David Ridout

David Ridout is a Professor in Mathematical Physics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics within the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne. He earned a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Physics from Murdoch University in 1998, an MSc in Mathematics from the University of Western Australia in 2002, and a PhD in Physics from the University of Adelaide in 2005. His early career featured postdoctoral positions as NSERC Postdoctoral Researcher at Université Laval from 2005 to 2007, Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at DESY Hamburg from 2007 to 2009, CRM Postdoctoral Fellow at Université de Montréal in 2009-2010, and Australian Research Fellow at the Australian National University from 2010 to 2016. He held lectureships at the Australian National University in 2012-2013 and McGill University in 2009-2010 before joining the University of Melbourne as Mathematics Lecturer in 2016, progressing to his current continuing professorship. Ridout was an ARC Future Fellow from 2021 to 2025, ACEMS Distinguished Research Fellow from 2017 to 2019, and Simons–CRM Professor at Université de Montréal in 2018 and 2022.

Ridout's research specializes in the mathematical structures underlying two-dimensional conformal field theories, particularly logarithmic conformal field theories, and the representation theory of vertex operator algebras and superalgebras. His contributions include studies of fractional-level Wess–Zumino–Witten models and W-algebras from quantum Hamiltonian reduction. Prominent publications encompass 'Logarithmic conformal field theory: beyond an introduction' (Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 2013), 'Modular data and Verlinde formulae for fractional level WZW models I' and 'II' (Nuclear Physics B, 2012 and 2013), 'Relaxed Highest-Weight Modules I: Rank 1 Cases' (Communications in Mathematical Physics, 2019), and 'Weight module classifications for Bershadsky–Polyakov algebras' (Communications in Contemporary Mathematics, 2024). He has obtained major ARC grants such as DP210101502 (2021, $395,311) and the Future Fellowship FT200100431 (2020, $909,109). Awards include the inaugural Rodney Baxter Prize in Mathematical Physics (2023) and a University Medal from Murdoch University (1997). Ridout has directed undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in his school, chaired the Australian and New Zealand Association of Mathematical Physics from 2020 to 2022, and served on the Australian Mathematical Society's Council and Steering Committee. He supervises graduate students and teaches advanced courses including Lie Algebras.

Professional Email: david.ridout@unimelb.edu.au