Pacific Institute of Theoretical Physics

PITP is an international research institute, which receives funding from both inside and outside Canada. It is based in Vancouver, at the University of British Columbia (UBC), but also has nodes in the Universities of Sherbrooke and Calgary. PITP also has exchange agreements and extensive collaborations with institutes in Australia, Korea, and Japan. The PITP visitor centre in Vancouver hosts visitors for extended periods of time, allowing visiting senior researches, as well as postdocs and research students, to work together.

The main goal of PITP is to foster collaborative research in theoretical physics, supporting both the PITP visitor programme and a large number of meetings (including workshops and conferences), and summer schools. At present the PITP research programme has a strong emphasis on "complex systems". This includes condensed matter physics, as well as complex materials (including polymer physics and biophysics), quantum optics, and topics in theoretical quantum chemistry. The activities of PITP involve significant collaborations between members of the PITP Research networks and experimental groups, as well as links and collaborations with other research organisations in Canada and elsewhere. There is also a Public Outreach programme, which includes public lectures (notably the PITP-St.Johns series of public lectures).