Curriculum vitae
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PhD in Physics and Machine Learning — ENS-PSL, Paris
Subject: Generative diffusion and statistical physics · LPENS & Centre de Sciences des Données
Supervisors: Giulio Biroli (ENS) and Marc Mézard (Bocconi University)
2025 – 2028 (exp.)
ENS Diploma — ENS-PSL, Paris
Interdisciplinary diploma validating my studies at ENS.
2021 – 2025
M2 ICFP, Theoretical Physics Track — ENS-PSL, Paris
First Class Honors, 17.38/20.
2023 – 2024
M1 ICFP — ENS-PSL, Paris
First Class Honors, 17.8/20.
2022 – 2023
Bachelor in Physics and Mathematics — ENS-PSL, Paris
First Class Honors, 17.38/20 (Physics) and 16.36/20 (Mathematics).
2021 – 2022
Publications
* denotes equal contribution.
Preprints
Raphaël Urfin*, Tony Bonnaire*, Giulio Biroli, Marc Mézard.
Double Descent and Malign Overfitting in Diffusion Models.
arXiv:2609.26392. arXiv
2026
Conference proceedings
Tony Bonnaire*, Raphaël Urfin*, Giulio Biroli, Marc Mézard.
Why Diffusion Models Don’t Memorize: The Role of Implicit Dynamical Regularization in Training.
NeurIPS 2025 — Best Paper Award (4 papers among 20,000+ submissions).
Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 38, 141266–141286. Proceedings
Extended version selected for the JSTAT special issue Machine Learning 2026: J. Stat. Mech. (2026) 084007.
2025
See the publications page for figures and BibTeX.
Conferences, workshops & seminars
Invited talks
Generative Memory Lab — Donders Institute, Radboud University (online)
Invited seminar
Sep 2026
LemanTH 2026 — Lausanne, Switzerland
Workshop
Apr 2026
Vitelli Group Meeting — online
Group meeting (non-reciprocal p-spins)
Mar 2026
Scattering Club — Data Science for Astrophysics group, LPENS (online)
Invited seminar (1 hour)
Feb 2026
Voxel51 “Best of NeurIPS 2025” — online
Invited seminar (30 min)
Jan 2026
Centre de Sciences des Données Internal Seminar — Paris, France
Invited seminar (30 min)
Dec 2025
Machine Learning & Signal Processing @ ENS Lyon — Lyon, France
Invited seminar (1 hour)
Nov 2025
Contributed talks
Journées de Physique Statistique 2026 — Paris, France
Conference (4-min flash talk)
Jan 2026
EurIPS 2025 — Copenhagen, Denmark
Conference (poster + 13-min oral)
Dec 2025
NeurIPS in Paris 2025 — Paris, France
Workshop (poster + 10-min oral)
Nov 2025
StatPhys 29 — Florence, Italy
Conference (15-min talk)
Jul 2025
Youth in High Dimensions — Trieste, Italy
Workshop (15-min talk)
Jul 2025
Journées de Physique Statistique 2025 — Paris, France
Conference (4-min flash talk)
Jan 2025
Summer schools
Beg Rohu Summer School of Statistical Physics — Beg Rohu, France
- 2026 Edition (Optimization and Control of Nonequilibrium Systems): Lectures by international researchers (e.g., G. Peyré, G. Rotskoff...). Presented an updated poster on Memorization/Generalization in diffusion models.
- 2025 Edition (Learning with Machines, Physics and Mind): Lectures on Machine Learning and Statistical Physics by international researchers (e.g., Yann LeCun, Julia Kempe, Stéphane Mallat, Marc Mézard...). Presented initial poster on Memorization/Generalization in diffusion models.
Jun 2025 &
Jun 2026
Jun 2026
Complex and Glassy Systems — Cargèse, France
Lectures on statistical physics and interdisciplinary applications.
Jul 2024
Awards & grants
Best Paper Award at NeurIPS 2025
One of four best-paper awards among 20,000+ submissions.
2025
CDSN — competitive PhD scholarship for ENS students
2025
Reviewing
- Workshops: EurIPS 2025 (Principles of Generative Modeling — PriGM), ICLR 2026 (DeLTa), ICLR 2026 (Sci4DL).
- Journals: Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR).
Teaching
TA, Phase Transitions (M1 ICFP, ENS-PSL)
16 hours, taught in English with Giulio Biroli.
Fall 2026
TA, Mathematics tutoring for first-year physics students at ENS
36 hours, taught in French with Amir-Kian Kashani-Poor.
Fall 2025 &
Fall 2026
Fall 2026
TA, Machine Learning (M2 ICFP, ENS-PSL)
11 hours, taught in English with Marc Lelarge and Leonardo Defilippis.
Spring 2026
TA, Stochastic Processes for Physics (M1 ICFP, ENS-PSL)
16 hours, taught in English with Marylou Gabrié.
Fall 2025
Research experience
Statistical Physics & Diffusion Models — Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
Research internship with Marc Mézard (Dept. of Computing Sciences). The memorization/generalization transition in diffusion models. Resulted in a NeurIPS 2025 paper.
Feb – May 2025
Statistical Physics & Diffusion Models — ENS-PSL, France
Research internship with Giulio Biroli (Centre de Sciences des Données). The effect of implicit regularization in diffusion models.
Apr 2024 – Jan 2025
Skills
- Languages. French (native), English (fluent), Italian (fluent).
- Software. Python (PyTorch), Matlab, LaTeX.