Robert Robere

about | advising | research | lab | teaching | fun

contact

E-Mail: robert.robere@mcgill.ca
Coordinates: MC 309
McConnell Engineering Building
McGill University
Montréal, QC, Canada

about me

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at McGill University. I am a theoretical computer scientist, which means that I use mathematical tools to study what computation really "is". My main research topic is computational complexity theory, with a particular interest in proof complexity and related topics. But this is not prescriptive, and I like to think about any fun problems that come my way! I run the Complexity Lab here in SOCS, along with Hamed Hatami.

You can look at my curriculum vitae for more of my (professional) past life, if you're into that sort of thing. Otherwise, scroll on down to find my research papers, my graduate students, or my recent teaching.

the lab

current students

• Hasti Karimi, MSc Student (2025-Present). Co-advised with Hamed Hatami.
• Riju Bindua, PhD Student (2025-Present). Co-advised with Hamed Hatami.
• Isabelle Champion, MSc Student (2025-Present).
• Ben Davis, PhD Student (2024-Present).

long-term visitors

• Jonas Conneryd, Lund University. (Summer 2026)
• Duri Janett, University of Copenhagen. (Spring 2026)
• Jiawei Li, UT Austin. (Summer 2024).
• Erfan Khaniki, Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. (Fall 2023).
• Yuhao Li, University of Columbia. (Summer 2023).

alumni

• Svetla Vassileva, MSc Student (2023-2026). Instructor at Champlain College St-Lambert.
• Stefan Grosser. PhD Student (2021-2026). Postdoctoral researcher at Oxford University .

fun facts

• - I was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland, which is the best place on earth. When I was 22 I moved away for graduate school and, as you can see from the picture, this was obviously a mistake.
• - Speaking of which, you might be looking for my Dad — also named Robert Robere — who is a house designer in St. John's. His website is here.
• - I do a lot of rock climbing! I'm even on Mountain Project (light blue shirt). Places I've climbed include: Red Rocks, Yosemite, Utah, The New River Gorge, The Gunks, Newfoundland, and essentially every crag in Southern Ontario and around Princeton, NJ.
• - Before graduate school I was heavily involved in theatre. As a student I performed with (and then later taught many workshops for) the Canadian Improv Games in Newfoundland. I was also a founding member of the theatre group Stanley Braxton, which is still running today!

words of wisdom

beast on my brain, every thought is the same
if the beast is controlled, it'll never turn gold
and that's just fine
we don't own the world around us