Rate My Professor Michael Spannowsky

Professor Michael Spannowsky serves as Honorary Visiting Professor in the Department of Physics at Durham University. Previously holding the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics, he directed the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP) from 2019 until 28 February 2026 and co-directed the Centre for Particle Theory. He studied physics at the University of Tübingen and earned his doctorate from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Following postdoctoral appointments at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology from 2007 to 2009 and at the University of Oregon from 2009 to 2011, Spannowsky joined Durham University in 2011 initially as a lecturer, later advancing to full professor status.

Spannowsky's research centers on theoretical high-energy physics, specializing in particle physics phenomenology, quantum field theory, machine learning and quantum computing applications to collider physics, physics beyond the Standard Model, electroweak symmetry breaking, perturbative QCD, and jet physics. His contributions are evidenced by over 27,000 citations across more than 470 publications. Key works include 'Theory-informed neural networks for particle physics' (2026), 'Electroweak scalar effects beyond dimension-six in SMEFT' (2026), 'Real-time scattering processes with continuous-variable quantum computers' (2025, with S. Abel and S. Williams), 'Collective variables of neural networks: empirical time evolution and scaling laws' (2025), 'Quantum machine learning for particle physics using a variational quantum classifier' (2021, cited over 140 times), 'Completely quantum neural networks' (2022), and 'Anomaly detection in high-energy physics using a quantum autoencoder' (2022). These publications address critical challenges such as effective field theory interpretations of LHC data, quantum simulations of scattering processes, IRC-safe graph neural networks for new physics searches, and variational quantum algorithms for lattice gauge theories. Spannowsky has supervised multiple PhD students, contributing to advancements in quantum machine learning for anomaly detection and jet substructure analysis at the High-Luminosity LHC. In 2026, he was appointed University Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology while retaining his affiliation with Durham.