This course provides an introduction to AdS/CFT holography, with a particular focus on its role as a framework for quantum gravity in asymptotically Anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes. First, we will motivate the idea of holography in quantum gravity, review the geometry and physics of AdS, and introduce some of the basics of conformal field theory (CFT). Then, we will shift gears to a more top-down perspective. After presenting some required ingredients of string theory, we will discuss the famous decoupling argument of Maldacena and the AdS/CFT pair it leads to. Crucially, we will learn about the AdS/CFT dictionary along the way. Equipped with all these lessons, we will finally come to the quantum gravity framework aspect of AdS/CFT. This part will cover holographic CFTs, BH entropy in AdS/CFT, some basics of bulk reconstruction and its relation to no global symmetries in quantum gravity, and the Swampland Distance Conjecture in AdS/CFT.

The course only requires basic knowledge of differential geometry and quantum field theory. Even though some ingredients of string theory will play a role, we will introduce each of them.