”
—Anteneh Gebrie, Postdoctoral Researcher under the Fields/AIMS/Perimeter Africa Fellowship