 Marian, shall we begin the session? Yes, let's begin. Okay, hello to everybody. I'm Mikhail Kiselev. I'm coordinator of postgraduate unit. And I would like to welcome you to question and answer session. And this time we are really going to proceed with questions and answers as much as possible. And before we begin, let me introduce you to some people whom you see in the list. So Marian is head of public information office. Hello. So Patricia Pazarela and Sandra Alemanovich, Secretaries of Postgraduate Diploma Office. Hello. Hello, Patricia. Hello, Sandra. Then we have five coordinators who are present. So Giovanni Villador, High Energy Physics, and Astroparticles. Hi, Giovanni. Lotter Götze, head of program in mathematics. Antonio Cilani, head of the program in quantitative life science. Riccardo Farnetti is head of program in Earth system physics. And myself is coordinator of the program in condensed metaphysics. So we proceed the following way. First of all, I would kindly request all participants to register with their full names. Second, when you want to ask a question, please raise your hand. You see in the menu the possibility to raise your hand. And then those who raise their hand first will appear in my list first. Then you proceed with your name with a section you are going to apply if applicable. And with a question which you would like to ask. So in addition to the new applicants, there are two groups of participants who are present today. These are representative of present students. There are five of them. Maybe if necessary, they will answer your questions. And then there are alumni, our alumni colleagues who are now well-known scientists. So there are several persons. I especially appreciate their participation. Pavel, Favzi, Angela, Rafi, Narayan, and Manjil. So if there will be question to our alumni, I will give a room to them. And then Shayla Perouz, representative of director office, is also present. So I would like to make the introduction as short as possible because the most of information can be collected from the ICTP website. And please visit diploma at ictp.it or www.ictp.it. There you can find the name of coordinator. If we will not be able to answer all questions during this one hour session, please feel free to contact a corresponding coordinator or myself to answer your question or to diploma office or to any person whom you find important to answer your question. Please also see the home page of diploma office that there is frequently asked questions. So maybe the question which you are going to ask is already answered there. Therefore, I would really appreciate if you ask some questions and you are asking for information which you cannot find in one of two ICTP websites. OK, so let's start with a question and answer. Who is going to ask the first question? Oh, please, John, are you please unmute your microphone and turn off your camera if possible. If broadband connection permits. Good afternoon. We cannot hear you well. Please. So if necessary, you can type your question in the chat. And if the connection is so bad, I will probably read this question. So let's proceed with Muhammad. Yes, am I audible? Yes. We can hear you. I'm Muhammad Arshad Patan and I'm applying for condensed matter of physics. I had a question that do both my referees need to provide a letter or only one will suffice? General question, although I'm also from condensed matter. Look, your referees will be contacted after you complete your application. In principle, we expect that both referees provide the recommendation letter, but they will be contacted independently. Okay. Do you want to say something? I'm doing the. Um, so, uh, Tasnim, Jaren, please. Yes, sir. Good evening to everyone. So my name is Tasnim Zarin, and I am applying for high energy physics. So my, I have three questions. Uh, so my first question is, uh, do our recommenders need to be from the field theoretical physics itself? And, uh, the second question is, uh, do we need to have published papers? And, uh, my third question is, uh, which is the most important part of the application on the basis of which the decision is made? Okay. Thank you very much. I will ask Giovanni to answer. Yes. Welcome sir. Yes. Uh, the answer to the first question is, uh, not so the referees don't need to be in, uh, necessarily in high energy or theoretical physics. There can be any professors that, uh, know you well enough to write a sensible. The combination. Uh, the question number two. Also the answer is no, you don't need to have any published papers. And, uh, connected with question three, basically what we look at, uh, where we look at many things. So there's not just a single thing that determine who we select. So, but the most important things are basically your grades during, uh, the bachelor and the master degree, what kind of, uh, courses you followed. And of course, also, we use the reference letters to judge and, uh, the scale and, uh, yeah, and then of course, uh, various other smaller, uh, uh, requirements, but, uh, course English and stuff. Then the final selection is, selection is mostly based also on the actual interviews. So we usually, um, select, uh, some, uh, uh, short list of applicants based on this, uh, uh, criteria I just told you. And, uh, after that, we actually interview them via Skype or Zoom. And depending on the interview, basically the final selection. Um, thank you, Giovanni. Um, I will be reading a few questions from the chat. Uh, the first question, uh, from John who was unable to connect is also related to high energy physics session. So I'm reading my name is John, a review from Nigeria. I'm looking to apply for high energy physics. I'm 28 years old and I just completed my bachelor last December. My transcript is not available yet for upload. What can I do as there is a slim chance that transcript is ready before the application closes? Thank you. Yeah, I don't know how to answer, of course, uh, the more information we have, the higher the chances, uh, uh, someone is to select. If you don't have enough information to select, uh, of course, uh, it will be harder. So the transcripts is one of the most important part of the selection is the pre-selection about the age and the father, your bachelor also depends how long your bachelor was. If it's just three years or since some countries longer, like five years. And, uh, we don't have a sharp age constraint, but, uh, of course we take into account also, uh, the country when one is from and, uh, also the previous experience. 