Asst. Prof. Serim İlday of Bilkent UNAM (National Nanotechnology Research Center) has been awarded with a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant to support her research in the field of condensed matter physics.
Dr. İlday has been granted 1,5 million € over the next five years to explore complexity of dynamic adaptive systems. She will be using the EU funds to address a profoundly fundamental question at the interface between condensed matter and statistical physics: “When a dynamic adaptive system is faced with multiple choices, which one will it choose? and why?”
Dr. İlday will scrutinize this question using a state-of-the-art colloidal system that she and her co-workers developed in 2017. The system allowed observation of first dynamic adaptive colloidal crystals with a plethora of complex patterns and behavior. Using the ERC funding, Dr. İlday and her team will draw the “fitness landscape” of these crystals to understand and control emergent phenomena far from equilibrium.
Far from equilibrium systems pose a grand challenge, which have been hampered so far due to lack of experimental realization and platforms. Dr. İlday’s project aims to fill this gap and advance our understanding on complex phenomena and control over its dynamics.
ERC grants are regarded as the most prestigious research funding in Europe, which support outstanding researchers conducting frontier research. Dr. İlday’s grant is Turkey’s first ERC grant in condensed matter physics. It is the eight ERC grant that has been received by Bilkent University researchers since the start of the ERC funding program in 2007.
More detailed information on Dr. İlday can be accessed through this link.