World leading research in some of the most exciting areas of theoretical physics including string theory, quantum field theory, cosmology, quantum foundations and gravity
Welcome to the Theoretical Physics Group at Imperial College! The Group was founded in 1956 by Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam and we have written a brief history of the Group. We carry out world-leading research in some of the most exciting areas of theoretical physics including string theory, quantum field theory, cosmology, quantum foundations, and gravity. We have a dynamic PhD programme and we offer a one year MSc Course which provides a focussed training to begin research at a PhD level.
Friends of Imperial Theoretical Physics
Major Grant Awards and Prizes
- Dr Claudia de Rham is joint recipient of the 2018 Adams Prize
- Dr Claudia de Rham has been honoured in the inaugural UK Blavatnik Awards for outstanding young scientists.
- Prof. Mike Duff has been awarded the 2017 Paul Dirac Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics
- Advanced ERC Grant, "Gauge theory - string theory duality: maximally supersymmetric case and beyond", Tseytlin
- Advanced ERC Grant, "Gravity, black holes and strongly coupled quantum matter", Gauntlett
- Consolidator ERC Grant, "Massive Gravity and Cosmology”, de Rham
- EPSRC Programme Grant, "New Geometric structures from string theory", Hull et al
- STFC Consolidated Grant, "M-theory, cosmology and quantum field theory", Waldram et al
Postdoctoral Vacancies and Fellowships
We invite applications for postdoctoral positions starting in October 2020. The deadline for applications is 13 December 2019.
We support fellowship applications, including those from UKRI Future Leaders, STFC and Royal Society. Note the group and department have internal deadlines for applications which are well before the official deadlines:
- internal deadline for UKRI Future Leaders fellowships will be March 2020
- internal deadline for STFC Ernest Rutherford and Royal Society URF fellowships will be July 2020
- internal deadline for Imperial College Research Fellowships is will be August 2020
Postgraduate Study
- Imperial College Master's Support Scheme and other scholarships available for MSc study
- Theoretical Physics holds a Postgraduate Open Day covering both the PhD programme and the MSc in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces. The open day gives prospective students an opportunity to meet the academic staff in the group and find out more about the courses and projects on offer.
Recent Media and Events
- 'Time Tries All Things' at the Institute of Physics: a collaboration between artist and filmmaker Grace Weir and theoretical physicists David Berman and Fay Dowker.
- Fay Dowker was on the panel, along with Neil De Grasse Tyson, Eric Idle and Brian Blessed, for the 100th episode of "The Infinite Monkey Cage" on BBC Radio 4 and on the iPlayer.
- Jerome Gauntlett gave a Royal Institution Discourse on "Black holes and the fundamental laws of physics".
- Jerome Gauntlett gave a talk on "A Brief History of Stephen Hawking" at ICE Summer Festival, Madingley Hall, Cambridge.
View all news, media, events and major funding announcements