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Dr Hong Qi

Hong

Lecturer in Mathematical Sciences

Email: hong.qi@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: MB-326
Office Hours: Spring 2026: Time to be determined; in the School Social Hub MB-B11.

Profile

I am an astrophysicist, focusing on gravitational wave detection and analysis within the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) since late 2013 and been a full LSC member since 2015. Gravitational waves are the last prediction of Einstein's theory of General Relativity, portraying as "ripples" in spacetime generated by accelerated matter. On September 14, 2015, for the first time in human history, the LSC directly detected a gravitational wave from the collision of two black holes, using a pair of 4-km long LIGO detectors. This event was named GW150914 (see the signal on my shirt), and its detection won three LSC leaders the Nobel Prize of Physics in 2017. By April 2020, the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations had collaboratively detected 90 gravitational waves.

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) was admitted to the LSC in February 2022, initiated by Dr. Tessa Baker. I joined QMUL in Jan 2023 as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Mathematical Sciences and has been the lead of QMUL's LSC Group since Oct 2023. I also serve at the Organizing Committee of the GW:UK, a UK national gravitational wave community, from March 2025.

I am interested in all aspects of gravitational wave astronomy and multimessenger astrophysics. Particularly, my current research focuses on developing novel data analysis methods (with a focus on quantum computing) to accelerate gravitational wave detection and parameter estimation. 

Before joining QMUL in January 2023 (allocation to London from the US in November 2023), I was a Senior Postdoc from March to December 2022 working on detector characterization with Professor Gaby Gonzalez (current APS President and former LIGO spokesperson) at Louisiana State University, which is 40 minutes drive from the LIGO Livingston detector site operated by Caltech.  Before that, from Sep 2018 to Mar 2022, I worked as a Research Associate at Cardiff University's Gravity Exploration Institute, focusing on accelerating gravitational wave inference with Dr. Vivien Raymond and dark matter direct search with Professor Patrick Sutton and Professor Hartmut Grote, and co-taught General Relativity with Professor Bernard Schutz FRS.  Prior to that, for my work on gravitational wave cosmology, development of detection and inference software (including the GstLAL pipeline used in the Nobel Prize-winning GW150914 event, see my shirt), and research in the Galatic Center black hole in the Leonard E Parker Center for Gravitation, Cosmology, and Astrophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I received my PhD degree in Physics under the supervision of Professor Patrick Brady (former LIGO spokesperson) in May 2018.  

 

Teaching

Spring 2027:

  • MTH6000: Quantum Computing
  • MTH793P: Advanced Machine Learning

 

Spring 2026:

  • MTH6101: Introduction to Machine Learning
  • MTH793P: Advanced Machine Learning

 

Past:

Spring 2025:

  • MTH782P: SAS for Business Intelligence
  • MTH793P: Advanced Machine Learning

Spring 2024:

  • MTH782P: SAS for Business Intelligence

 

Research

Research Interests:

See Dr. Qi’s research profile pages including details of research interests, publications, and live grants.

Supervision

Current PhD students:
  • Murdoc Newell (Sep 2024-Sep 2028) 

 

Past student and postdoc research mentoring:
  • Alexis Boudon (Dec 2023-Dec 2025), postdoc at Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis (IP2I) in Lyon, France, on fast GW parameter estimation and neutron star equation of state, main advisor, co-advised with Prof. Viola Sordini 
  • Connie Hong (Sep-Dec~2022), Stanford University undergrad, on gravitational wave detector characterization, co-advised with Prof. Beverly Berger
  • Jean-Francois Coupechoux (Mar 2022-Aug 2023), postdoc at Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis de Lyon, on gravitational wave parameter estimation and neutron star equation of state, main advisor, co-advised with Prof. Viola Sordini 
  • Nicholas Kurth (May-July 2022), USA NSF REU undergrad intern at Louisiana State University, co-advised with Prof. Gabriela Gonzalez on loud instrumental transients in LLO during O3
  • Zu-Cheng Chen (Oct 2019-Oct2020), visiting PhD student at Cardiff University, co-advised with Dr. Vivien Raymond on fast gravitational wave parameter estimation Building Reduced Order Quadrature Data for Neutron-Star-Black-Hole waveforms and a Scenario Study. 
  • Alexander Reeves (July-Aug 2019),  undergrad at University of Cambridge, internship at the Gravity Exploration Institute of Cardiff University, UK on Relativistic Ray-tracer Code in Python for Kerr Black Holes.
  • Hannah Riley, undergrad at Cardiff University, through Cardiff University Research Opportunity Placements (CUROP) placement with a poster exhibition at Cardiff City Hall in November 2019.

Grants

Recent grants:

  • PI, Feb 1-Apr 30, 2026, NQCC SparQ award on quantum computing for gravitational wave astronomical data analysis.
  • Co-I, 2024-2027, DRAC grant on enabling new gravitational wave discoveries, with PI Dr. Jess McIver, $0.5 M/year.
  • PI, 2023-2024, Emmy Noether Fellowship, awarded by London Mathematical Society in June 2023.
  • PI, 2023, STFC Impact Accelerator Award on Exploring Quantum Computing for Gravitational Wave Astronomy, £27k, awarded in November 2022.
  • Co-I, 2021-2024, Compute Canada grant on Enabling Gravitational Wave Discoveries in O4, with PI Dr. Jess McIver, $1.2M/year.
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