Professor Bill SpenceProfessor of Theoretical PhysicsEmail: w.j.spence@qmul.ac.ukRoom Number: G. O. Jones Building, Room 607ProfileResearchPublicationsSupervisionPublic EngagementProfile History/Appointments 2013-2019: Vice-Principal (Research), Queen Mary, University of London 2015-2018: Director, Life Sciences at QMUL 2009-2012: Head of Department of Physics (from 2011: School of Physics and Astronomy) 2006-2008: Deputy Head of Department of Physics 2003-2008: Head of Theory Group/first Director of the Centre for Research in String Theory 2005: Professor of Theoretical Physics 2000: Reader in Theoretical Physics 1999: Lectureship, Queen Mary, University of London 1994-1999: Five-year Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Advanced Research Fellowship, Queen Mary, University of London 1992-1994: Five-year Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Australia (moved to UK post after two years) 1991-1993: Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) Postdoctoral research associate, Imperial College London (took up QEII offer in 1992) 1987-1991: SERC Postdoctoral research associate, Queen Mary, University of London, UK. 1985-1987: SERC Postdoctoral research associate, Southampton University, UK Academic Qualifications 1985: PhD, Department of Mathematics, Kings College, University of London. Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 studentship. 1981: B. Sc., First Class Honours, Australian National University. Past Roles Vice-Principal (Research) January 2013-January 2019 My role as Vice Principal gave me responsibility for all research and innovation across QMUL – an institution with a breadth of research across 20 Schools and Institutes within three large Faculties, an annual turnover at that time of over £450M, and an annual research income of over £140M. Research Excellence Framework I oversaw the QMUL submission to the national Research Excellence Framework in late 2013. The outcome was that QMUL was placed 9th amongst multi-Faculty UK universities in the overall GPA tables, which included a ranking of 8th for 4* (world-leading) outputs and 5th for 3*/4* (world leading or internationally excellent) outputs. Life Sciences QMUL is working towards the development of a new Life Sciences campus in central London at Whitechapel. During 2015-2018 I held a leadership role in our this initiative. This included support for research centres in Genomic Health, Bioengineering, Mind in Society and Computational Biology, and seven new themes of joint clinical-academic work with Barts Health Trust, the largest in the UK. I led a successful bid to the Wellcome Trust for a new Institutional Strategic Support Fund award, matched by QMUL investment, to a total of over £1.5m, which provided early core resources for these developments. National appointments 2019-2022: REF2021 Panel Member Unit of Assessment 10 Mathematics 2020-2021: REF2021 Panel Member Unit of Assessment 9 Physics (outputs) 2012-2015: STFC Particle Physics Advisory Panel: consulation with UK research community and preparation of Roadmap for PPAN/STFC Council on future UK particle physics investment of ~£110M p.a.. Preparation of UK input to the CERN Council Strategy Group for the updated European Particle Physics Strategy. 2007-2009: STFC Particle Physics Grants Panel (Theory) (Chair 2008-9). Recommendations on the distribution of Rolling Grant funding for 2008-2013 totalling £27M. 2008: STFC Particle Physics Consultation Panel, 2008. Advice to the Research Council on the ranking of experimental physics programmes with funding totalling £110M. 1990s: EPSRC Peer Review College. Personal Homepage Philosophy "Si tu veux construire un bateau ... Ne rassemble pas des hommes pour aller chercher du bois, préparer des outils, répartir les tâches, alléger le travail… mais enseigne aux gens la nostalgie de l’infini de la mer" [Antoine de Saint-Exupery] ResearchResearch Interests: My research interests are in M-theory and string theory and their applications in physics and mathematics. Particular past areas of interest have been the geometry of branes in M theory, topological field theories, and manifolds of exceptional holonomy. More recently I have mainly been working on applications originally inspired by twistor string theory. This research area has unearthed powerful new approaches to quantum field theory, gravity and string theory, ranging from twistor theory formulations to novel techniques to calculate scattering amplitudes relevant to the Large Hadron Collider. My research publications can be found using Inspire or (post 1991) the arXiv. Examples of research funding:Research Grants Wellcome Trust (PI), 2015-2016, ISSF Award: Life Sciences Initiative, £1,280,000 (£640,000 from WT, matched by QMUL). (Grants below are collaborative with CTP/CRST/Theory Group colleagues; as PI where stated.) Science and Technology Facilities Council, String Theory Gauge Theory and Duality, (2021-2025), ~£1,500,000. Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network grant of the European Commission "SAGEX: Scattering Amplitudes: from Geometry to Experiment” 2018-2022, €3,983,215.68. Science and Technology Facilities Council, String Theory Gauge Theory and Duality, (2017-2020), £710,337. Science and Technology Facilities Council, String Theory Gauge Theory and Duality, (2014-2017), £726,605. Science and Technology Facilities Council, String Theory Gauge Theory and Duality, (2011-2015), £632,432. Support from the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, for the workshop Recent advances in scattering amplitudes April 2-4 2012. Leverhulme Foundation, personal Research Fellowship (2009-2010), £44,975. EPSRC, STFC and Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (Durham), Joint grant funding for the workshop Amplitudes 2010, May 2010 Queen Mary, £13,500. Science and Technology Facilities Council, String theory, gauge theory and duality (2008-2013) (PI), £1,431,413. PPARC 2006-2010, String theory, gauge theory and gravity (PI), £249,800. PPARC SPG, 2005-2007, Gauge theory, string theory and twistor space techniques (PI), £134,010. INFN, Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nuclear. Workshop: Advancing Collider Physics Galileo Galilei Institute, Florence 2007, €125,000. EPSRC Workshop Grant, M Theory in the City 2007 £11,300. Engineering and Physics Sciences Research Council, Workshop, 2006, £4,700. PPARC Grant 2003-2005, M Theory, string theory and duality (PI), £157,276. EU, Framework 6, Marie Curie Training, Mobility of Researchers, €259,980. PPARC Rolling Grant, 1998-2003, £277,892. EPSRC Responsive Mode Grant 2000-2003, £131,738. PPARC Special Programme Grant, 1998-2003, £84,514. EU Framework 5, Training, Mobility of Researchers Grant, €178,000. EPSRC Standard Grant, 1998-2001, £69,838. EPSRC/PPARC Joint Standard Grant, 1995-1998, £129,624. PublicationsMy research publications can be found using Inspire or (post 1991) the arXiv. Brown GR, Gowdy J, Spence B (2022). Celestial Twistor Amplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: doi QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Brown GR, Gowdy J et al. (2021). Celestial superamplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.104.045016 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/74210 Brandhuber A, Brown GR, Gowdy J et al. (2021). Celestial Superamplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2105.10263 QMRO: qmroHref Spence B (2020). Everything Is Now, Revolutionary Ideas from String Theory. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1201/9781003044031 QMRO: qmroHref Spence W, Berman D, Alawadhi R (2020). Weyl doubling. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP09(2020)127 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/66551 Alawadhi R, Berman DS, Spence B (2020). Weyl doubling. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2007.03264 QMRO: qmroHref Alawadhi R, Berman DS, Spence B et al. (2020). S-duality and the double copy. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP03(2020)059 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/63541 Alawadhi R, Berman DS, Spence B et al. (2019). S-duality and the Double Copy. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1911.06797 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Hughes E, Panerai R et al. (2016). The connected prescription for form factors in twistor space. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP11(2016)143 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/18787 Brandhuber A, Hughes E, Panerai R et al. (2016). The connected prescription for form factors in twistor space. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1608.03277 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Hughes E, Spence B et al. (2016). One-loop soft theorems via dual superconformal symmetry. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP03(2016)084 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/11916 Brandhuber A, Hughes E, Spence B et al. (2015). One-Loop Soft Theorems via Dual Superconformal Symmetry. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1511.06716 QMRO: qmroHref Penante B, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2014). On super form factors of half-BPS operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2014)083 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/7643 Penante B, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2014). On super form factors of half-BPS operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1402.1300 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2011). Tree-level formalism. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1751-8113/44/45/454002 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2011). Tree-Level Formalism. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1103.3477 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2011). Form factors in N=4 super Yang-Mills and periodic Wilson loops. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP01(2011)134 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2010). A note on dual MHV diagrams in N=4 SYM. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP12(2010)087 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2010). Form Factors in N=4 Super Yang-Mills and Periodic Wilson Loops. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1011.1899 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2010). A Note on Dual MHV Diagrams in N=4 SYM. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1010.1498 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Heslop P, Katsaroumpas P et al. (2010). A Surprise in the Amplitude/Wilson Loop Duality. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1007/JHEP07(2010)080 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/3083 Brandhuber A, Heslop P, Katsaroumpas P et al. (2010). A Surprise in the Amplitude/Wilson Loop Duality. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1004.2855 QMRO: qmroHref Katsaroumpas P, Spence B, Travaglini G (2009). One-loop N=8 supergravity coefficients from N=4 super Yang-Mills. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2009/08/096 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/7764 Katsaroumpas P, Spence B, Travaglini G (2009). One-loop N=8 supergravity coefficients from N=4 super Yang-Mills. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.0906.0521 QMRO: qmroHref Anastasiou C, Brandhuber A, Heslop P et al. (2009). Two-loop polygon Wilson loops in N=4 SYM. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2009/05/115 QMRO: qmroHref Anastasiou C, Brandhuber A, Heslop P et al. (2009). Two-Loop Polygon Wilson Loops in N=4 SYM. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.0902.2245 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Heslop P, Nasti A et al. (2009). Four-point amplitudes in N=8 supergravity and Wilson loops. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2008.09.010 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Heslop P, Nasti A et al. (2008). Four-point Amplitudes in N=8 Supergravity and Wilson Loops. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.0805.2763 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2007). One-loop MHV rules and pure yang-mills. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/07/002 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2007). Twistor inspired methods in gauge theory and gravity. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1080/00107510701546947 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G et al. (2007). One-loop MHV Rules and Pure Yang-Mills. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.0704.0245 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, McNamara S, Spence B et al. (2007). Recursion relations for one-loop gravity amplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/03/029 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2007). Amplitudes in pure Yang-Mills and MHV diagrams. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/02/088 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, McNamara S, Spence B et al. (2007). Recursion Relations for One-Loop Gravity Amplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0701187 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2006). Amplitudes in Pure Yang-Mills and MHV Diagrams. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0612007 QMRO: qmroHref McNamara S, Papageorgakis C, Ramgoolam S et al. (2006). Finite N effects on the collapse of fuzzy spheres. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2006/05/060 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/15714 Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2006). From trees to loops and back. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2006/01/142 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2005). From Trees to Loops and Back. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0510253 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, McNamara S, Spence B et al. (2005). Loop amplitudes in pure Yang-Mills from generalised unitarity. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2005/10/011 QMRO: qmroHref Bedford J, Brandhuber A, Spence B et al. (2005). A recursion relation for gravity amplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2005.05.016 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, McNamara S, Spence B et al. (2005). Loop Amplitudes in Pure Yang-Mills from Generalised Unitarity. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0506068 QMRO: qmroHref Bedford J, Brandhuber A, Spence B et al. (2005). Non-supersymmetric loop amplitudes and MHV vertices. