Organisers:
Arvind Ayyer (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore)
Olya Mandelshtam (University of Waterloo, Canada)
Arun Ram (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Vasu Tewari (University of Toronto, Canada)

Program Description:

Symmetric polynomials and symmetric functions arise in many areas of mathematics. Classically, they have played a central role in areas such as representation theory, algebraic geometry and combinatorics. More recently, they have become important in probability theory, particularly in the study of stochastic processes, where fascinating new connections are emerging. The past decade has seen major advances at this interface, including the development of Macdonald processes, breakthroughs on the KPZ universality class, and new stochastic vertex models whose combinatorial features remain under-explored and provide fertile ground for new mathematics. Symmetric functions now provide a unifying framework across these fields. The objective of this program is to focus specifically to the relationship between symmetric functions and stochastic processes, bringing in a range of researchers from diverse backgrounds.

Program Structure:

Participant List:
Hunter Spink (University of Toronto)
Arun Ram (University of Melbourne)
Travis Scrimshaw (Hokkaido University)
Weiying Guo (University of Melbourne)
Olya Mandelshtam (University of Waterloo)
Arvind Ayyer (Indian Institute of Science)
Jan de Gier (University of Melbourne)
Alexandr Garbali (University of Melbourne)
Vasu Tewari (University of Toronto (Mississauga))
Sarah Brauner (Brown University/University of Pennsylvania)
Nicolle Gonzalez (University of British Columbia)
Atsuo Kuniba (University of Tokyo)
Houcine Ben Dali (Harvard University)
Anne Schilling (University of California, Davis)
Michael Wheeler (University of Melbourne)
Tomohiro Sasamoto (Institute of Science Tokyo)
Siddhartha Sahi (Rutgers University)
Albert Demskoy (University of Melbourne)
Lucas Gagnon (University of Southern California)
Yuyang Zhou (University of Melbourne)
John Lentfer (University of California, Berkeley)
Dmitry Kolyaskin (Australian National University)
Madeline Nurcombe (University of Sydney)
Saham Sil (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.)
Gypsy Akhyar (University of Melbourne)
Yuki Ide (Hokkaido University)
William Chan (Hokkaido University)
Ryosuke Sato (Hokkaido University)
Takuto Watanabe (Hokkaido University)
Emma Yu-Jin (Xiamen University)

Registration:

• Registration is now close.
• Arrival date: 24 May 2026
• Departure date: 29 May 2026

ASSOCIATED EVENTS
MATRIX Wine and Cheese Afternoon 27 May 2026
On Wednesday afternoon, MATRIX provides a pre-dinner wine and cheese afternoon. Produce is locally-sourced to showcase delicacies from the region.