Welcome
My name is Chris Whittall and I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the gravity group at the University of Southampton.
Research Interests
I am interested in topics in gravitational wave physics, especially waveform modelling for relativistic compact binaries. My areas of expertise include:
- Gravitational self-force
- Gravitational scattering
- Surrogate modelling
I am currently involved in efforts to model mass-asymmetric binaries accurately through adiabatic and first post-adiabatic order using the gravitational self-force framework. I am also actively interested in the problem of black hole scattering, building off my PhD research centred on the development of frequency-domain numerical techniques to calculate the self-force during hyperbolic binary black hole encounters.
I was previously a postdoc at the Insitute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Birmingham, during which time I developed SEOBNRv5PHM_NNSur7dq10, a GPU-accelerated reduced-order surrogate of the precessing SEOBNRv5PHM waveform model, utilising artificial neural networks for parameter space interpolation.
I am a core member of the LISA Consortium, member of the Einstein Telescope Collaboration, and former member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
Academic Positions
University of Southampton, Apr. 2026 - Present.
University of Birmingham, Sep. 2024 - Mar. 2026.
Education
University of Southampton, Sep. 2020 - Sep. 2024.
University of Cambridge, Oct. 2016 - Jun. 2020.