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2005.01.032 QMRO: qmroHref Bedford J, Brandhuber A, Spence B et al. (2005). A recursion relation for gravity amplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0502146 QMRO: qmroHref Bedford J, Brandhuber A, Spence B et al. (2005). A twistor approach to one-loop amplitudes in N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphys.2004.11.031 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2005). One-loop gauge theory amplitudes in N=4 super Yang-Mills from MHV vertices. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2004.11.023 QMRO: qmroHref Spence WJ, BRANDHUBER A, Travaglini G et al. (2005). A Twistor Approach to One-Loop Amplitudes in N=1 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2004.11.031 QMRO: qmroHref Spence WJ, TRAVAGLINI G, Brandhuber A et al. (2005). A recursion relation for gravity amplitudes. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2007/03/029 QMRO: qmroHref Spence WJ, TRAVAGLINI G, Brandhuber A et al. (2005). Non-supersymmetric loop amplitudes and MHV vertices. nameOfConference DOI: doi QMRO: qmroHref Spence WJ, TRAVAGLINI G, Brandhuber A (2005). One-loop gauge theory amplitudes in N=4 super Yang-Mills from MHV vertices. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2004.11.023 QMRO: qmroHref Ramgoolam S, Spence B, Thomas S (2004). Resolving brane collapse with 1/N corrections in non-Abelian DBI. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2004.10.012 QMRO: https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/13596 Bedford J, Brandhuber A, Spence B et al. (2004). Non-Supersymmetric Loop Amplitudes and MHV Vertices. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0412108 QMRO: qmroHref Bedford J, Brandhuber A, Spence B et al. (2004). A Twistor Approach to One-Loop Amplitudes in N=1 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0410280 QMRO: qmroHref Brandhuber A, Spence B, Travaglini G (2004). One-Loop Gauge Theory Amplitudes in N=4 Super Yang-Mills from MHV Vertices. nameOfConference DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0407214 QMRO: qmroHref de Medeiros P, Spence B (2003). Four-dimensional topological Einstein-Maxwell gravity. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/0264-9381/20/11/309 QMRO: qmroHref de Medeiros P, Hull C, Spence B et al. (2002). Conformal topological Yang-Mills theory and de Sitter holography. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1088/1126-6708/2002/08/055 QMRO: qmroHref SOLOVIEV O, Spence W, Russakovskii A (2001). Fallback options. VIII International Conference: Forecasting Financial Markets, London 30 May to 01 June, 2001 DOI: doi QMRO: qmroHref Hull CM, Papadopoulos G, Spence B (1991). Gauge symmetries for (p, q) supersymmetric sigma models. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/0550-3213(91)80035-K QMRO: qmroHref Hull CM, Spence B (1991). The geometry of the gauged sigma-model with wess-zumino term. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/0550-3213(91)90342-U QMRO: qmroHref Hull CM, Spence B, Vázquez-Bello JL (1991). The geometry of quantum gauge theories: A superspace formulation of BRST symmetry. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/0550-3213(91)90224-L QMRO: qmroHref Hull CM, Spence B (1990). The (2, 0) supersymmetric Wess-Zumino-Witten model. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/0550-3213(90)90398-W QMRO: qmroHref Hull CM, Spence B (1990). N = 2 current algebra and coset models. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/0370-2693(90)91656-V QMRO: qmroHref Hull CM, Spence B (1989). The gauged nonlinear sigma model with Wess-Zumino term. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/0370-2693(89)91688-2 QMRO: qmroHref Spence B, Thomas S (1987). Consistency and component-field structure of gauge-invariant free open superstrings. nameOfConference DOI: 10.1016/0550-3213(87)90448-2 QMRO: qmroHref Supervision Project Title Scattering amplitudes and novel approaches to field theory and string theory. Public EngagementPersonal Homepage Physics: New popular science book - "Everything is Now: Revolutionary ideas from string theory". Taylor and Francis/CRC Press. "String theory and our conceptions of reality", Culturico, 22nd March 2021. "Causation" National Geographic Festival of Science, Rome, 2018. "Time is an illusion" The Guardian Science Weekly, with Lee Smolin and Julian Barbour. "The quest for a theory of everything" The Guardian Science Weekly, with Carlo Rovelli and Silke Weinfurtner. Articles/Op-eds "UK universities’ dangerous reliance on China is being driven by marketisation", Open Democracy, 23rd October 2020. "The Australian government is burning our children's future", Op-ed in Al-Jazeera, 14th February 2020 on climate change and the Australian bushfires of 2019/20. "Plea to university fund to act on fossil fuels" Letter to Financial Times 3rd June 2020. "Why is the UK's largest pension scheme still investing in fossil fuels?" article in Times Higher Education, 10th June 2020 (register for access). Text and links reproduced here. (Opinions are those of the author. University policies may be found on the QMUL website.)