I'm a theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Trinity College. I think it's fair to say that I'm a very theoretical physicist. I try to understand the laws of physics through the language in which they're written: mathematics.
Much of my work is focused on quantum field theory. This is a vast topic which touches upon many different parts of physics and mathematics. Over the years, I've used ideas from quantum field theory to study topics in particle physics, gravity, cosmology, string theory, condensed matter, fluid mechanics, and geometry.
You can read more about my research and publications on my research page. You can find lecture notes on various topics in theoretical physics on my teaching page.
I grew up in Crawley in the south of England, and attended Hazwelwick School. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Nottingham, my masters at King's College, London, and my PhD at the University of Wales, Swansea, spening my final year as a visiting student at the University of Washington in Seattle.
My first postdoc was at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. I then moved back to King's in London for year before taking up a research position at Columbia University in New York City. I was a Pappalardo Fellow at MIT for three years, spending the final months as a visitor at Stanford Universty.
I joined the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge in 2004, first as a lecturer, then reader, then full professor.
I've been lucky enough to have my research supported by the Simons Foundation as a Simons Investigator. I've also been funded by the Royal Society (both as a University Research Fellowship and a Wolfson Merit Award), by an EPSRC New Horizons Award, an ERC Consolidator Grant, and for many years by STFC.
I was awarded the Adams Prize for research and the University of Cambridge Pilkington Prize for teaching.
Here a couple of interviews I've done, the first with Michael McClellan as part of his "Fifteen Minutes With" series, and the second with the lovely students at IIT Roorkee in India.