In the last few decades, fibre optics has revolutionised telecommunications. At the same time, they have also been used for sensing in a broad range of applications, from measuring chemical concentration to nanoparticle detection.

Gravitational waves, predicted by Einstein, are ripples in the curvature of space-time which propagate at the speed of light. They are coming from the most violent events in the universe such as supernovae, coalescence of neutron stars and black hole collisions.

Since 2017, electromagnetic follow-up on gravitational wave sources (EM Follow-up) has been a key part of the new field of science 'multi-messenger astronomy', providing electromagnetic confirmation of gravitational wave events.

The arrival of gravitational-wave astronomy is providing enormous amounts of new data on the Universe, informing the evolution of understanding of astronomy and cosmology.

The centre for gravitational astrophysics is developing technology and techniques for inter-spacecraft laser interferometry.