28 years could be, uh, it's not too, too old for, for the problem. Of course depends on the, uh, on the curriculum. Thank you. Thank you, Giovanni. I see that many messages pop up in the chat. I strongly encourage to use chat only if the connection is very bad. Uh, we appreciate if you show up on a screen and ask us your question. Um, the second question in the chat is related to the previous one. Are the undergraduate students in their final year are eligible? Um, as already said, it's very important to have a transcript available in the stage of, um, uh, uh, selection. Uh, therefore, uh, if you are able to show us your, uh, transcript, um, uh, in exceptional case of the bachelor, again, it depends on section. It depends on prerequisites, namely the, um, field you are applying and, uh, the, uh, subjects which, uh, you had, um, um, that's basically, uh, the answer. Uh, now I'm giving the floor to, uh, those people who stay, um, in the Cune. So the next one is Uyen Tinley. Uyen, please. Uh, hello, my name is Uyen Tinley and I'm from Bhutan. Uh, I've recently graduated from my college, uh, uh, with a background of peace and physics and I like to, uh, and I, and I have applied for the course, uh, at high energy astrophysics and cosmology, cosmology. And am I feeling this form? I came across that we need some kind of English proficiency at this, but I just, because I don't have this proficiency at this, and I just put it, my degree marks it because I'm really okay or not. How am I doing? Okay. Okay. So the question is about if proficiency, uh, certificate is important, not, so Giovanni, maybe you say. So this is a English proficiency, I guess. Yeah. Um, yes, sir. I'm not sure about the actual role in the diploma. Uh, I mean, any kind of certificate which gives proof of your ability to follow advanced level courses to study in English language will do. I mean, uh, certificate that your degree is conducted in English, uh, or document written by your supervisor will also do. I mean, as I mean, enter course in my entire course, it was, it was ordered in English. It was ordered in English, but I don't know. Can you ask, I mean, a faculty member to write a statement for you on your behalf. About your proficiency. This will be sufficient. You can upload that kind of certificate. Just a statement from a faculty member. Okay. Thank you very much. Let us proceed with the next question. I'm reading from chat. Uh, do my recommenders needs to be from the university or they can be anyone under whom I have worked. Uh, and the question is from Mary gank. Uh, she's hard. Uh, so the answer is, uh, it's not necessarily to be from the university, but it should be scientist or lecturer or anybody from educational or, um, research, um, department who know you sufficiently well to say us few words about you. Um, I hope I answered your question. The next one is from the queue. Muhammad, um, Muhammad, I mean, please unmute your microphone and ask a question. And those who question is answered, please remove your raising hand. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, please. Okay. Uh, so my name is I mean, and I'm from Algeria. Uh, I have two questions. Uh, the first one is, uh, how much does the experience weight on our applications? And the second one is, uh, so last year I applied and they did a mistake. I think I asked too many professors to, to write me recommendation letters. I had like seven recommendation letter in my experience in my application. And, uh, this year I'm afraid that I won't be able to get two or three because, uh, you know, I asked the professors and maybe they will reject me. I mean, I already got rejected by someone. So I don't expect the others to, to do the, to, to, to, to write me a recommendation letter. So is it enough like to have only one or two? Which section are you going to apply? Oh, sorry. I didn't mention that. Uh, I'm applying for condensed metaphysics. So condensed metaphysics. So then I probably answer your question. Sorry. Tell me your first question, because the second one was very long and the first one was short. And the first question. Yeah. I'm sorry. So the first question is how much does the experience weight on our applications? Because I come from a theoretical background. So we didn't have much experience with like laboratory or even research. Like the, the only thing I did is my fee and masters to this because, because I have a master's not a bachelor degree. Well, uh, you don't have master yet, but you have a bachelor degree. So I already have a, I already have a master right now. Look, um, uh, to answer first question, uh, please, please submit your application. Um, uh, in your application, you upload some transcripts, uh, your grades and so on and so forth. And we will see, uh, whether, uh, you, uh, fulfill, uh, the prerequisites and conditions or not. There will be selection committee, which will evaluate your application and decide. Um, the experience. Uh, my understanding is that, uh, what kind of courses you had. Um, of course you understand that this is a postgraduate program and this is a postgraduate program in theoretical physics. So