VvL Essentials Talks

VvL Essentials talks are relatively high-level and broad overviews, that introduce early-career logicians (specifically PhDs) and logic-adjacent researchers to a field they may not be familiar with. This forms a low-threshold way to broaden their knowledge of the field at large, and encourages collaborations. The talks will be hosted at different universities within the Netherlands, and they will have a hybrid format - for those who attend in person, drinks and snacks will be provided afterwards!

Past Editions:

Dynamic Epistemic Logic Essentials (November 28, 2023)

Speaker: Rustam Galimullin
Where: Utrecht University, Ruppertgebouw room 0.05, or online.
Organizers: Rodrigo Almeida (PhD student at the ILLC), Nima Motamed (PhD student at Utrecht University), and Giovanni Varricchione (PhD student at Utrecht University)

Abstract: Dynamic epistemic logic (DEL) is an umbrella term for a numerous family of formalisms for reasoning about how agents’ knowledge or beliefs change as a result of various epistemic actions. Such actions capture a plethora of scenarios: public and private announcements, observations, eavesdropping, etc. In the lecture, we will get acquainted with some of the classic DELs, flesh out some of the overarching patterns and intuitions in the field, and introduce foundational concepts and results. Moreover, we will survey the current state of the art and recent exciting research directions within DEL.  For the lecture, I will not assume any familiarity with DEL or modal logics in general.

Proof Theory Essentials (October 23, 2023)

Speaker: Marianna Girlando (ILLC)
Title: Essentials of Proof Theory
Where: ILLC (room F1.15), or on Zoom
Organizers: Rodrigo Almeida (PhD student at the ILLC), Giovanni Varricchione (PhD student at Utrecht University)

Abstract: In this lecture we will introduce the basics of proof theory, explain how it came about, and outline (some of) the main results in the field. Using classical and intuitionistic first-order logic as a case study, we will first present the rules of sequent calculus. Then, we will sketch the cut-elimination proof and discuss its significance in the context of proving the consistency of arithmetic. Finally, if time permits, we will look at some more recent developments in proof theory, namely at proof systems for modal and non-classical logics.