Title:
Galaxy shapes as a cosmological tool

Abstract:
Two phenomena contribute to correlating galaxy shapes across the
Universe: the deviation of photons from a straight path due to the
spacetime curvature ("gravitational lensing"), and tidal interactions
("intrinsic alignments"). Modelling both accurately is crucial to
obtaining unbiased constraints on the cosmological model from
forthcoming surveys, particularly in the context of elucidating the
origin of accelerated expansion of the Universe. In this talk, I will
cover recent advances in our understanding of the intrinsic alignments
of galaxies. While these alignments are typically regarded as a
contaminant to weak gravitational lensing, I will also discuss how they
might become a cosmological and astrophysical probe in their own right
in the near future.