Each year Springer publishes a book on behalf of MATRIX dedicated to articles related to MATRIX activities (online and in print). See https://www.matrix-inst.org.au/book-series/ for the previous editions. Participants are encouraged to contribute articles to the 2025 MATRIX Annals. It is a great opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of our community and celebrate the success of this research program. Articles should be of one of the following two types:

• Peer-reviewed Articles: These articles contain original results or are review articles on a topic related to the MATRIX program. They should contain relevant background material and references. Articles stemming from collaborations at MATRIX or discussing open problems worked on at MATRIX are particularly encouraged. These articles can be in their final form, but this is not essential. It is possible to write a short (2-5 page) paper, and then at a later date, publish a full paper of the same results in a regular journal. Articles can be single-authored or collaborative, possibly including co-authors who did not attend the MATRIX program. Previous editions of the MATRIX Annals have been indexed by mathscinet and zbmath.
• Other Contributed Articles: These articles will not be peer-reviewed, can be short or long, and will most likely be expository lecture notes based on talks or activities at MATRIX, containing references to results.

Articles should be prepared in the LaTeX style file available at https://www.matrix-inst.org.au/book-series/ and all further guidelines therein should be followed. Note that authors are required to sign a Springer "consent to publish" form but may post a pre-publication version of their article on arXiv or on a personal web page.

Deadlines: Articles should be submitted (.tex and .pdf files) to licaatmatrix2025@gmail.com by 15th October, 2025 for peer-reviewed articles and 15th December, 2025 for other contributed articles.

An airport shuttle bus will depart the MATRIX Institute at 14:00pm sharp on Friday 15th August, stopping at Melbourne city after the airport. Please prepare your luggage early. Participants staying off-campus may wish to bring luggage early in the morning and store it in the Reception Foyer or MATRIX House during the morning talks.

Participants travelling to the airport on their own will need to take a taxi or number 30 bus to Ballarat Station with a Myki (check Google maps). Then, one may travel to the airport via the Ballarat airport bus shuttle (reservations required). Otherwise, participants must then take a regional train to Southern Cross Station (Myki required) in Melbourne CBD and then take a Skybus to the airport.

The easiest way to reach Melbourne is through Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. We will provide shuttles on the 3rd of August from Ballarat to Creswick, and on the 15th of August from Creswick to Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. Details will be released later.

From Airport to Ballarat: We recommend an airport Skybus (tickets can be purchased on the spot) to Southern Cross Station, followed by a train to Ballarat Train Station. Alternatively, one can reserve a Ballarat airport bus shuttle going directly from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport to Ballarat Train Station.

From Ballarat to MATRIX: We recommend taking one of the shuttles booked by MATRIX. Otherwise, you may take a train from Ballarat Train Station, or bus 30, to Raglan St/Albert St (Creswick) Station, and then arrive at the MATRIX Institute within a 10-min walk.

The Myki ticketing system: Other than reserved seats on coaches or particular regional trains, one needs a Myki to travel on public transport in Victoria, including the aforementioned train between Southern Cross and Ballarat Stations and the bus between Ballarat and the MATRIX Institute. The cost is $11 per weekday and $7.60 per weekend. Simply tap your Myki every time you enter or exit a bus, tram, or train station platform — do not tap your Myki at all when using a tram in the metropolitan free tram zone. One may acquire and charge credit onto a Myki at any large train station, including Southern Cross Station. Note that the physical card costs a non-refundable $6. Particularly tech-savvy Android users may prefer to download a digital Myki onto their Google Wallet — there is unfortunately no digital support for Apple users.

We are able to provide on-campus accommodation to select participants for part of their stay, with preference given to students, early career researchers, and those who would benefit from support.

Participants staying on campus are situated at either Semmens Hall or The Lodge, described here; see campus map below.

Participants staying off-campus must either take the number 30 bus described above from Ballarat or the RACV Goldfields Resort, or will otherwise be within walking distance of the MATRIX Institute.

MATRIX does not provide lunch and encourages participants to support the local economy. Please see this helpful link for a list of nearby cafes and restaurants. Participants can also visit these establishments for breakfast and dinner (please check that they are open at suitable times!)

• 5th August, 15:10pm: The MATRIX cheese and wine afternoon event was held at the Recreation Centre.
• 6th August, 18:00pm: The conference banquet was held at The American Creswick (90 Albert St, Creswick VIC 3363, Australia).
• 7th August, 15:30pm: Birthday cake!
• Ballarat 9th August: We visited the Ballarat Wildlife Park to see native animals and Sovereign Hill to see the historic gold rush town.
• Melbourne 9th and 10th August: We walked around the city, visited the National Gallery of Victoria, saw fairy penguins at St Kilda beach, went up the Melbourne Skydeck, strolled through the University of Melbourne's main Parkville campus, enjoyed the Royal Botanical Garden, and so on.
• 13th August, 19:30pm: A local stargazing walk held after dinner. We departed from the Farmers Arms Hotel at 19:30pm and walked to Calembeen Park to see the milky way and attempt to interpret it as a very unusual log-gas. Aided by skymaps, torches, and astronomy enthusiasts Jiyuan Zhang and Nicholas Witte.
• Ballarat 14th August, 12:00pm: An additional excursion to the Ballarat Wildlife Park.