VBAC 2026: Curves, Surfaces and Moduli

Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY), Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, 19-23 January, 2026
In honour of Leticia Brambila-Paz
The VBAC committee has decided to focus the 2026 conference on the following themes: bundles and their generalisations including on higher dimensional varieties, Brill-Noether theory, tropical geometry, as well as the geometry of moduli spaces. These are very active topics of research which interact with many areas of geometry and promise to generate a lot of new activity and progress in the future. In recognition of former VBAC chair Leticia Brambila-Paz’s many contributions to mathematics, both scientific and fostering its development in Mexico and beyond, we have found it very appropriate to dedicate this meeting to her, in her home country.
Speakers:
- Luis Álvarez-Cónsul (ICMAT-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Steven Bradlow (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)
- Ugo Bruzzo (UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
- Ethan Cotterill (Universidade de Campinas, Brazil)
- Roman Fedorov (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
- Oscar García-Prada (ICMAT-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Tomás Gómez (ICMAT-CSIC, Madrid, Spain)
- Victoria Hoskins (Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany)
- Joshua Jackson (Cambridge, UK)
- Margherita Lelli Chiesa (Roma Tre, Italy)
- César Lozano Huerta (Secihti-UNAM, Oaxaca, Mexico).
- Johan Martens (Edinburgh, UK)
- Osbaldo Mata Gutiérrez (Universidad de Guadalajara, México)
- Margarida Melo (Roma Tre, Italy)
- André Oliveira (CMUP, Universidade do Porto, Portugal)
- Angela Ortega (Humboldt Universität, Germany)
- Leonardo Roa-Leguizamon (Universidade de Campinas, Brazil)
- Montserrat Teixidor (Tufts University, USA)
- Hugo Torres López (Secihti - Universidad Autonònoma de Zacatecas, México)
- Giancarlo Urzúa (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
Registration: Registration is now closed.
Deadlines: 15 October if you want to apply for support or contribute with a short talk or poster, otherwise 1 November.
Registration fee: a registration fee of 1.000 Mexican pesos will be payable on arrival with discounted rates of 700 pesos for postdocs and 500 pesos for students.
Practical Information:
- Venue: Salón de Consejo Universitario del Edificio Central de la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán.
- Schedule: Click here for the detailed schedule. Registration will take place on Monday 8.30-9.00. The daily schedule will be 9.00-18.00 with a lunch break 13.00-15.30. There will be a free afternoon on Wednesday. Note that there will be talks on Friday afternoon.
- Travel: Merida has an international airport and direct flights from Mexico City. A taxi from the airport to downtown Merida is around 500 Mexican pesos. From Cancun to Merida (Merida Teya), you can take the Mayan Train https://reservas.ventaboletostrenmaya.com.mx/. There are buses from the Merida Teya Station to downtown Merida.
- Accommodation: The hotel where most of the speakers will be located is the Hotel Casa del Balam, Merida, Yucatan. The hotel will offer special rates to participants if they provide the code VBAC2026 when booking. Some participants will stay in Hotel Santa María.
Please be aware of scammers who are claiming to take care of accommodation for participants on behalf of the organisers.
- Meals: A welcome reception on Monday, and lunch on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday will be offered.
- Social dinner: The conference dinner will take place on Friday, 23 January at Museo de la Gastronomía Yucateca. The cost is 662 Mexican pesos to be paid in cash when you register on Monday, 19 January.
- More details, including the menus, will be made available on this web page in due course.
Organising Committee:
Cristhian Garay (CIMAT, Guanajato), Oscar García-Prada (ICMAT, Madrid), Peter Gothen (Porto), César Lozano Huerta (UNAM, Oaxaca), Margarida Melo (Rome 3), Luis Núñez-Betancourt (CIMAT, Guanajato), and Montserrat Teixidor i Bigas (Tufts).
Local Organising Committee:
Víctor Bautista Ancona, Matías Navarro Soza and Javier Díaz Vargas (FM-UADY).
VBAC Committee:
Jørgen Ellegaard Andersen, Usha Bhosle, Steven Bradlow, Leticia Brambila Paz, Ugo Bruzzo, Gavril Farkas, Carlos Florentino, Oscar García-Prada, Peter Gothen (Chair), Georg Hein, Daniel Hernández Ruipérez, Victoria Hoskins (Vice-Chair), Margherita Lelli-Chiesa, Ana Cristina López Martín, Margarida Melo (Vice-Chair), Montserrat Teixidor i Bigas, Carlos Tejero Prieto.
Organized in partnership with the Clay Mathematics Institute.
Sponsors:
- Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas - CIMAT
- Centro de Matemática da Universidade do Porto - CMUP
- Foundation Compositio Mathematica
- Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas - ICMAT
- Institute of the Mathematical Sciences of the Americas - IMSA
- Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán - UADY
- Instituto de Matemáticas da Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México - UNAM






