The COGENT (Cohomology, Geometry, Explicit Number Theory) project aims to advance cutting-edge research in an active field of interaction between algebra, geometry and computer science. It aims to promote innovative approaches to effective methods underlying long-standing conjectures in number theory. COGENT will expand theoretical knowledge aimed at extending the field of computer-assisted symbolic and exact computations, with a view to potential industrial applications in disparate fields ranging from cryptography to topological data analysis.

The main training objective of the project is to train a new generation of young researchers with unique expertise, including high-performance calculations in geometry and topology, proof assistance and formalised mathematics, machine learning and quantum computing techniques.

The call for doctoral students was launched in January 2025, with the aim of starting their thesis in September. As part of the project, 10 theses will be funded by Europe and 3 by the United Kingdom (by UK Research & Innovation).

“Obtaining competitive funding of this kind will enable us to build up a community over the long term and to run it, as well as setting up the equipment needed for high-level training” explains Philippe Elbaz-Vincent, UGA Professor and project coordinator, who works at the Institut Fourier (CNRS/UGA).

A highly competitive programme led by the UGA, with 14 international partners

Less than 15% of the MSCA-DN projects submitted are ultimately funded.

Coordinated by the UGA, the COGENT project involves a total of 14 partners in France, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Switzerland and the United States:

1. Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) - coordinator
2. Stichting Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA)
3. Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUB)
4. Université de Bordeaux (UBx)
5. University of Galway
6. University of Durham
7. University of Sheffield (UFSD)
8. Colorado State University (CSU)
9. University of Massachusetts (UMASS)
10. University of Michigan
11. University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNCG)
12. University of Oklahoma
13. ID Quantique (IDQ, Switzerland)
14. MSM Programming (Croatia)