what important, what is more important for us in condensed matter section is a quantum mechanics. Um, in the basic and also advanced level statistical mechanics. Um, in the basics and advanced, um, uh, level, um, calculus. Uh, some mass techniques. So we will see your grades, um, uh, concerning recommendation, uh, letters. We still, uh, assume that you will find, uh, two or three, uh, senior persons who will recommend you. Um, uh, in the case you're hesitated, you, uh, the typical procedure, you contact the person. Um, and ask him or her, uh, to be available to submit recommendation, uh, letter, uh, for you. And then after your application is completed, uh, ICT people contact this person, uh, automatically, uh, to ask him or her to send the recommendation, uh, letter. So, uh, we still assume that you will nominate three person and you agreed with this person that they are ready to submit a letter for you. Okay. Thank you. Have a good day. Thank you. Um, uh, let me read one question from the chat. Um, uh, there are a few messages saying hello. I'm sorry. This is not a question. Um, I hope that the long message is a question. One of the requirement for the postgraded program is bachelor grades besides the master grades, which one is the most important part for the selection. Uh, thank you. Um, you didn't mention, uh, there's a question from, uh, T. Eman. Uh, you didn't mention which section you're applying, um, and the answer about which grades are most important depends on, on the section. Uh, so we welcome, uh, the application, um, uh, uh, from the master level, but in the exceptional case, um, bachelor applications, uh, can be submitted and will be considered and evaluated. Again, the answer to your question is please apply. We evaluate your application and see whether, uh, you, um, are competent enough, uh, to, uh, be a part of the postgraduate program. Uh, thank you. The next one in the queue is, um, uh, Adriel Cousy. So Muhammad, uh, we answered your question. Please remove your hand from the list. Otherwise you are staying first. So Adriel Cousy. Hello. Uh, hello. Am I audible? Please, please. We can hear you. Okay. Okay. Um, hello. I am Adriel Cousy. I'm from the Philippines. I am interested in applying for the quantitative life sciences program. So that's QLS. Uh, I noticed in the application form that we need to add our grades for biophysics. Unfortunately, we do not have biophysics courses in our university. So I am curious if this is a prerequisite for the QLS diploma program. And would it reflect badly on my application that I do not have this course or I have not taken this course? Yeah. Thank you. Antonio, please. Uh, thank you. Thank you for the question. Uh, so it's, it's absolutely not a prerequisite. So if, uh, you have had courses in biophysics, then it's fine. If you are not, uh, um, if you're selected, you would come here and I think that there was to learn about this. Uh, so all this, uh, uh, course that we listed are courses in which, uh, some background knowledge is welcome, but it's absolutely not a real breaker if you have not been exposed to any of those fields. Is that okay? Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um, the next question is, uh, for Mortridge Majumdar, please. Um, yeah. Hi. I hope you can hear me. Uh, so I'm from India and I also wanted to apply for, uh, quantitative life sciences and my question was very similar. So my background is actually in mathematics and computer science and I've worked on a few problems, uh, related to mathematical biology and so on, but I haven't necessarily taken all the courses in the prerequisites list, like statistical physics and so on. So I wanted to know like what kind of an effect would, um, working on like previous problems or like resource problems related to the field, but not having taken those courses, uh, would have on the application. So it's very similar to the previous question. Thanks. Thank you. As you, as you might have noticed, I mean, I'm speaking to the ones that will consider applying to the QLS. We have a very broad spectrum of this place. So we cover from biophysics to machine learning, going through neuroscience. So it's, uh, absolutely our expectation that you are not competent in any of those fields. So the point is that, uh, you might be, uh, uh, you must have a strong background in, uh, mathematical and physics, uh, which is quite important. Uh, but then there's no absolutely no necessity of, uh, having been exposed to all of these fields or even not to a large subset of them. So, uh, that's the question. Yes, yeah. Thanks, Antonio. Uh, I also had like another question right now. So it was about the program itself, like the structure of the program. Like, is there a thesis component? Is there a research component? So if you could answer that. Sure. Of course, as, as for all diploma courses, there is a final project, uh, which starts somewhere in, uh, in spring, uh, sometime in spring. And then, uh, it gets into this full development in the last two months, three months of the diploma. Uh, and this gives you an opportunity to, uh, uh, tackle some, uh, some research project with one of our, uh, colleagues from the faculty. Yeah. Yeah. So definitely there is a research component at the end of the program. Right. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. I'm reading the message from the chat, the message from Colad David. Hello. What should be the major content of our motivation letter? Thank you. Uh, well, uh, the motivation letter is actually expressed your personal feeling, your patient to a particular field of theoretical physics or physics in general, why you decided to, uh, apply for this program. What, how do you see your career path? What, how would you like to proceed? What is your favorite or what are your favorite topics? So any inspiration on, on this side. And of course there is no template for the motivation letter. Um, okay. Uh, the next is Monica. Monica. Yes. Uh, please. Uh, the floor is yours. