
Research Programs
Research Programs
The Institute typically hosts two concurrent programs per semester. Programs are selected with a view toward maximizing impact and engagement across the theoretical computer science community, as well as impact on neighboring scientific fields. A typical one-semester program is led by a small group of organizers who are recognized experts in their fields, and involves about 60–70 long-term participants (a mix of senior and junior researchers) who spend a month or longer at the Institute. A program usually includes three week-long topical workshops, each of which attracts an additional group of invited speakers and focuses on a different aspect of the program's scientific scope, as well as an initial boot camp designed to put long-term participants on the same page.
Current Programs
This program studies the interaction between logic and the algorithms that they inspire, with applications to databases, complexity theory, and knowledge representation.



This program will bring together researchers in dynamic graphs, sketching, and optimization towards the common goals of obtaining provably faster algorithms, finding new connections between the areas, and making new advances at their intersection....



The Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing offers numerous ways for scientists to participate in the life of the Institute.
- Applications for the Simons Quantum Postdoctoral Fellowships.
- Applications for Science Communicators in Residence for Summer 2022, Fall 2022, and Spring 2023.
Fall 2020
This program will bring together researchers in computer science, control theory, operations research and statistics to advance the theoretical foundations of reinforcement learning.
Spring 2020
This program will bring together researchers from computer science, physics, chemistry and mathematics to focus on the two grand challenges of quantum computation: developing the most promising algorithmic applications for quantum computers, and developing methods to test quantum devices.
This program will study fundamental questions on integer lattices and their important role in cryptography and quantum computation, bringing together researchers from number theory, algorithms, optimization, cryptography, and coding theory.
Fall 2019
This short-format program will focus on the design of markets for online platforms, exploiting advances in theoretical computer science, economics and operations research.
This program will bring together researchers from Computer Science and beyond, whose research is contributing to three subthemes: proof systems, decentralized consensus, and applications of these to society, economics, and cryptocurrencies.
Summer 2019
This program will bring together researchers from academia and industry to develop empirically-relevant theoretical foundations of deep learning, with the aim of guiding the real-world use of deep learning.
Spring 2019
This program aims to promote research on the theoretical foundations of data privacy, as well as on applications in technical, legal, social and ethical spheres.
This program will focus on emerging connections between the analytic theory of multivariate polynomials (sometimes called "the geometry of polynomials") and theoretical computer science as well as related fields such as combinatorics, probability, statistical physics, optimization and real algebraic geometry.
Fall 2018
This program will bring together leading researchers in computational complexity theory to tackle fundamental questions on the capabilities and limitations of various models of computation.
Taking inspiration from the areas of algorithms, statistics, and applied mathematics, this program aims to identify a set of core techniques and principles for modern Data Science.
Summer 2018
Spring 2018
The program will bring together experts in physical science, engineering and societal systems with mathematical and computational scientists to work on a wide range of problems involving real-time discovery and inference.
This program aims to rekindle the historical affinity between the fields of Neuroscience and Theoretical Computer Science, in order to attack some of the most important current problems in understanding the structure and function of the brain.
Fall 2017
The last decade has seen an emerging confluence of ideas from discrete and continuous optimization, leading to several significant breakthroughs. This program will bring together researchers from both the discrete and continuous optimization communities in order to stimulate further interaction at this interface.
Spring 2017
This program will gather researchers in theoretical computer science, combinatorics and number theory to develop a unified approach to notions of pseudorandomness and their applications.
This program aims to extend the reach and impact of CS theory within machine learning, by formalizing basic questions in developing areas of practice, advancing the algorithmic frontier of machine learning, and putting widely-used heuristics on a firm theoretical foundation.
Fall 2016
Logic in computer science has long been associated with two main themes: the interaction of logic with algorithms and complexity theory, and the semantics of programs and processes. This program will bring together researchers from both ends of this spectrum, with the aim of bridging this decades-old divide.