Heidelberg: Where Old Bridges Meet New Ideas

I spent a few days in Heidelberg for EuCAIFCon 2026, the European AI for Fundamental Physics Conference, hosted by the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics from August 24 to 28. As a co-founder of EuCAIF, it is always a special feeling to see the community we started grow year after year, meeting again in a new city, with new people and new ideas around AI for fundamental physics.

I brought a poster to the conference on behalf of one of my graduate students, Gopal Ale Magar: “Anomaly Detection for Generic-Transient Gravitational Waves”, with K. Siong Heng and Lujia Xu from the University of Glasgow.

Heidelberg turned out to be the perfect backdrop for a few days of science and wandering: the old town along the Neckar, the castle looking over the rooftops, the Philosophers’ Walk with its view across the river. Between sessions and coffee breaks I found the time to explore, camera in hand — a reminder that the best conferences leave you with new ideas and a new city to fall in love with.