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, please. Thank you. Uh, hello everyone. My name is Monica. And I am from Bolivia. And I'm intending to apply for the. High energy astroparticle and cosmology track. I have two general questions about the application right now. I'm studying my master degree, but my program will finish. We'll finish in late September of this year. So I wanted to ask if this is an issue because my. Degree will be awarded right before the beginning of the ICD program. And also related to this, I noticed that in the application, there is a section for the master degree. Master degree average grades. However, I don't have access to my, to my final grades because I haven't completed the program yet. So I want to know if it's fine. If I complete that section with like, um, the grades that I have so far of the first year of my, of my master program. So Giovanni. Yes. Yes. Let me start with the last question. Yes. It's completely fine if you don't have all the grades yet. Just write those that you already got. And maybe mention what other courses you are following so that we know. At least that the courses that will be covered with a master. Regarding the, the get, I think there is no problem if you get the master degree in September. We say after the only doubt I have is that the, you know, you know, the diploma course. Our diploma program starts in beginning of September, usually. So by then you should be able to come here. So I'm not sure if you're asking a delay because our courses will start in September. So if you're asking for the delay in that case, or you'll be able to just come from the beginning of September and then just your, your diploma course that is not an issue. Okay. I'm reading question from the chat. It's also related to high energy physics application. The question is from Sabbath. I'm applying for high energy physics. If there are any limit on the number of students selected from a particular institute or a particular country, or it is based on merit, meaning that if two students have the same level of experience and grade, what will be the criteria of them? It's a good question. So we, we, we, we try always to balance also the geographic distribution of the students. This said, however, we don't have a sharp bound. So it happened already in the past that if there are more than one student from the same country that deserve to be a part of the program, we, we, we also take more than one student. Okay. Thank you. I am reading next question from the chat. Hello. The question is from Colad David. I'm applying for mathematics. What should be the major content of our motivation letter? How many references do I need to contact? Thank you. I think the first question was already answered from David. And I will ask Lothar to answer the second question, namely, how many refers do I need to contact? Well, I already answered in the, in the chat, but so I said, you know, normally we would like at least two referees. If, if there's just one letter, it can be okay if it's a, if the person knows you very well and says a lot. If there's no letter, this will be a little automatic exclusion. So then we don't consider it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. The next is Marta Valentina. Please. Okay. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes, we can. Okay. First, I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to ask the questions. And I'm, I'm intending to apply for the high energy physics, but I'm very concerned because I'm, I'm not a physicist. I'm a mathematician. And in my master program, I decided to, to work on mathematical physics. And I have the first question that I have is how much necessary is to know statistical physics. And I'm asking this because I haven't, I have never taken this course. And, and also I have been studying. Mechanics, analytics, analytical mechanics and quantum mechanics, but I don't have the, this requirement of such as statistical physics. And I would like to know if it is necessary in order to apply to the high energy diploma. The other question that I have is, I'm curious to know how are the tutorial sessions. I would like to know more about it. How are you planning to do the exercises, the examples, the problems. And also I want to know if it is possible to take or to attend courses from another department or from the other areas. And because, and if I, for example, if I am taking courses in the high energy diploma, I would like to know if I can see or if I can attend some courses from the mathematics diploma. So for the moment, that's the question that I have. Thank you. Thank you, Marta. So Giovanni, please. Yes. Yes. So a course in statistical mechanics is not a strict requirement. The strict requirement are courses in quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, special relativity. So those are in calculus of course. Those are the strict requirements that we ask. Of course, a basic knowledge of statistical mechanics is sort of requirement required in the sense that during interviews in the selection process, we might ask questions about statistical mechanics. So despite the fact that you might not have followed any specific course on that, I strongly advise maybe to study for yourself at least the basics for that. So I'm going to talk about tutorials. So the managing of tutorials depends course by course, because it's organized by the lecturer of each course. But typically what happens is that during the lectures, during the course, they say on average once a week, there will be given some homework from the lecturer. And with, and then after one week, you return the homework and then