The conference, organized by Swansea Professor Prem Kumar, and Professor Justin David from the Indian Instititute of Science, Bangalore, is sponsored by the Royal Society, UK and the Department of Science and Technology, India, under the Networking Scheme between India and the UK.

The event which takes place from 18-20 March at Swansea University, entitled ``Holography, Strings and Higher Spins’’ will bring together 20  top theoretical and mathematical physicists from India and the UK and will cover diverse topics such as the Microscopic origin of Black Hole Entropy,  Quantum Entanglement and Quantum Gravity, Nonperturbative results in Quantum Field Theory, Gauge/Gravity duality and its applications.

String theory, as a mathematical framework, has yielded some of the most spectacular advances in the world of theoretical and mathematical physics during the last two decades. Originally conceived of as a model for strong nuclear interactions, its true potential was recognised as a theory of quantum gravity. The many successes of the theory include the quantum explanation of black hole entropy, the demonstration of a vast web of quantum dualities between families of quantum field theories in diverse dimensions, and most remarkably the emergence of holographic duality or the relationship between strongly coupled quantum systems and classical gravity/strings in one higher dimension. 

The aim of the conference is to bring experts working on these topics together to present and discuss current research on these exciting areas with the aim of strengthening existing collaborations and initiating new ones, particularly between Indian physicists and their UK counterparts. Further details on this meeting can be found at http://pyweb.swan.ac.uk/sfsh/IndUK/home2.html

• For more information about the Department of Physics, College of Science, Swansea University  go to http://www.swansea.ac.uk/physics
  
  
• The College of Science at Swansea University brings science to life through globally excellent and impactful research, passionate hands-on teaching and two-way engagement with the business community to share a vision in which science plays a significant role in the understanding and shaping of our world today.
  
  
• Swansea University is a world-class, research-led university located in beautiful parkland with views across Swansea Bay close to the Gower Peninsula, the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The University was established in 1920 and currently offers around 330 undergraduate courses and 120post-graduate courses to 16,800 undergraduate and postgraduate students. The results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 showed that the University has achieved its ambition to be a top 30 research University, soaring up the league table to 26th in the UK, with the ‘biggest leap among research-intensive institutions’ (Times Higher Education, December 2014) in the UK. 
  
  
• The College of Science has achieved excellent results in the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014  Some of the highlights of its performance include:

• Biosciences - ranked 7^th in the UK and 1^st in Wales
• Computer Science - ranked 18^th in the UK and 1^st in Wales
• Geography - ranked 8^th in the UK for research impact