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.
contact
E-Mail: robert.robere@mcgill.ca
Coordinates: MC 309
McConnell Engineering
McGill University
Montréal, QC, Canada
News and Useful Info
Sabbatical, 2026–2027
I will be on sabbatical for the 2026-2027 academic year, and so will not be taking students or doing any undergraduate supervision.
Undergraduate advising
If you are a McGill undergraduate looking for advising from me, please read this first.
Research
Provable Reductions in TFNP
Noah Fleming, Stefan Grosser, Toniann Pitassi, Robert Robere
Manuscript 2026. [PDF]
Lower Bounds for Approximate Sign-Rank
Riju Bindua, Hamed Hatami, Hasti Karimi, Robert Robere
Manuscript 2026. [ArXiV]
Res(log) Proves Bounded-Depth Frege Lower Bounds
Ben Davis, Robert Robere
Manuscript 2026. [ECCC]
On Pigeonhole Principles and Ramsey in TFNP
Black-Box PPP is Not Turing-Closed
Noah Fleming, Stefan Grosser, Toniann Pitassi, Robert Robere.
STOC 2024. [ECCC]
Intersection Classes in TFNP and Proof Complexity
Yuhao Li, William Pires, Robert Robere
ITCS 2024. [DROPS]
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 .
Teaching, Current and Future
- On sabbatical in the 2026-2027 academic year.
Fun
- - 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!