there will be a tutorial session with some tutor that will explain the solutions of the exercise and will be very interactive with the students. Then there was the last question. Instead it was about the possibility to take courses across diploma programs. For this, I'm not sure it's feasible in the sense that each diploma course, at least the high energy one, is a very intense course. And it's very challenging. And I don't think that students will be able to actually at the same time follow also other courses. I think we don't know. I'm not sure we have a strict rule, but it's at least strongly advised not to do so. Also, I'm not sure even that the time will allow because probably courses will overlap. May I add something for that question? Because I have already an experience for that. Okay, please. So when I joined the, I joined the mathematics section and at the time, because I was also interested in high energy physics, I tried to attend some of the courses. And it worked fine for a week or two. But after this, the study was so intense that it is really hard to keep doing this. Also, at some point, you will find that conflict between the lectures for timing. For example, the two lectures overlap, and it would be very hard. So from my experience, I think I would say it is very hard to maintain this. I tried and I failed simply, but maybe it is just me. I don't know. Thank you. Thank you. So when you come to ACDP, you will see how busy your life is, because ACDP scientific life is full of other scientific events. For example, next week, there will be three Memorial Abdul-Samalam lectures, which you are very welcome to attend. These are given by very distinguished scientists. You will see that almost every month, there are colloquia, which are mandatory for attendance by postgraduate diploma students. So the life is really busy. So you will be full with exercises, with homework, with the courses. And I actually second what is said by my colleagues. Namely, it would be difficult to attend different programs. Okay. Let me proceed with the next question from the chat. It's again from John Amnu, who is asking, will we be notified he's applying for high-energy? Will we be notified when our recommendations are sent e-mails for our recommendations? Recommenders are sent e-mails for our recommendations. I'm asking this so that we can avoid the case of our recommenders not sending in recommendations when requested. Thank you. I think maybe Sandra or Patricia will answer, because this is a technical question. Yes, you will be informed. You will see on your application online, there will be a message that your referee received e-mails successfully. So I don't know if you need to know something else, but yes, you will be informed. Thank you, Sandra. The next question is Matteos Arana. How many places there are in each course? I understand that in each program, out of five programs, so typically we select 10 person for program, but this number can vary. It can be 11 or it can be nine, depending on the situation. The answer from Patricia 10 already, if you read the chat. But I say that 10 is pure program, namely 10 students in high-energy physics, 10 students in mathematics, 10 students in condensed metaphysics, 10 students in quantitative life science, and 10 students in Earth system physics. I'm Ubat from Pakistan. I am currently in the final year of my bachelor degree, and I intend to apply for high-energy physics. My bachelor degree will end in July, and I will get my final transcript in August-September. Moreover, by the end of application, the deadline is February. I will only have my transcript till sixth semester. Giovanni. Yeah, it strongly depends. First it depends how long the bachelor was. If it's just a three-year, it might not be sufficient. If it was longer, we can accept it. And it also depends which exams you already have grades. We have selection procedure, basically focused on particular exams. So if we have the grades for those, it could be enough, even if you don't have the grades for all the exams. So I suggest just to apply and then... Thank you, Giovanni. So, Javad Ali, you are waiting in the queue. Please. Hi, everyone. Can you hear me, sir? Yes, we can. Yes, sir. I am Javad Ali from Pakistan. I have applied for mathematics at ICTP. I have a question. Under which criteria students are called for an interview? My question is not related to a final selection. It's just for a call for an interview. I think all the applicants are not called for the interview. So can you answer this question? So, Lothar, please. Okay, I can try. It's not such an easy question. So it's a... No, we obviously look at the application and it depends to some extent on your grades, what subjects you have studied and also on what people write and what the referees write. I mean, it's not... It's not like the completely fixed criteria. No, we look at it and we get an impression. So you should have good grades. It's very nice if somebody says, you were the best student in your year or something like that or something similar. And we should have... It also depends maybe what kind of subject you study. So the basic subject that will require people to know before you should have seen. And I mean, then... But we don't invite everybody for an interview. Maybe if there are 10 places, we might invite 30 or 40 people for an interview. So it's not a very strict selection before, but there is this. So I think, I mean, basically, you have good grades to have studied the main subjects and to have good letters that say something about you that impresses us somehow. Thank you. Thank you, Lothar. I will keep reading. Thank you very much, sir. Questions from the chat. The question from Tigun Iman Perdana. Hello. I want to apply for the condensed metaphysics. I have a question regarding expected adequate