"Technicolor is an extension of the standard model of particle physics, where new strongly coupled gauge theory breaks the electroweak symmetry instead of the Higgs boson. Recently, a large class of possibly phenomenologically viable 'walking' technicolor models have been suggested. Understanding their dynamics is a challenge since standard perturbative methods do not apply in the strongly coupled region. Therefore, special tools are needed to estimate the essentially nonperturbative observables of the theory. A relevant tool is holography, which links the stongly coupled gauge theory to some higher dimensional classical gravitational theory, where calculations can be done.The proposed project concentrates on development of new holographic models and techniques for walking and generic nonsupersymmetric gauge theories, which have a potentially large number of matter fields with respect to the number of gauge fields. The aim is to improve the understanding of candidate technicolor theories as well as nonsupersymmetric gauge theories in general, via progress in their holographic description. The constructed models will be used to study the conformal transition in generic gauge theories, to explore their phase structure at finite temperature and chemical potential, to test the viability of the candidate technicolor theories, and to produce predictions for the LHC.The applicant has worked for three years as a postdoctoral researcher at CP3-Origins in Odense, which is the leading center in the research of technicolor models in Europe. The host, Crete Center for Theoretical Physics, has a strong reputation in the field of holography. This proposal combines the main expertises of these two centers of excellence. Therefore, the proposed fellowship will not only have strong impact on the career development of the applicant, but also aims at strong mutual benefit for the centers."