MODEST 26
Modelling and Observing Dense Star Clusters in Vietnam
Dense Stellar Systems from Globular to Nuclear Star Clusters
Quy Nhon, ICISE Vietnam, Aug. 16 -22, 2026.
For contact to SOC management: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Abstract submission is now open via this link
(DEADLINE for Abstract Submission: April 12, 2026!!) https://tally.so/r/ODzBb8
To receive full consideration for oral presentations, please submit your abstract by 31st March 2026.
Conference registration is also open now and must be completed separately via the official conference page:
https://www.icisequynhon.com/conferences/2026/modest2026/index.html
The direct and official link for registration is (please do NOT use Silk Road registration on top of this page):
https://www.icisequynhon.com/conferences/2026/modest2026/registration.html
Early bird registration deadline is June 29, 2026, thereafter late registration is still possible.
Young researchers (in particular PhD students) who wish to apply for financial support may indicate this in the remarks section of the registration form. Depending on the number of participants and available resources, limited accommodation support may be provided to young researchers.
Hotel accommodation and board may be booked through the registration page.
For practical information regarding travel, visas, accommodation, and the venue, please visit:
https://www.icisequynhon.com/conferences/2026/modest2026/information.html
We look forward to receiving your contributions and to a productive and engaging MODEST-26 meeting in Quy Nhon.
Scientific Organising Committee (SOC):
Management: Abbas Askar (CAMK, Warsaw, Poland), Tomek Bulik (Univ. of Warsaw, Poland), Rainer Spurzem (NAOC/CAS, Beijing, China and Univ. Heidelberg, Germany); Members (alphabetic order of family name): Michiko Fujii (Tokyo Univ., Japan), Jarrod Hurley (Swinburne Univ., Melbourne, Australia), Hyung Mok Lee (Seoul Natl. Univ., Korea Rep.), Thierry Montmerle (Inst. Astroph. Paris, France), Quynh Lan Nguyen (Phenikaa Univ. Hanoi, Vietnam), Dieu Nguyen (Univ. of Michigan, USA), Nhat Minh Nguyen (IPMU, Tokyo, Japan), Fred Rasio (Northwestern Univ., Evanston, USA), Dominik Schleicher (Sapienza Univ. Rome, Italy), Anna-Lisa Varri (Univ. of Edinburgh, UK)
Part of the MODEST conference series and MODEST history. For scientific rationale see below.
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On site Registration will start on Sunday October Aug. 16 in the afternoon.
The opening session is scheduled to take place on Monday Aug. 17 at 8:30; the conference will end on Saturday Aug. 22 in the morning (in time to catch the 13:25 plane at Quy Nhon UIH).
Session hours are 8:30 - 12:00 and 13:30 - 16:30. Sessions of the conference will be held in the ICISE conference Center.
The registration fee includes:
Pick-up service from/to Quy Nhon Airport on Sunday August 30 and Saturday September 5.
Social activities and Banquet
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Accommodation: two possibilities offered (four star): the Seagull Hotel and the ANYA Hotel.
All sessions will be held in the ICISE conference center, 10 minutes taxi (or one hour walk) away from the hotel. Daily bus transfer (morning and end afternoon) will be provided by the conference organization.
Participants will be expected to arrive on Sunday August 16, and will leave on Saturday August 22 in the afternoon.
Breakfast will be served in the hotel. Lunch and dinner will be served at ICISE (with few exceptions at a downtown restaurant).
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Scientific Rationale
This is an annual meeting on star cluster modelling and observations, including their stellar, binary, and higher-order multiple populations, as well as compact objects such as X-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables, millisecond pulsars, neutron stars, and black holes. These systems are important laboratories for multi-messenger astrophysics in both the electromagnetic spectrum and gravitational waves. Existing or upcoming large surveys using ground and space based facilities such as JWST, Vera Rubin, Gaia, ESO-VLT, MUSE, LAMOST, FAST, SKA, and the Einstein Probe will deliver unprecedented amounts of data. A central aim of the conference is to discuss how to connect this growing wealth of observational data with state-of-the-art numerical models, and to help train the next generation of astrophysicists in modern modelling and data analysis techniques.
Related topics will include the formation of dense stellar systems across cosmic time, from dense molecular clouds and embedded stellar systems to cosmological simulations of star cluster formation and evolution. We will also consider the role of star clusters in galactic archaeology, the formation and growth of nuclear star clusters, and their interaction with intermediate-mass and supermassive black holes. Phenomena such as tidal disruption events, quasi-periodic eruptions, extreme mass ratio inspirals, and other transient signals will be discussed in the context of upcoming multi-messenger observations.
Another key theme will be compact objects and gravitational wave sources, their dynamical formation channels, their observational signatures, and the prospects offered by planned gravitational wave observatories. The meeting will also provide a forum for exchange on new numerical techniques, population synthesis methods, few-body dynamics, and advances in high-performance computing relevant to simulations of dense stellar systems.
Finally, this will be the first MODEST conference held in Vietnam, offering an opportunity to foster closer interactions and strengthen future collaboration between the MODEST community and scientists in in Vietnam and across the Asia–Pacific region.
The following list gives an idea of relevant topics:
[to be edited]
• Numerical approaches to modelling stellar systems and their constituents
- Simulation techniques and codes for star cluster dynamics
- High-performance computing in stellar dynamics simulations
- Gravitational few-body dynamics
- State-art-of-the-art in binary and multiple stellar evolution and population synthesis
• Observational properties of dense stellar systems in different environments
- High energy particle emission from star clusters - Multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic observations of star clusters in the Milky Way and beyond
- Multiple stellar populations in globular cluster
- Kinematic properties of Milky Way star clusters
• Formation of dense stellar systems across cosmic time
- Dense molecular clouds and gas-embedded stellar systems
- Hydrodynamical simulations of star cluster formation
- The link between star clusters and galactic archeology
- Formation and growth of nuclear star clusters and their link to massive black holes
- Star clusters in cosmological zoom simulations
• Stellar multiplicity, exotica, and transients in star clusters
- Binary systems and higher order multiples
- Formation and evolution of blue straggler stars, X-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables, and millisecond pulsars in star clusters
- Tidal disruption and other transient events in dense stellar environments
- Brown dwarfs, planetary systems and interstellar objects in star clusters
• Compact objects and gravitational wave sources
- Fate of compact objects in star clusters
- Dynamical formation channels of gravitational wave sources
- Observational signatures of dynamically formed gravitational wave sources and differences with other formation channels
- Upcoming and planned gravitational wave observatories and their astrophysical importance