course knowledge. I took solid state physics in my undergraduate bachelor year, but for the quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics, I only took it when I'm in my master year. It's not available when I was still undergraduate. Is it okay? Thank you. Look, you proceed with your application. So please, please apply. In your application, you indicate which courses you have, even which textbook you use for studying this particular topic. Yes, statistical physics, both statistical physics and quantum mechanics are very important, but we will see from your application what is your experience. And if necessary, we contact you and ask questions. Then Martina Valentina asks, actually she acknowledged the kind response for Favzi. Thank you, Favzi, for providing us more explanation from your experience. So Fatimeh Zainabadi is asking, hi, I'm applying for mathematics. My question is, when is the deadline for the referees to send their recommendation? Is it the same as the deadline of our submission? Lothar, please. Actually, I mean, that's in some sense more, so I don't know precisely what the, how long the application thing stays. I mean, how long the people can write referee, I mean, letters. I mean, did you know? Sorry. It's a 28th of February. 28th of February sometimes can be also extended by one week, but usually it's the same deadline is also for the referees. So, I mean, I expect in extreme cases, you can write for us or something, but I mean, send an email. I mean, all documents should be submitted and the application should be submitted within the deadline, both student, applicant and the referee. So, that means that the student has to apply it earlier. Yes, they should apply earlier and then once they invite referees through the online application, process the automatic email sent to the referee. Therefore, it takes some time. They should do it a little bit before. Yeah. So, in particular, I expect you should try to apply at least one week before the deadline so that this works. Yeah, I completely agree because please, please don't leave everything to last minute. Please give some time before the end of the deadline. The next question is from Amnol Subban, applying for high energy physics. The questions are, what kind of questions will be asked in the interview? How long is it on average? At what time of the year does the interview take place? This is question number one, although there are three. Then the question is question number two. I read on the web page of the program that only 10 students will be getting the stipend whereas other than can attend on their own costs. So, is there any scholarship available for the rest of the student from maybe government or any other place? Giovanni. Giovanni, we cannot hear you. Please unmute your microphone. Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Regarding the first question, of course, not going to give you the full answer, but so typically we ask questions that range on basically all the topics that you're supposed to know from classical mechanics, special relativity, quantum mechanics, calculus. We will go through a question to check how much you have learned and if you know the basics. Regarding the second question, so the timing of the interviews, well, typically it's like 20, 30 minutes or so. And when it happens, it happens after we perform the first screening and come up with a selection of a long list that we will interview. So if the deadline is the end of February, typically, let's say maybe interviews are arranged by April, let's say. And the second question, instead, I'm not sure I completely got. Basically, the question is if the students, Canon students come with their own funds or arranged governmental funds, if the stipend cannot be provided, ICTP. So if students is not in the top 10, selected if there is a still chance, if I understood the question correctly. Yes. Now, this procedure, I'm not completely sure in the sense that I expect people to say upfront if they have funds for support themselves. If they are usually, yeah, so if they are not selected, then they can ask to come with their own funds. But of course, they're still a threshold. So we don't take any student that can pay themselves or with some extra funds to come. They still have to pass the interview test. Okay. Thank you. The next question is from David. He's writing that I'm applying, I'm planning to apply for COLS program. I have a physics undergraduate, but I'm currently taking a master of education major in mathematics. Can I indicate this in the master of size part of the application? And will this help or hard my application? Thank you. Antonio. Antonio. Sorry, so can you come again, please? I will look at the question. Yeah. I have a physics undergraduate, but I'm currently undergraduate, but I'm currently taking a master of education major in mathematics. Can I indicate this in the master of science part of the application? And will this help or hard my application? That's hard to answer the spot. So you can send your application and we will look at that and see if it makes sense given the exams. Yeah, so. Yeah. The general question, please apply. Please apply. We will see your application and the committee will evaluate it and decide. But I don't think anything may hurt. Everything which you indicate will be sort of saying your favor if you permit me to say this is that way. Okay. The next one is Arnold Suba. What's the selection rate if you could enlighten on how many had applied in the previous session? Well, it varies a little bit from year to year, but in general, I can tell you that last year, we had about 1000 application for all five programs, which roughly means 200 orbit less than 200 per section. And we select 10 best students. This probably would be the most fair answer to your question. The