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Newswire
February 2024

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His Majesty The King’s New Year Honours 2024

We are celebrating our alumni, staff, students and friends who have been honoured by The King, including our Chancellor, Dr Fiona Hill and Professor Amritpal Singh (Pali) Hungin, our founding Dean of Medicine.

Breaking the Post Office story

Durham alumna Rebecca Thomson was at the forefront of exposing the Post Office miscarriage of justice. Some 983 workers were accused in the largest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history.

Welcome back to our Golden Anniversary graduates

As part of our Winter Congregation, it was a great pleasure to be joined by some of our alumni celebrating 50 years since their own graduation.

Using our research to support County Durham regeneration

Together with Durham County Council and the Culture Durham Partnership, we’ve been awarded £1.25m from Arts Council England for a three-year programme ‘Into the Light’ across arts, science and culture.

Our Community

Celebrating our Honorary Graduates

Among the 1,500 new graduates celebrating at this year’s Winter Congregation, we recognised four Honorary Graduates, three of whom are Durham alumni.

L-R: Dr Desra Percaya, Dame Sarah Connolly DBE, Lord Darroch KCMG, Alison Gowman

Durham student elected President of Union of Jewish Students

Geography undergraduate Sami Berkoff will take up her presidency from summer 2024. She is currently Co-President of Durham University Jewish Society.

We’ll Have Nun Of It

With a production team consisting of several Durham alumni from 2015-2020 cohorts, this coming-of-age folk-rock musical opens at The Other Palace In London on Thursday 22 February.

Dunelm Days: 50 events in 29 countries

Dunelm Days saw over 500 alumni reconnect with our community. Huge thanks to all chapter leaders, country hosts and volunteers who helped make this possible.

Alumni discount for postgraduate study

Why not take advantage of the Alumni Fee Scholarship for 2024-25 and apply for one of our new programmes? You could try:

Read more about the scholarship

Class Notes

We’re proud of our alumni – catch up with their achievements at the link below.

Dr Peter Appleton (Psychology, St John’s College & St Cuthbert’s Society, 1967-70)

Dr Nigel Aston (History, St Cuthbert’s Society, 1976-79; current member of Hatfield College SCR)

Dr Emma Black (BA in Business Finance, John Snow College, 2005-08; MSc in Finance & Investment, Ustinov College, 2008-09; PhD in Accounting & Finance, Ustinov College, 2009-14)

Jack Edwards (English Literature, St Cuthbert’s Society, 2017-20)

Callum Elson (History, Collingwood College, 2017-20)

Gabriel Francis-Dehqani (Music, University College, 2018-21)

Dr Zulkifli Hasan (PhD in Government & International Affairs, Ustinov College, 2008-11)

Tess Howard (Geography, University College, 2017-22)

Dr Joanne Johnson (Geology, Hatfield College, 1995-98)

Sindhura Kalyanam (MBA, Ustinov College, 2019-20)

Thomas Lister (Economics, University College, 1973-76)

Professor Roger Little (BA in French, 1964-70; PhD in French, Hatfield College, 1960-70)

Ambika Mod (English Literature, St Mary’s College, 2014-17)

Revd Canon Daniel O’Connor (English, University College, 1951-54)

Matthew Stafford (Software Engineering, St Cuthbert’s Society, 2003-06)

Dr Leonidas Tzonis (MSc in Finance & Investment, Graduate Society, 1998-99; PG Certificate in Higher Education, Graduate Society, 2005; staff member in the Department of Economics, 2002-06)

Jack Williams (Law, University College, 2008-11)

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Get Involved

Durham calling!

A team of student callers will be ringing members of our alumni community this month to reconnect and help raise vital funds for students in need.

L-R: Liv, Tade, Ellena & Ian from this year’s caller team

Butler & Beyond: guiding current students

Josephine Butler College invites its alumni to help guide and inspire current students by sharing career journeys and insights, as well as rekindling bonds with the College.

Events

Developing a high-performance mindset

A panel of outstanding Durham alumni will share how they have developed a high-performance mindset and excelled in their respective fields, from performance sport to thought-leading academia and to global business. Join us online on 29 February for this insightful signature Durham Global Week event.

Durham Global Week: events programme

From Saturday 24 February – Sunday 3 March, we’re celebrating our global impact and cultural diversity. Take a look at the range of events, then come along!

Panel event: how culture and heritage drive regional regeneration

Join us on Wednesday 7 February for a high-profile event, chaired by the Financial Times’ Northern Correspondent Jen Williams, with a panel featuring our Vice-Chancellor and UK leaders.

View all upcoming events

Check our events pages regularly for all the upcoming alumni events across the world.

Events calendar

Departments and Societies

Faculty of Arts & Humanities: Durham University Kitchen

Offering a new flavour to the past, watch our team of food history experts, Professors Daniel L Newman, Giles Gasper and Associate Professor Amanda Herbert as they recreate medieval sweet, Zulabiyya, and share research insights.

Department of Geography: honorary doctorate for academic

Professor Harriet Bulkeley received the accolade from the Faculty of Science at Lund University, Sweden, to recognise her transformational interdisciplinary research on climate change.

Department of Sport & Exercise Science: collaborative project expands

‘Moving Social Work’ will be expanding thanks to a £1m investment from Sport England. We are joining Disability Rights UK, to help disabled people to get more active.

Departments of Biosciences & Physics: front page recognition

Inspiring and impactful research has featured on the front covers of two of the world’s most prestigious journals in recent weeks: Science and Nature.

Centre for Research into Violence & Abuse: 10th anniversary

Dedicated to providing world-leading research, policy and education, CRiVA recognised its 10th anniversary in November last year, celebrating the breadth of its work over the past decade.

Durham University Business School: IMPACT magazine

Issue 13, themed around sustainability, is out now! Stories include social sustainability in the workplace, how AI can help save the planet, and tackling plastic pollution.

Department of Physics: Fowler Award for research

Dr Leah Morabito is the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Royal Astronomical Society award for her work on technology allowing images to be captured at FM radio frequencies.

Find out what our students have been up to

Explore the blog to read about student life in their own words.

Read the blog

Colleges

Grey College

Catch up with the latest news from Grey - the College newsletter is available to read now.

Josephine Butler College

Supported by Josephine Butler College, alumni are invited to an exhibition about Darlington, a township, its people, and a sense of belonging in ‘Place, People & Living Memory’.  

University College

If you missed our latest Castle Lecture on the extraordinary James Webb Telescope with Professor Martin Ward, why not catch up by watching the recording, which is available now.