The way forward in dark matter searches

Dark matter searches were for a long time an extremely data-starved field of research with experiments lagging far behind theoretical predictions. That is no longer the case. With large amounts of data pouring in from the direct, indirect and collider fronts, we are now in the prime time for discovering or ruling out weakly interacting massive particles as the dominant component of dark matter. In this talk I shall cover two main topics: the astrophysics of dark matter in our galaxy; and the search for a smoking-gun signature in the gamma-ray sky. These are critical topics for the years to come and represent the way forward in dark matter searches.