Quantum Gravity and Predictions for our Universe

In this talk I provide an executive summary of some of the recent progress that has been made in understanding some key features of quantum gravitational theories. This is rooted in lessons learned from the landscape of consistent solutions to string theory and captured by the principles of the Swampland program. A key feature of this is the lack of decoupling between short and long distance descriptions of the theory leading to a radical revision of the notion of consistency of effective field theories. This opens up a new window into unresolved fine tuning problems for particle physics and cosmology. I will further explain how these ideas lead to concrete experimentally verifiable predictions for our universe.