Durham University

Established in 1832, Durham University is the third oldest university in England. It is located in the beautiful, medieval city of Durham in the north-east of England, a leading centre of scholarship and education for over a thousand years. At the heart of Durham city is its UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle where staff and students still live and work. The Castle was endowed to the University in 1837 and is the oldest University building in the world. Durham’s rich history is complemented by modern architecture, such as the Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics. To the west of Durham city centre lie the North Pennines, an area of outstanding natural beauty which was declared as Britain's first European Geopark in 2003.

Durham University is currently ranked 74th in the world (QS rankings 2019) and is a member of the Russell Group, a group of the of the leading research-intensive universities in the UK. The University encompasses three Faculties which comprise 25 departments offering a full range of undergraduate and postgraduate study in subject areas including Anthropology, Archaeology, Engineering, Geology, Government and International Affairs and more. Durham’s research institutes and centres are pinnacles of interdisciplinary research and are well-placed to tackle emerging Arctic issues. They include: The Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience and the Durham Energy Institute.

DurhamARCTIC is a doctoral training and research centre funded by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust to support Interdisciplinary Understanding for a Changing Arctic. Between 2018 and 2023 DurhamARCTIC will be supporting 15 doctoral students at Durham University, each of whom is pursuing a research project that contributes to and benefits from a blend of disciplinary expertise and interdisciplinary enquiry. DurhamARCTIC also sponsors and annual summer school for early career researchers from around the world.

Research directly informs teaching at Durham, and, in partnership with policy-makers, industry, the public sector, and communities around the world, it shapes local, national and international agendas.

For further information about Arctic research at Durham University please visit their website.

Facts and figures

Web http://www.durham.ac.uk
Year Established 1832
Total Number of Staff 8476
Number of Academic Staff 3232
Number of Students 18031
Focus Areas

Polar ice, climate and land dynamics
Natural hazards
Arctic law
Cultures of the medieval North

Fields of Study Offered Teacher training and education science (broad programmes)
Arts (broad programmes)
Humanities (broad programmes)
Social and behavioural science (broad programmes)
Business and administration (broad programmes)
Law (broad programmes)
Life science (broad programmes)
Physical science (broad programmes)
Mathematics and statistics (broad programmes)
Computing (broad programmes)
Engineering and engineering trades (broad programmes)
Architecture and building (broad programmes)
Health (broad programmes)
Social services (broad programmes)
Environmental protection (broad programmes)
Security services (broad programmes)