Biography

I am a theoretical physicist and cosmologist currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at EPFL (Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne), and as a scientific collaborator at CERN. Prior to this, I held a short postdoctoral position (July–August 2025) at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), working on cosmology and quantum gravity. I also held a 6-month KITP Graduate Fellowship at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, in Spring 2025.

My research centres on cosmology and fundamental physics, with the aim of understanding the origin of the universe and gaining insight into a possible theory unifying the fundamental forces. My current research programme focuses on quantum gravity in de Sitter (dS) space, studied through the dS wavefunction (or equivalently the cosmological correlators encoded therein). I use techniques from holography (i.e. dS/CFT) and cosmological bootstrapping to make concrete predictions for late-time observables, such as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). I have collaborated with a range of researchers across cosmology, string theory, and quantum gravity, including David Stefanyszyn, Will Handley, Eva Silverstein, and Shota Komatsu.

I was born and raised in South London, and my parents came to England as refugees fleeing the genocide committed against the Eelam Tamil ethnic group by the Sri Lankan state shortly beforehand. As a result, I come from an atypical background within academia: I am a first-generation student from a working-class family, and the first from the Eelam Tamil ethnic group to pursue theoretical physics and/or cosmology. In this sense, my background is sometimes compared to that of Michael Faraday, in that I am the first in my family to obtain academic qualifications.

This makes me that much prouder to have completed my Bachelor’s degree at Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, followed by a Master’s degree at Queen Mary University of London with Timothy Clifton. I then spent a year in Oxford before returning to Cambridge to complete my PhD. I completed my PhD at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), where I was advised by Aron Wall. During my PhD, I was also affiliated with the Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge (KICC), which brings together cosmologists from DAMTP, the Cavendish Astrophysics Group, and the Institute of Astronomy (IoA).

In 2021, I was awarded the Institute of Physics (IOP) Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship and the David and Susan Hibbitt Scholarship of Jesus College, Cambridge, alongside additional funding from the Cavendish Trust, in support of my PhD studies.

I hope that my journey demonstrates that one’s past and circumstances need not determine one’s future. I am deeply indebted to the support and encouragement of individuals such as Nick Cooper, Cathie Clarke and Christopher Reynolds, as well as many other remarkable staff, including Susan Hatley at Cambridge’s IoA, for their generosity, hospitality, and mentorship during my pre-doctoral studies.

Beyond physics, I maintain a strong interest in fitness and the science behind it. I am a competitive 1st-team Cambridge Blue badminton and football player, and I am also interested in technology startups, including my own venture NightLYF. As a natural consequence of coming from an underrepresented background, I am a strong advocate for equality and diversity, and I am involved in several initiatives in this space, including the founding of the non-profit organisation UniArk. I am also passionate about science outreach and public engagement, and have given several outreach talks available on Happs and YouTube.