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Delivering bold research

Our ten University Research Institutes (URIs) are powerhouses of interdisciplinary innovation. We foster the conditions for innovative and impactful research, addressing global and regional challenges: research to empower and inspire.

Operating across faculties and departments, the URIs bring together researchers from diverse disciplines and perspectives. We support the development of new ideas, methods and approaches, secure transformative funding from philanthropic sources and research funding bodies, and deliver impact through research on cross-cutting themes and pressing global challenges.

A group of researchers talking around a table

Our University Research Institutes

Explore the world-changing research of our individual University Research Centres, and keep up to date with their latest news and events.

Biophysical Sciences Institute

Interdisciplinary science crossing the boundary between biology and the other physical sciences, we have a united community of over 150 academics and researchers.
BSI Cell

Durham Energy Institute (DEI)

Decarbonising energy is one of the most pressing challenges facing the world today. We are accelerating inclusive energy transitions through world-leading research.
Hands holding a globe made of grass type material

Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC)

We are a leading international centre for research into the origin and evolution of the Universe, asking some of the most fundamental questions in science.
Images of planets projected onto the Ogden Centre

Institute for Data Science (IDAS)

We are the University's multidisciplinary platform for new ideas in Data Science, cutting across the silos of subject-specific knowledge.
A graphic of a stream of data

Institute for Medical Humanities

We conduct interdisciplinary research into what we call 'hidden experience' and investigate experiences of health and illness which are marginalised or invisible.
Graphic abstract art

Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP)

Our research sits at the interface between theoretical particle physics and experiments ranging from particle colliders to gravitational wave detectors.
Graphics of particle physics data

Institute of Advanced Study (IAS)

We offer world-leading researchers a unique space for transformative reflection in and beyond individual disciplines, fostering an inclusive, interdisciplinary community.
Old building with a pale blue door and steps

Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience

We support innovative research and training for use in policy and practice, collaborating directly with communities, non-governmental organisations and governments.
A contemporary building with blue sky

Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS)

Exploring the past to invent futures, championing Durham’s World Heritage Site, we are an institute like no other for the interdisciplinary study of the pre-modern world.
People inspecting at ancient texts

Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing

We're Durham’s flagship interdisciplinary Institute, delivering the Health@Durham Strategy and fostering research in human health from the individual to global scale.
A researcher injecting fluid into a cap worn by a student

 

 

University student
Our research is built on collaboration and partnership, recognising that we can achieve more together. Our interdisciplinary approach gives us new perspectives and sparks novel approaches.

Professor Karen O'Brien
Vice-Chancellor and Warden

Latest University Research Institute news

New movie charts Milky Way’s formation across nine billion years

Our physicists have created a new movie taking us back nine billion years in time to understand the formation of our Milky Way.
A simulated image of a spiral galaxy with a bright centre and spiral arms, set against a black backdrop.

Funding award for research into custom-built surgical reconstruction plates

Cutting-edge Engineering research into custom 3D plates for reconstructive surgery has been awarded funding from the Academy of Medical Sciences.
A graphic showing a human jaw bone held together by 3D surgical plates.

 

 

Upcoming events

DEI Annual Research Forum

Wednesday 27 May 2026 - Wednesday 27 May 2026
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Event Space, Floor 2, Mountjoy Centre, Durham University
DEI events logo 2025 to 2026

Daphne and her Sisters: framing gendered violence in Early Modern literature and art

Wednesday 10 June 2026 - Thursday 11 June 2026
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Day 1: Waterside Building, Riverside Place, Durham, DH1 1SL. Day 2: LRC, St. Johns College, S. Bailey, Durham, DH1 3RJ.
Carlo Cignani, Apollo and Daphne, c. 1680, Palazzo Ducale del Giardino, Parma, picture by Ita Mac Carthy

IMH PGR Showcase

Thursday 11 June 2026 - Thursday 11 June 2026
12:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Tom Percival Annex, Brooks House
A researcher talking with another researcher in a workshop setting.

It’s a Drag: Anchor Penetration and Risks to Subsea Cables

Thursday 18 June 2026 - Thursday 18 June 2026
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Online
DEI events logo 2025 to 2026
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Media enquiries

For any media enquiries relating to the University Research Institutes, please contact the Communications team.

Email your enquiry

Research and Innovation Services

Research and Innovation Services
Durham University
Boldon House,
Wheatlands Way,
Pity Me,
Durham,
DH1 5FA.

E: business.gateway@durham.ac.uk