Artur Tsobanjan
August 2025
Report from Quantum Gravity 2025 at Penn State
The latest installment of the biennial Quantum Gravity conference organized under the auspices of the International Society for Quantum Gravity (ISQG) took place at the Pennsylvania State University’s Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub 21-25 July 2025, in a hybrid in-person/virtual format. The conference brought together around 100 researchers from many different approaches to the problem of quantizing gravity, who together contributed over 70 talks and posters.
Presentations included perspectives from string theory, loop quantum gravity, causal sets, asymptotic safety, and causal dynamical triangulations. Physical questions concerning quantum gravity effects in cosmology and black holes were explored within effective field theory and semiclassical and discrete approximations. Presenters also shared ideas and developments from work on quantum foundations, modified gravity, quantum gravity phenomenology, and analog gravity.
The plenary sessions included recent research overview talks, a presentation by a PRD editor, and several topical discussions. Those were followed by themed sessions of contributed talks in the afternoon. Despite the challenging funding and travel environment in the US, the organizers put together an interesting scientific program that was well attended and led to lively Q&A after the talks and engaging exchange of ideas during the dedicated discussion sessions. All talks and discussion sessions were recorded with links to the talks to be available soon on the conference site.