next one is Michael Johnson. Hello, I'm Mike from Nigeria. I want to ask if I can apply for medical physics with my bachelor degree. Sorry, this question and answer is designed for answering questions about postgraduate diploma program. Medical physics is completely different program. In two years, one year of theoretical studies at ACTP and one year of practice in one of the medical institution of Italy. Please direct your question by email to medical physics, master in medical physics program. I'm not going to say more about that. The next one is from Adriana Fernandez. How many people applied the last year for each program? This is answered just a few minutes ago. Usman Ali. Hello, I am Usman Ali. I've got my two semester of master of philosophy high energy physics. I want to apply for high energy physics. What if I haven't much good marks? Giovanni. Well, of course, if the marks are not very good, as it was said before, the rate of selection is of other 5%. So it's a very competitive selection. So of course, marks plays a very important role. I don't know. Thank you. The next is from Guiantini. I see that the people ask many questions, the same people. Still, I mean, hello, while finding form, I came across that we should have master degree, but I only have a bachelor degree in physics, and exception says we should have good grade and bachelor degree. What percentage mark we should need in order to qualify that? Look, there is no, well, direct answer to your question. Please apply. We will see your application. We will see what kind of courses you had. We will see how you perform during these lectures. And we evaluate your application. Umechani says that 31 years old age students is eligible to apply. Well, please apply. We will see your application. We will see your grades. We will see your motivation. We will see from what country you come. And there is no, the program is quite flexible. There is no strict rule that 28 years plus one day is not eligible to apply. We will see your file and we will evaluate it and we will contact you with questions if necessary. Then somebody answered that no, the limit is 20 years old. As I said, this is not the solid rule. We will see your application and evaluate it. Surish Pasandideh asks, I have a question concerning math diploma. In the form, it asked us to either our grades, to enter our grades in some courses. In our program, for example, we have two or three courses in real analysis or abstract algebra. Should we enter our overall grade or each of them separately? Lothar? Yeah, so I already wrote it. So I think it's better to give us as much information as possible. So if you have had several courses, we would also maybe like to know what these courses were, what the title precisely was, and then to have all the marks. So the more information we get, the happier we are and the better it is for us to decide. And it's also just information that you had not just one course in algebra, but several. It maybe makes the application stronger. Thank you Lothar. I will kindly ask students to ask a question in the chat. Please don't, if possible, ask too many questions coming from one person. Please give other applicants other students floor to ask their question. And second, please don't repeat the same question. And in particular, the question which already received the answer during this session. So thank you. Mohamed Abdel Jalal, please ask your question. Yeah, hello everyone. I hope my voice is clear for everyone. So to be honest, I had the same question, the previous question was about the interview and like what kind of question we will have. So you already answered this question. Thank you for your answer. But also I have another question, which is in case that I got accepted in this opportunity. The question is if I have the right to stay here in my country and like study in with you online. Thank you. Okay, you applying for high energy? The QLS program. QLS, so yes. Antonio, please. So if I get correctly your question, so you're asking whether attendance can be done remotely online. Is that the question? Okay. So we value a lot. The direct interaction between students and teachers and among students themselves. So attendance in person is a priority. So even though through the years of the pandemic, all together we made great efforts to have all our students in place. Of course, it temporarily, it might happen that due to some travel restrictions that have been here where attendance was restricted to online. But the final objective is to have all the students in place for all the duration of the program. Nisha, you can add something if you. Yeah, I completely agree with what you said. So the priority is given to in person participation. And even in the difficult during the difficult time of pandemic, we keep in person lecture, but there are sometimes exceptional circumstances, which allow remote participation. But there should be really some exceptional circumstances for that. The question from Marie Gang Chechtar Pathak. By the way, we are approaching to the end of this question and answer section. Please, we are thinking about organizing to get another one close to the deadline end of February. Please, if you will not get answered to your question, don't be upset. You can always email your question to us and we will answer your question as soon as we can. Or we organize the second section and you will be given the opportunity to do so. Marie Gang, I'm applying for mathematics. I have studied groups, rings, fields and real analysis nicely, but not very confident in complex analysis and topology. Will it affect me very much during interview? Lothar. Well, I mean that way it does play a role. So I mean, obviously these basic courses, you know, for this complex analysis and topology will also be taught in the first semester. So