Astronomy

Astronomy at Durham

Durham Astronomy Research Cluster

Durham University is one of the UK's leading centres for astronomical research with world-class groups working in a wide range of fields covering the observational, theoretical and instrumentation aspects of astronomy.

RAS Biographical memoir of Sir Arnold Wolfendale
PDRA vacancies
We welcome applications for the following PDRA posts through AJO .
  • Dr Francesca Fragkoudi is recruiting for postdoctoral research associate positions in galactic dynamics as a probe for dark matter within the context of cosmological simulations. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into these themes in their research statement. Applications are especially welcome from individuals with experience in running and analysing cosmological simulations in CDM and alternative dark matter contexts, producing mock observations from simulations and chemo-dynamical modelling of Milky Way-like galaxies.
  • Dr Kyle Oman is recruiting for a 3-year Royal Society-funded postdoctoral research associate position in the context of the project 'Key dark matter particle properties from dwarf galaxy astrophysics'. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into this theme in their research statement. Applications are especially welcome from individuals with experience in modelling stellar or gas kinematics, observational 21-cm radio astronomy, or analysis of cosmological simulations.
  • Prof. Peder Norberg is recruiting on a STFC funded position a postdoctoral research associate to exploit extra-galactic survey data from the 4MOST project. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into the theme of statistical analysis of the galaxy distribution, with particular focus on finding and characterising Milky-Way sized galaxy groups in observations and in simulations.
  • Prof. Richard Massey is recruiting on a UK Space Agency funded position to characterise and correct the effect of radiation damage on Euclid's weak lensing measurements. You will also gain access to SuperBIT and work with other space-based telescopes. Candidates should have experience in either weak lensing measurements, image processing in a large compute environment, or detector physics. Euclid is collecting large sets of in-orbit data for this project; no laboratory work will be required. Appointment will be initially for 3 years, but is anticipated to continue for the duration of the Euclid mission.
  • Prof. Baojiu Li is recruiting for a STFC-funded research associate position in cosmological tests of gravity. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into this theme in their research statement. Applications are especially welcome from individuals with experience in testing models using cosmological probes such as galaxy clustering, gravitational lensing, clusters of galaxies and gravitational waves.
The deadline for applications is the 13th December 2023.
Career Development Fellowship
  • The Royal Society have started a fellowship to support the career development of under represented groups in STEM. In this first round they are specifically supporting researchers with Black heritage. The fellowship offers 4 years support to early career researchers who have less than 2 years postdoc experience. Applicants can be from outside the UK.
  • Career Development Fellowship website
The deadline is 24th January 2024.

Durham is ranked joint sixth globally for the number of highly cited researchers in Space Science (which covers research into astronomy and astrophysics), according to the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers 2018 list.


There are 28 academic staff across the combined astronomy groups, with over 100 postdocs, postgraduate students and support and technical staff involved in astronomy research. The Durham Astronomy Research Cluster hosts the following groups:
In November 2016, the three main astronomy groups in the Department of Physics, the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy and the Institute for Computational Cosmology, moved into the brand new Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics building, designed by the world renowned Studio Daniel Libeskind.


Contact Details

Department of Physics,
Durham University,
South Road,
Durham DH1 3LE
 
Tel: 44 (0)191 3343635