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String theory provides the best possible framework to study Einstein's theory of gravity (the classical theory of general relativity), and the theory of quantum fields (appearing in e.g. standard model of particle physics) under the same umbrella. Einstein spent almost half a century trying to understand this unification and if you are interested in and driven by similar motivations, then you share the same interests as I do.

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Clearly, this is a tough problem. Much like Einstein, we are still looking for the correct answer, but over the last two-three decades the developments in theoretical physics has finally led us to believe that we might finally be pretty close! This has been possible with the discovery of the celebrated AdS/CFT correspondence by Maldacena, utilizing insights from string theory. Originally, according to this `duality', a theory of quantum gravity in Anti de Sitter (AdS) spacetime is nothing but a theory of conformal fields (CFT) in disguise.

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The necessity of asking such fundamental questions about unification and their 'applications' show up in the most distinguished (and sometimes the least expected) places. After the inception of AdS/CFT, it has been applied in unravelling Hawking's black hole information problem, in the theory of quantum information, many-body physics, cosmology etc. Each of these subjects are pillars of theoretical physics themselves, and AdS/CFT brings them together in a remarkable fashion.

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AdS/CFT has provided one of the most productive research grounds over the last few decades, and it seems safe to say that it will continue to steer the present and forthcoming generations of theoretical physicists.