you're not supposed to know everything, but some basic knowledge would be useful. I mean, it might be good maybe if you try a little bit to kind of review the material or read something, try to understand something before. But it's not by itself completely an exclusion reason. You know, if you do very well in the other subjects and give us the impression that you will find it very easy to learn it, then we might change our mind. You know, I think it's important then, you know, it's one of the reasons what this motivation thing is maybe good for. You know, if there's something which is not so, does not look so optimal in the application, then it's good if you can write something there to explain to us, you know, how come and also, you know, how, why you think it's not a problem. I mean, why you think you can manage all the same. I think that's it. Thank you. The question from Mohammed Amin Busubel. Hello again. I would like to ask whether the quantum mechanics two part in the application of condensed matter program is the same as advanced quantum mechanics usually taught at the master level, or it is second course of quantum mechanics at bachelor level. Look in the duration of quantum mechanics is different from country to country. Therefore, your application, you will be also asked which kind of books, text books you use. So we will see what quantum mechanics or advanced quantum mechanics means. But anyway, as a part of curriculum of condensed matter program, you will be taught the course of quantum mechanics in advanced enough levels. So don't worry about that. The question from Amin. I'm Amin from Iran. What is the main criteria for being accepted for ICTP? Fully foundation. And is there any kind of scholarship? What is the criteria? Thank you. It was partially answered. So you see that basically there are two. The competition is very high. 200 persons roughly for 10 position. So we are interested to admit the best students. Also having in mind geographic distribution and general balance, please apply and we will see from your application the criteria. Well, there are no unique criteria. We try to admit the best students in very high competitive race of selection process. Rijwan asks, I would like to ask a question if there are any someone with only bachelor degree and then accepted in the program after graduated from this program. Can we use it to apply PhD without getting master degree? The answer is the same. Please apply. We do consider application in bachelor level and we will see your curriculum. We will see your courses and we evaluate your application. Other from this program, can we use it to apply PhD without getting master degrees of freedom? Look, it's too early to answer question about PhD. I don't think this question in the frame of this particular question and answer session. I will postpone answering this question. Taslim Jaryan, the floor is yours. Please ask your question. Yes, sir. I have another question regarding high energy physics. Do we need to have any data science courses prior to our applications like any programming bridge or anything like that? The program is not a prerequisite for our high energy diploma program. In the sense, of course, a little bit of program might help but we don't require that. Okay, sir. Thank you, sir. Okay, Adriel, please. Okay. Hello again. My question this time is a little bit more technical. I understand that we are not allowed to submit new documents after the February 28th deadline and that includes the referees. So there are parallel letters. I would like to ask if we are allowed to make a partial submission in the application site and then edit it afterwards before the deadline, of course. This is so that we can give our referees more time to send their letters. This is because I noticed in the website, we are not allowed to send our invitations to our referees until we have made a submission of the application form of the applications. Sandra or Patricia, could you please answer this question? You can make changes only within the deadline to the 20th of February. After that, the application is closed. Okay, thank you very much. Okay, thank you. In principle, we are done. It's now 4pm. Are there any very urgent questions or very urgent comments or something any of you find very important to tell us? If yes, please. If not, please, Mohammed, you want us to say something very important. Mohammed, please. Hello, yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can, please. My name is Mohammed Naveed Zafar from Pakistan. I'm currently studying in ICTP as a diploma student in Earth System Physics section. After listening to the student question, I just want to share my experience. Basically, my background was in mathematics and mechanics. When I came here, I realized I'm the only one student who's background from mathematics. I was afraid. I didn't want to cover all the subjects, which have I no background first, but really I enjoyed all the courses because teachers start from the very basic thing and take it to the advanced topic. We learned a lot in very short time duration. So, it is not a problem at all. I think you do not need to expert in all subjects. So, best of luck for new students. I just share my experience at all. Thank you. Thank you, Muhammad. Ricardo, would you like to add something to this nice saying? Ricardo, can you hear us? Okay. Again, thank you very much. Thank you, everyone, for participating in this session. Thank you for organizing this session. Let's keep in touch. Please send your application to us. Please send us your questions. If you are not yet satisfied with answers, you get you are very welcome to contact us and we are waiting for you to come through the selection process and some of you being selected and arrive to ACTP in September 2022. Thank you very much. Goodbye.