Scientists from the National Center for Biotechnology Research (NCBJ) are co-organizing a new Warsaw initiative, WARP (Warsaw AstRo-Physics), which will take place today at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw. During the event, invited experts will seek to answer the question of whether the standard cosmological model—which has successfully described the evolution of the Universe for decades—is now encountering its first fundamental limitations. 

WARP (Warsaw AstRo-Physics) is a new joint initiative by researchers from leading Warsaw-based research institutions, established to strengthen collaboration among the scientific community working in particle astrophysics, astrophysics, astronomy, cosmology, and related fields. Through regular meetings, scientists will be able to exchange the results of their latest research. The work of the Scientific Committee (SOC) of the WARP initiative is led by Dr. hab. Sebastian Trojanowski, professor at CAMK PAN (NCBJ / Astrocent, CAMK PAN).

The main theme of the first WARP meeting is contemporary cosmological anomalies, with a particular focus on the mystery surrounding the rate of the Universe’s expansion (Hubble tension)—the persistent discrepancy in measurements of the Universe’s expansion rate obtained through observations of the local and early Universe.

The inaugural lecture at today’s meeting will be delivered by Dr. Eleonora Di Valentino of the University of Sheffield, a world-renowned expert in observational cosmology; co-leader of the international CosmoVerse initiative and lead author of key review papers on cosmological anomalies, visiting Warsaw at the invitation of MIAC PAN (Astrocent).

Immediately following the lecture, there will be a 50-minute expert debate titled “Navigating Cosmological Tensions – Crisis or New Physics?”, dedicated to the question of whether the observed discrepancies in data from the latest sky surveys herald a breakthrough and the need to move beyond the standard cosmological model (ɅCDM), or whether they result from as-yet-unknown systematic effects.

Joining Dr. Eleonora Di Valentino in the discussion will be Prof. Marek Biesiada, Ph.D., from the Department of Astrophysics at the National Centre for Nuclear Research, a leading expert in theoretical and observational cosmology who utilizes, among other methods, strong gravitational lensing and gravitational waves to make independent measurements of cosmological parameters. The panel will also include Dr. Maciej Bilicki, a professor at the CFT of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), and Prof. Marek Demiański (FUW). The debate will be co-moderated by Dr. Paweł Bielewicz, a professor at the National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ).

 An important part of the WARP meetings is the presentation of the work of doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career researchers. The event program includes a dedicated session of short presentations on the interpretation of cosmological data and related topics, as well as a poster session during the coffee break, which fosters direct scientific discussions among researchers from various institutes in Warsaw.

• Date and time: Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. (the colloquium begins at 4:15 p.m.)

• Location: Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, 5 Pasteura St., Warsaw

• Detailed event program: https://events.camk.edu.pl/event/162/