The UV-QG group is actively collaborating with members of three African institutions: the University of Cape Town and North-West University, from South Africa, and The British University in Egypt, from Egypt (obviously). This collaboration is supported by the internationalization program i-COOP of CSIC through the grant COOPB23096, and is aligned with the commitment of members of the UV-QG group to contribute to the strengthening of the scientific-technical training capacities of developing countries, facilitating scientific exchanges and internships at the Department of Theoretical Physics & IFIC.
As part of the activities of this project, in September 8-10, 2025 we are organizing a workshop on compact objects, cosmology, and metric-affine gravity, to highlight ongoing research of the project members and collaborators. In this occasion, we will count with participation of the following invited speakers: Dr. Renier Hough (NWU), Dr. Gamal G. Lamee Nashed (BUE), Dr. Ángel Rincón (SUO), and Dr. Cristián Erices (UCC).
The workshop will be held at the Seminar Room of the Department of Theoretical Physics of the University of Valencia (Burjassot Campus) in hybrid format to facilitate the remote participation and attendance of the national and international community working in the field of compact objects, cosmology, metric-affine geometry, and modified theories of gravity. As usual, all talks and discussions will be broadcast live via our YouTube channel. l. If you are interested in participating in the live sessions, let us know by email (at gonzalo.olmo@uv.es with subject "i-COOP meeting") to receive the corresponding ZOOM link.
The main topic of the workshop revolves around the notion of compact astrophysical objects, cosmology, and modified gravity, with a focus on metric-affine geometry.
Besides our colleagues from UCT, NWU, and BUE, the workshop will count with the participation of Dr. Carlos Alberto Santos de Almeida (UFC, Brazil), Dr. Ángel Rincón (SUO, Czech Republic), Dr. Renan B. Magalhães (UFMA, Brazil), Dr. Leandro Lessa (UFMA, Brazil), Dr. Paulo J.F. Porfirio (UFPB, Brazil), and the PhD/MSc students Alana Carolina Lima dos Santos (UFC, Brazil), Javier Marañón (UV-CSIC), Caio C.R. Evangelista (UFC, Brazil), Anderson Bragado de Queiroz (UFC, Brazil), ....
About our special guests:
Dr. Gamal G.L. Nashed: He got his PhD in 1998 from Saitama university (Tokyo, Japan) on theoretical physics (energy and momentum in modified theories). After finishing his Ph.D, has been a Faculty staff in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Ain Shams University (Cairo, Egypt) since 1998 till 2012. Since 2012, he became a member of the Centre of Theoretical Physics specialized in deriving black hole solutions in modified theories of gravity such as f(T), f(R), f(G), etc. He has published more than 190 peer-reviewed papers with groundbreaking contributions in the field of black holes, specially discussing horizons, multi-horizons, thermodynamics, and other related aspects.
Dr. Renier Hough earned his PhD in Physics from North-West University (South Africa) in 2024, where he advanced large-scale cosmological simulations by updating Simba’s stellar-feedback and chemical-enrichment models. He is now a postdoctoral fellow at NWU, supervised by Prof. Amare Abebe, focusing on modified-gravity cosmologies and building a fully featured hydrodynamical simulation pipeline for MG, motivated by a simple question: have MG theories been implemented in these simulations? Renier has co-authored seven peer-reviewed papers and served as a referee. His interests are strongly computational: designing robust code, running simulations at scale, and turning complex outputs into clear, quantitative visualisations. He is also passionate about outreach and enjoys sharing the wonders of our Universe.
Dr. Ángel Rincón: after completing his postgraduate training specialising in gravitation and cosmology at the University of Cape Town, Amare Abebe joined the North-West University as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2014 and has remained there ever since, where he is now a professor of physics. His research interests and experience include cosmological perturbations and large-scale structure formation, especially in the context of modified gravity theories. More recent interests include interacting dark fluid cosmological models and tensions in cosmology.
Dr. Cristián Erices: he received his PhD in Physics from the University of Concepción, Chile. He pursued postdoctoral research at the Center for Scientific Studies and subsequently at the National Technical University of Athens in Greece. His research primarily focuses on modified gravity theories, analytical black hole solutions, and their thermodynamic properties. He is currently a researcher at the Center for Research in Space Sciences and Theoretical Physics at Universidad Central de Chile
The workshop programme appears below. Click on each item for more information (do not forget to select the dates of the meeting to see the schedule).
Access to the videos of previous meetings on our YouTube channel:
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
- Gonzalo J. Olmo.
- María A. Lledó.

Photo of this post by Jeroen van Nierop on Unsplash