Dear colleagues,
this is the first announcement of the XVIIth Conference on Strong and Electroweak Matter (SEWM 2026), to be held in Helsinki, Finland, from 17–21 August 2026, and hosted by the University of Helsinki and Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP).
The focus of the conference is the theory of the Standard Model and beyond at finite temperature and density, in and out of equilibrium, as well as applications to relativistic heavy-ion collisions, astrophysics and cosmology. The scientific program will be structured into the following topical sessions:
-QCD in extreme conditions and dense nuclear matter
-Heavy-ion collisions and the quark gluon plasma
-Quantum fields in and out of equilibrium and thermalisation
-Baryogenesis and leptogenesis
-Electroweak phase transition beyond the Standard Model
-Early universe physics and sources for gravitational waves
-Quantum field dynamics and inflation
-Compact stars
The conference will be held in the main building of the University of Helsinki. The program will consist of a number of invited and contributed talks, as well as a poster session, and will be designed in collaboration with the International Advisory Committee:
Gert Aarts (Swansea)
Peter Arnold (Virginia)
Jürgen Berges (Heidelberg)
Jacopo Ghiglieri (Nantes)
Mark Hindmarsh (Sussex/Helsinki)
Dmitri Kharzeev (Stony Brook)
Christina Manuel (Barcelona)
Guy Moore (Darmstadt)
Risto Paatelainen (Helsinki)
Owe Philipsen (Frankfurt)
Carlos Salgado (Santiago de Compostela)
Geraldine Servant (DESY, Hamburg)
Anders Tranberg (Stavanger)
Aleksi Vuorinen (Helsinki)
The conference website with all relevant information, as it becomes available, can be found at https://indico.global/e/sewm26.
Registration will open February 16th 2026.
All registered participants are understood to accept the code of conduct.
The organisers can be reached at risto.paatelainen@helsinki.fi.
We look forward to welcoming many of you in Helsinki!
Sincerely,
the local organising committee
Sofia Blomqvist
Mark Hindmarsh
Hanna Lempiäinen
Heikki Mäntysaari
Risto Paatelainen (chair)
Tobias Rindlisbacher
Philipp Schicho
Satumaaria Sukuvaara
Aleksi Vuorinen
