Our Heritage  

The Durham Institute of Research, Development, and Invention (DIRDI) is delivering scientific freedom and world-changing innovation.

Our focus is contributing to cutting-edge scientific research and its application to real-world challenges by bringing together the UK’s leading minds and rapid commercialisation prospects, thereby bridging the gap between the statistical probability of failure in discovery with the likelihood of success in commercialisation.

Who we are

DIRDI is an independent scientific research Institute established in partnership with Durham inspired by our 15-year relationship with the Physics Department of Durham University. We focus on fostering a collaborative research environment, delivering innovation, as well as providing staff development and student placement opportunities.

The collaboration agreement with Durham covers a wide range of objectives, including working together on research and innovation projects that are collaborative, participative, and interdisciplinary; supporting teaching by demonstrating the value of academic concepts in R&D applications; and career development through industry exposure.

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Why DIRDI Is Rooted in Durham 

Values are at the core of who DIRDI are and our partnership with Durham University. We are committed to world-leading science and scientific integrity.

Durham University’s position as a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence and World Top 100 in the QS World University Rankings 2026 is vital to our joint mission to create research impact in an institute that is collaborative and inclusive.

Innovation is at the heart of Coltraco, and for over a decade the Physics and Engineering Departments at Durham have been a part of this, supported by Professors Paula Chadwick and Douglas Halliday.

As of July 2026, Durham and Coltraco have:

• Initiated 62 completed or ongoing research projects across formats
  • Level 3 Design Projects
  • Final year Masters Projects
  • MISCADA
  • Level 2 Computer Science Software Engineering projects
• Completed 10 full-time internships for students, many of whom have since joined the organisation in a full-time capacity.
• Held 14 Institute dinners in the Senior Common Room at Hatfield College, with several Durham University academics guiding interdisciplinary intellectual exchanges.
• Successfully completed the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition 6 research and development track, bringing together senior academics at Durham with Coltraco’s industrial research scientists

Durham University has had a strong impact on DIRDI’s leadership with both our Director-General (Dr Carl Hunter OBE) and Director (Mr Daniel Dobrowolski) having graduated from the university. Our Director-General was also honoured with an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Durham University 2016, appointed a Professor-in-Practice at the Business School in 2019, and received the Dunelmensis Award in 2021 for contributions to research and undergraduate development.

What DIRDI hopes to achieve at Durham

DIRDI was founded with five principal objectives:

1. To support and achieve “Newtonian Discovery”: undertaking theoretical research into the physical laws of the universe for humankind’s advancement.
2. To support and achieve “Edisonian Commercialisation”: the use of applied research across various fields, including acoustics, electromagnetism, and information engineering, enabling technological diversification and generating a sustainable funding source for future Newtonian research.
3. To identify the “United Kingdom’s next Newton”, whoever they may be, and to support them throughout their careers and through any potential hardships, either professional or personal, that they might have.
4. To identify and support future Nobel Laureates, in the early stages of academic careers, embarking on a 20-year commitment of mentorship and support.
5. To provide a gateway into academic research at Durham University for local people with inventions and inventive ideas, across the Northeast, so that their inventive ideas can be sifted, selected, realised and used to generate “economic hope” for many where there is currently so little for so few.

DIRDI has been working nationally to promote Northeast England as a centre for research excellence and outstanding student population.

Our fifth aim is dedicated to giving back to the community, acting as a gateway into academic research for local people and to inspire the extraordinary innovative and inventive spirit of those across the region, not just in academia, and provide them a means to achieve their goals. We are committed to contributing to the economic, social and cultural success of the Northeast.

DIRDI has already made significant progress in advancing these aims:

• Our Annual Impact and Invention Conference, hosted at Durham University, attracts delegates from 13 universities, industry, and government.
• We have hosted events targeted at cutting-edge interdisciplinary science, including AI, Biophotonics, Surfaces and Interfaces, and Thin Films.
• We have undertaken joint InnovateUK-backed research with Durham University on impactful topics such as maritime decarbonisation and optical metamaterials
• We have developed, sponsored, managed academic-led and student-led research projects across cross-cutting themes focused on generating impact from scientific inquiry.
• Encouraging our employees to undertake further research with the University through PhD or Level 7 Apprenticeships.

Beyond Durham

DIRDI is a leading centre for interdisciplinary research which involves bringing together academics from across research-intensive UK universities (including Oxford, Cambridge, KCL, UCL, Imperial, Edinburgh) in addition to Durham to tackle some of the most complex scientific challenges.

This has been achieved through the establishment of sub-units committed to dedicated research into:

• Underwater Environment
• Electromagnetic Spectrum Applications
• Strategic-Potential Artificial Intelligence
• Biological and Bio-Inspired Physics
• Materials, Manoeuvrability, and Propulsion Research in Extreme Environments
• Quantum Science & Engineering

DIRDI has developed policy units that allow scientific research to be conducted with strategic and geostrategic understanding, enabling leading active scientists to contribute to policy formation.

Finally, we are working with partner institutes, both inside and outside academia, engaged in key areas of interest across industry and government science including, critical energy and national laboratories to allow a multilateral relationship built on the foundation of scientific pursuit and integrity.