DAMTP | Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics

The Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics is one of the largest and strongest of its kind in Europe. The Department currently hosts approximately 140 Academic and Research Staff and around 160 PhD students at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences, a purpose-built complex in Wilberforce Road, Cambridge.

Research in DAMTP is loosely organised into eight broad subject areas: Applied and Computational Analysis, Astrophysics, Geophysics, Fluid and Solid Mechanics, Mathematical Biology, Quantum Information, High Energy Physics and General Relativity and Cosmology. Many members of staff contribute to more than one area and this is regarded as a key factor in the continuing success of DAMTP. Research in each of the subject areas involves collaboration with strong groups nationally and internationally, and participation in numerous interdisciplinary projects and programmes.

News & Events

Three members of DAMTP announced as Fellows of the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences

Professor Anne-Christine Davis OBE and Professor Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb have been announced as Fellows of the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences, with Professor David Abrahams named as an Honorary Fellow in recognition of his work towards the creation of the Academy. The inaugural cohort of 100 Fellows brings together mathematicians across academia, education, business, industry, and government to help solve some of the UK’s biggest challenges.

Anne Davis, Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb and David Abrahams are joined by five Fellows from DPMMS: Professor Sir John Aston FRS, Professor Richard Samworth FRS, Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS OBE, Professor Jack Thorne FRS, and Professor Wendelin Werner. Like Fellows of the other National Academies, the Fellows of the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences have been recognised as leaders in their fields, through fundamental discoveries, exceptional work in education, or driving the application of mathematics across society.

Professor Anne-Christine Davis OBE awarded a 2025 Buchalter Cosmology Prize

Professor Anne-Christine Davis OBE and co-authors have been awarded a 2025 Buchalter Cosmology Prize for their paper 'A Minimal Axio-dilaton Dark Sector'. This is the second Buchalter Cosmology Prize won for work by Professor Anne-Christine Davis, following her earlier Prize award in 2021.

Founded in 2014, the annual Buchalter Cosmology Prizes seek to stimulate ground-breaking theoretical, observational, or experimental work in cosmology that has the potential to produce a breakthrough advance in our understanding. The Prizes were announced in January 2026 at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

Landmark £6m gift from XTX Markets will help fund the next generation of Cambridge mathematicians

A £6 million gift by leading algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets will create more than thirty new PhD and Postdoc opportunities in DPMMS and DAMTP. XTX’s transformative gift is part of its new Early-Career Funding programme, committing more than £26m to boost the number of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in pure mathematics at seven top UK universities.

XTX Markets' donation to the University of Cambridge will cover a total of 3 years starting October 2026. Around four-fifths of the funding will go to the Department of Pure Maths and Mathematical Statistics (DPMMS), and one-fifth to DAMTP.

Professor Blake Sherwin awarded ERC Consolidator Grant

Blake Sherwin, Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics in DAMTP, is one of eight University of Cambridge researchers sharing a total of €17 million in the European Research Council's (ERC) Consolidator Grants 2025 awards. The grants support mid-career researchers to carry out cutting-edge research projects lasting up to five years.

Blake Sherwin's grant funded project will use the cosmic microwave background, the universe’s oldest light, as a 'backlight' to map where cosmic matter lies and how it moves. This can provide new insights into how the universe began, and will enable the research team to test ideas about how cosmic structure grew.

Professor Raymond Goldstein FRS awarded honorary doctorate by KU Leuven

Ray Goldstein, Alan Turing Professor of Complex Physical Systems in DAMTP, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by KU Leuven, celebrating his pioneering work on the 'physics of life'.

The honorary doctorate will be presented in February 2026, and recognises his work as a bridge builder between different scientific disciplines, in which the perspective of physics gives new impetus to the study of biological processes.

Dr Miles Cranmer awarded Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Early Career Fellowship

Miles Cranmer, Assistant Professor of Data Intensive Science in DAMTP and the IoA, has been announced as a Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Early Career Fellow.

He is one of 28 researchers worldwide who are collectively being awarded more than $18 million to advance AI’s potential for the benefit of humanity.

Dr Lorenzo Gavassino awarded APS 2026 George E Valley Jr Prize

Lorenzo Gavassino has been awarded the American Physical Society's 2026 George E. Valley Jr. Prize. The prize is awarded each year to an early-career individual for an outstanding scientific contribution to physics that is deemed to have significant potential for a dramatic impact on the field.

The award recognises his contributions to the field of relativistic viscous fluid dynamics that settled longstanding questions about the relation between stability and causality.