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Chancellor Fiona Hill to launch new podcast at Durham Book Festival

Durham’s annual Book Festival will return from 10 – 12 October, welcoming a host of writers and thinkers from across the world, including our Chancellor, Dr Fiona Hill.
Image of Dr Fiona Hill with Durham Book Festival 2025 logo

Scientists challenge theory behind Jupiter’s mysterious interior

Supercomputer simulations carried out by researchers in our top-rated Physics department cast doubt on a proposed explanation for the structure of Jupiter’s core.
No dilute core produced in simulations of giant impacts on to Jupiter

Black holes may be the engines driving the universe’s dark energy

Researchers at Durham and collaborators in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) mission have proposed a bold new theory that black holes could be converting matter into dark energy.
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory—a program of NSF NOIRLab—in Arizona

Durham expertise shapes new National Theatre exhibition on Greek drama

We’re supporting a new exhibition at the National Theatre in London which explores how ancient Greek tragedies continue to inspire modern theatre.
Actors on a shadowy stage, with a man in the middle and women wearing dresses stood either side of him

Durham professor contributes to UK Parliamentary intelligence report on Iran

Our renowned international relations expert, Professor Anoush Ehteshami, has played a key role in a high-profile Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) inquiry.
Professor Anoush Ehteshami is pictured against a plain background

Durham joins £1.6m project to boost UK’s digital research capabilities

We are playing a key role in a new £1.6 million initiative to strengthen the UK’s digital research infrastructure.
Researchers

Working with our places will help us to spread the benefits of higher education more widely

Jonathan Batty, our Deputy Academic Registrar (Access, Admissions and Recruitment), argues that widening participation will only deliver real change when it is co-developed with partners in places.
Person sitting at computer, other people at computers in background

Durham research brings oracy to centre stage at landmark theatre

Two of Durham’s leading researchers have collaborated with Blackpool Grand Theatre in the North West of England to help children improve their speaking and listening skills.
A group of adults dressed smartly standing on a theatre stage with the stalls behind them

New study reveals lasting impact of earthquakes on rivers and landscapes

When the devastating magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan Earthquake struck central China in May 2008, it triggered more than 60,000 landslides, reshaping the slopes of the Longmen Shan mountains.
Satellite imagery of the Longmen Mountains reveals the destruction wrought by the Wenchuan Earthquake. There’s no snow depicted in this false-color composite image; all of the white patches are landslides.

Continued sustainability success for Durham in Green Gown Awards 2025

Two of our initiatives have been recognised as finalists in the 2025 Green Gown Awards for UK and Ireland, building on our continued commitment to sustainability.
A dark blue graphic with white text reading 'Green Gown Awards 2025. UK and Ireland' in white font.

Ancient cave clues reveal secrets of the Maya civilisation collapse

A team of scientists, including researchers from our Earth Sciences Department, has discovered new evidence that long-lasting droughts played a major role in the decline of the ancient Maya civilisation more than a thousand years ago.
Tourists explore the ‘Dome of the Cathedral’, the largest chamber in Grutas Tzabnah (Yucatán, Mexico), and the origin of Tzab06-1. The artificial well ‘La Noria’ now illuminates the cave.

Professor Nayanika Mookherjee awarded top Anthropology honour

Political Anthropologist Professor Nayanika Mookherjee has been honoured with the 2025 Rivers Memorial Medal, one of the highest accolades in Anthropology. 
Professor Nayanika Mookherjee wearing a green top looking seriously at the camera