I mistakenly sent you twice the same abstract yesterday. Please find below the correct version. Best, Giacomo **************** Dear colleagues, I would like to announce the following online seminar organized by the Probability group of the University of Pisa. The talks will be accessible under the link Click here to join the meeting<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3a17115d7f6ef44c5e91974362906cfc95%40thread.tacv2/1605021665843?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22c7456b31-a220-47f5-be52-473828670aa1%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22dfd1e5f6-331d-43e0-a180-4bb6ce727fb7%22%7d> Tuesday, Nov. 24, 14:00 Speaker: Alessandra Cipriani (TU Delft) Title: Some properties of the discrete membrane model Abstract: The discrete membrane model (MM) is a random interface model for separating surfaces that tend to preserve curvature. It is a very close relative of the discrete Gaussian free field (DGFF), for which instead the most likely interfaces are those preserving the mean height. However working with the two models presents some key differences, in that in the MM the shape is driven by the biharmonic operator, while the DGFF is essentially a Gaussian perturbation of harmonic functions. In particular, a lot of tools (electrical networks, random walk representation of the covariance) are available for the DGFF and lack in the MM. In this talk we will review some basic properties of the MM, and we will investigate a random walk representation for the covariances of the MM and what it can bring forth in terms of scaling limits of its extremes. This talk is based on joint works, partly ongoing, with Biltu Dan, Rajat Subhra Hazra (ISI Kolkata) and Rounak Ray (TU/e). Tuesday, Nov. 24, 15:00 Speaker: Trishen Gunaratnam (Université de Genève) Title: Phase transitions for $\phi^4_3$ Abstract: In this talk I will discuss recent results obtained in joint work with Ajay Chandra (Imperial) and Hendrik Weber (Bath) about the large-scale behaviour of the $\phi^4_3$ Euclidean field theory. In particular, I will discuss a surface order large deviations estimate for the average magnetisation at sufficiently low temperatures in large but finite volumes. This is a manifestation of phase transition, which is well-known for this model. As a byproduct of this, one can quantify a breakdown of ergodicity for the Glauber dynamics of this model - given by the dynamical $\phi^4_3$ singular SPDE - for sufficiently low temperatures in the infinite volume limit.