October - Durham University

Latest News

Durham scientists supporting NASA mission to find Earth-like worlds

Our scientists are investigating how a UK-led team could design and build a core instrument for a flagship NASA mission to search for life on distant planets.

An Earth-like planet in the foreground with a nearby star in the distance.

Mercury Prize fringe comes to Collingwood College’s world class facility

Collingwood's Mark Hillery Music Studios hosted the only university event as part of the official fringe for the Mercury Prize Awards. The event was a sold-out workshop on songwriting and production held on Sunday 12 October.

Students attending Mercury fringe event at Collingwood

Durham ranks top in UK for MSc International Business

Our MSc International Business has ranked third globally and first in the UK in the QS International Trade rankings.

Students smiling around a table in Durham University Business School in front of a Bloomberg terminal

Alumna and Olympic rower Lauren Irwin opens new landing stage at University boat club

Durham graduate and Team GB rower Lauren Irwin recently returned to her college to open a new student rowing facility.

Durham graduate and Team GB rower Lauren Irwin at Elvet Riverside, Durham City

New telescope captures first light in Chile

A major milestone in a global telescope collaboration involving astronomers from our Department of Physics has been achieved.

Images showing 4MOST first light observations, showing typical sky area covered by one 4MOST pointing (image to the left), together with one example spectrum, out of the 2,400 simultaneously measured spectra acquired by 4MOST (image to the right).

Local school pupils take the director's chair in Shakespeare workshops

Over 200 pupils from local schools took part in a series of innovative workshops to bring Shakespeare to life with the help of our researchers and Elysium Theatre Company.

Local school pupils sat in the auditorium of Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre with actors on stage performing a scene from a Shakespeare play. Image credit Paul G Clark

First Clare and Hawley Chair in the History of Catholicism appointed

Dr James Kelly has been appointed as the first holder of the Clare and Hawley Chair in the History of Catholicism.

Head and shoulders close-up of a man smiling directly at the camera. He has short dark hair and is wearing glasses.

Combining global and local, on the world stage

We are a global university and proudly part of North East England. That is the message our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Karen O’Brien, took to the Times Higher Education’s World Academic Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, recently.

All aboard for science: Celebrate Science 2025 arrives at Locomotion

Our annual Celebrate Science festival is back this October half term, and for the first time, it’s pulling into a new venue at Locomotion railway museum in Shildon, part of the Science Museum Group.

Children engaging with science experiments

Debate to consider SEND 'crisis'

A leading Member of Parliament (MP) will discuss how to solve the ‘crisis’ in how mainstream schools cater for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) when she speaks on campus in October.

A woman, visible from shoulders upwards, looking directly at camera

What does the future hold for the North East region?

How did the North East region transform from one with innovative firms to one with assembly line factories to eventually become a destination for call centres and Amazon distribution centres?

Sir Thomas Allen receives lifetime achievement award

Our former Chancellor, opera singer Sir Thomas Allen, has been awarded the Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the world of classical music.