On July 15, 2026, PhD student Filip Reščić successfully defended his PhD thesis topic entitled “Beyond Einstein: Exploring the Universe’s Transparency through Lorentz Invariance Violation and Doubly Special Relativity in Astrophysical Phenomena.”

The defense committee consisted of Assoc. prof. Marina Manganaro, Assoc. prof. Ana Babić, and Assist. prof. Arash Ranjbar Zidehi.

The proposed research explores phenomenological models of quantum gravity that extend or modify Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, focusing on Lorentz Invariance Violation and Doubly Special Relativity. In particular, the study investigates how these theoretical frameworks could affect the propagation of very- and ultra-high-energy gamma rays and the transparency of the Universe. By connecting theoretical predictions with observational data through simulations, the research will also assess the sensitivity of the future Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory to potential quantum-gravitational effects.