In a tremendous final-year project, two Durham undergraduates apply data-analysis techniques taught as part of their Physics degree to another real world data set - house prices.

Joseph Bullock, a Postdoctoral Researcher within the Physics Department here at Durham, who is also a United Nations Global Pulse Industry Research Associate, gave an interview to BBC Radio Tees recently on the important COVID-19 modelling work he has been undertaking.

Our Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

We had a fantastic time scything the physics meadow last Saturday with our scything tutor Danny. As both an experienced scyther and conservationist, he was able to advise us on both the meadow management to promote diversity and the technique of scything! The department kindly supported this eco-venture by paying half of the course fee, for which we are extremely grateful.

This week sees the return of Lumiere, the dazzling light art event hosted in Durham bi-annually. This year’s event includes three installations drawing on some of our ground-breaking research.

The man whose father was one of the first to set foot on the moon visited Durham city and the department on Monday. Dr Andy Aldrin is Director of the Aldrin Space Institute and president of the non-profit foundation dedicated to inspiring children’s passions for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths).

Physicists from our Institute for Computational Cosmology have been named on a prestigious list for their world-leading research.

Researchers in the Quantum light and matter group led by Prof. Simon Cornish have demonstrated robust quantum storage with ultracold RbCs molecules in recent work published in Nature Physics.

Experts in the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology within the Department of Physics have developed a new model for simulating epidemics – and it’s already being used to inform the UK’s response to COVID-19.

The annual Physics Department Awards for Excellence took place at 2pm on Tuesday 14 September. Held virtually on Zoom this year, there were a series of science talks aimed at all members of the department, followed by the presentation of awards. The awards recognise staff who carry out exceptional work, and go that extra mile.

We are excited to announce a new collaboration in the field of quantum computing! Working with Dunnhumby, a global leader in customer data science, this project will fund a postgraduate student to work with Dr Nicholas Chancellor within the Quantum, Light & Matter (QLM) group to explore the potential of nascent quantum technology in solving hard real-world data-science problems.

Durham is a hub for research excellence and our academics prove that year in and year out through their ground-breaking research. We are delighted that Dr Sownak Bose, from the Department of Physics, has been awarded the Future Leaders Fellowship for his research project into Fundamental Cosmology.