About me
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Vienna. I completed my PhD in 2009 in Budapest. Before joining the University of Vienna, I held research positions at CNRS in Strasbourg and Nantes, was a CLE Moore Instructor at MIT, and held postdoctoral appointments at MSRI and the Rényi Institute.
Group
- Eric Stenhede (PhD student)
- Christian Melder (PhD student)
- Diego Santoro (Postdoc)
Open positions
- Postdoc position: MathJobs Listing
- PhD position: Doctoral Networks
Research
My work focuses on classification and structural questions for contact 3-manifolds and the Legendrian and transverse knots they contain, using tools from Heegaard Floer homology and contact homology. Apart from working with classical techniques such as convex surfaces, open books, and Heegaard Floer homology, I am interested in extending ideas from three-dimensional contact topology to higher dimensions.
Papers and drafts: arXiv, ORCID
Talks
Teaching
Student supervision
PhD students:
- Christian Melder (current)
- Eric Stenhede, MSc (current)
- Willi Kepplinger, MSc (PhD 2025) — Thesis: Parametric Arguments in Spectral Theory Motivated by Contact Topology
- Viktória Földvári (PhD 2023, ELTE) — Thesis: Legendrian Knots and Knot Invariants
Conferences
- Geometry and Topology in Low Dimensions: Lasting Trends and Emerging Directions (2026)
- Interactive Workshop (2023)
- Low-dimensional Workshop (2023)
- Singular Workshop (2023)
- Winter School in Singularities and Low-Dimensional Topology (2023)
- Braids in Low-Dimensional Topology (2022)
- AMS Special Session on Symplectic and Contact Topology (2012)
Ongoing Projects
- FWF Project PAT7436924: Contact topology in dimensions 3 and higher (starting 2026)
- TopSCoLDS Doctoral Network: Topology in Symplectic, Contact, Low Dimensions, Singularities