Sakura Schafer-Nameki

Sakura Schafer-Nameki is a Mathematical Physicist at the University of Oxford, UK. She works on theoretical high energy physics and string theory. Sakura did her Ph.D. in Cambridge, UK, followed by postdoctoral positions at Hamburg, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (Santa Barbara), before joining the faculty at King’s College in 2010. She has been a Professor at Oxford since 2016. Schafer-Nameki’s main research interests focus on understanding strongly coupled Quantum Field Theories using a wide variety of theoretical tools. Her current main focus are generalized symmetries in Quantum Field Theory: starting with their role in constraining Quantum Field Theory, to their role in quantum gravity and their mathematical structure (in terms of higher categories). This topic touches also upon research in theoretical condensed matter physics (topological order), and Schafer-Nameki is hoping to explore these connections in the near future. This type of interdisciplinary research is perfect to initiate and develop at Aspen. Schafer-Nameki has been a general member of the Aspen Center for Physics since 2020, and has been coming to Aspen since her postdoctoral time at Caltech. Schafer-Nameki has received ERC Consolidator and Advanced grants, and is a member of the Simons Collaboration on Special Holonomy.