Claudia de Rham

Claudia de Rham is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London, affiliated with the Department of Physics within the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Her research focuses on quantum gravity, cosmology, gravitational waves, and particle physics. She holds additional roles such as Director of the Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics and chairs the PPGPtheory STFC panel.

Dr. de Rham earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge, with MSc degrees from École Polytechnique and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Her work bridges quantum field theory, cosmology, and gravity, particularly exploring modified gravity theories and the nature of dark energy.

Research Interests: She investigates gravitational theories beyond Einstein, including massive gravity, galileons, and the implications of gravitational wave physics. Her work addresses fundamental questions like the acceleration of the universe and the behavior of spacetime at extreme scales. Recent projects include studying decoherence in expanding universes and causality constraints in effective field theories.

Publications & Media: Over 120 peer-reviewed articles, including influential works on effective field theories and gravitational wave propagation. She has given over 25 public talks annually, including at the Royal Institution and World Science Festival. Her popular science book The Beauty of Falling details her journey in theoretical physics.

Awards & Grants: Recipient of the Blavatnik Award, Simons Investigator, and Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award. Her research is supported by ERC grants and collaborations with institutions like CERN and the Perimeter Institute.

Labs & Teams: Leads theoretical physics groups at Imperial and Case Western Reserve University, fostering interdisciplinary research in cosmology and fundamental physics.