Photo: Jonas Enander
Guilherme, or Gui as he often goes by, grew up in a small city named Joaçaba in the south of Brazil. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Florianópolis and later his master’s degree in theoretical physics in São Paulo. His interest in string theory and the early universe then took him to Canada where he completed a PhD in theoretical cosmology under the supervision of Prof. Robert Brandenberger and was selected as the best PhD student of 2019 by the Centre de
Recherches Mathématique. Gui first joined Nordita as an independent postdoctoral fellow, and now has a joint position as a senior researcher at Nordita and the Stockholm University Department of Philosophy where he is a lecturer. His research at Nordita focuses on quantum foundations and quantum gravity, in particular, attempting to unveil how space and time could be emergent from quantum mechanics.
What will you focus on now that you have secured financing for the coming years?
I want to focus on developing a strong research program trying to address some of the deepest questions we have in theoretical physics, such as how space and time might emerge from quantum mechanics and how we can think about the different parts of the world when both quantum mechanics and gravity are relevant. And I hope to do that with my students and collaborators. My goal is to not only develop my research, but also to foster a cooperative environment to oppose the structural pressure that academia usually brings about. I am also very invested in community building, and I hope to find ways to foster interpersonal relationships at Nordita.
How can Nordita help you realise your ambitions?
The reason why I joined Nordita 5 years ago as a fellow was because of the amount of independence I’d have here. And indeed, that independence allowed me to set my own research path, exploring questions that appealed to my curiosity, while leaving room for me to cultivate my own network of collaborators. In a similar vein, the environment at Nordita, and the strong support from the previous and current director to come up with my own initiatives, led to the creation of a very successful outreach program called ScientiFika. Thus, moving forward, I hope Nordita remains being a nurturing environment for new ideas, and one that believes in and support my visions for the future.
How do you plan to contribute to a Nordita’s interdisciplinary and collaborative research environment?
I hope to continue contributing in the ways that I already do: by supervising local students, from bachelor level, to masters and PhD students; by cultivating and promoting Scientifika, one of the university’s main research initiatives, which brings together students, researchers and sometimes faculty together in a weekly basis to learn not only about physics, but also many other captivating research topics from other fields; by bringing visitors to Nordita to collaborate with me on my research; and finally by engaging with all the researchers coming and going as we never really know where new ideas will come from!
