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Institute of Advanced Study

Founded in 2006, the Institute of Advanced Study offers world-leading researchers a unique space for transformative reflection in and beyond individual disciplines.
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Welcome to the Institute of Advanced Study

Durham’s Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) is a home for growing big ideas. We support, promote and grow new and creative interdisciplinary ideas that transform our perspectives in challenging and provocative ways. We provide time, space, and resources to exchange and integrate ideas, knowledge and skills. We are a home to an inclusive, diverse and supportive community of scholars from Durham University and across the world.
Learn More About our Research
External shot of the front door leading into the institute of advanced study
Students writing on whiteboard

Our Research at the IAS

At the IAS, our research drives innovation and fosters collaboration across disciplines. Our scholars engage in cutting edge projects that push the boundaries of knowledge and address global challenges. Explore our research initiatives and discover how we are shaping the future of inquiry.

Learn more about our research

IAS Fellowships

“The Fellowship has not only been hugely productive, but it has had a profound effect on me. It has reminded me why I am an academic and has restored the love I have for the job.” - Dr Peter Coe 

Find our more about our Fellowships
IAS Fellows outside Cosin's Hall - January 2026

IAS Fellows Epiphany 2026

IAS Fellows outside Cosin's Hall - Michaelmas

IAS Fellows Michaelmas 2025

IAS Fellows Epiphany Term 2024/25 Fellows outside Cosin's Hall

IAS Fellows Epiphany 2025

Fellows outside Cosins Hall

IAS Fellowship Michaelmas 2024

IAS Fellows Epiphany 2024

IAS Fellows Epiphany 2024

IAS Fellows Michaelmas term 2023 outside Cosin's Hall

IAS Fellowship 2023 Michaelmas

I have been convinced for a long time that the IAS environment is by far the most stimulating for those seeking to deepen and fertilise their research questions through contact with alternative visions and approaches.
Professor Raouf Boucekkine
Aix-Marseille University (June 2025)

Find out more about the IAS and its communities

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The IAS an overview

At the Durham Institute of Advanced Study, we want to bring people together from within Durham and around the world, to share ideas and knowledge and to make lasting connections to shape the fields they work in.

Our Transformations Blog

Highlights and reflections from Fellows and IAS collaborators

The importance and value of an IAS in an uncertain and difficult world

Uncertain times are when an IAS might shine the most.
External shot of Institute of Advanced study at Cosin's Hall

Reflections on Climate Apartheid

Climate apartheid is a fruitful topic for interdisciplinary collaboration due to its multiple meanings.
Dried up river

Rethinking Value: animals, health, and livelihoods in a One Health world

Renowned artist, William Kentridge, once observed that Johannesburg is the product of geological circumstances rather than geographical ones.
Cattle in Zambian field
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Discover More

Latest News

  • New volume of essays on dreams and dreaming

    A major intervention in the field of dream studies has just been published, edited by Marco Bernini and Ben Alderson-Day from Durham's Institute for Medical Humanities.
    Research news
    Cover of edited collection Dreams, Narrative, and Liminal Cognition

  • Addison Wheeler Fellowships 2025–26 Competition Now Open

    The IAS has opened recruitment for a new round of Addison Wheeler Fellowships, a prestigious scheme funded by a University bequest and designed to support early career researchers of outstanding promise. The fellowships provide an opportunity to undertake an ambitious programme of original research in a supportive and intellectually vibrant environment. Up to six Fellowships are available.
    Research news
    Exterior building Cosin's Hall

  • A new cohort of Fellows join the IAS

    The Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) has welcomed its second cohort of Fellows for the current academic year, who will be in residence until the end of term in Durham.
    Research news
    External shot of Institute of Advanced study at Cosins Hall

New volume of essays on dreams and dreaming

A major intervention in the field of dream studies has just been published, edited by Marco Bernini and Ben Alderson-Day from Durham's Institute for Medical Humanities.

Research news
Cover of edited collection Dreams, Narrative, and Liminal Cognition

Addison Wheeler Fellowships 2025–26 Competition Now Open

The IAS has opened recruitment for a new round of Addison Wheeler Fellowships, a prestigious scheme funded by a University bequest and designed to support early career researchers of outstanding promise. The fellowships provide an opportunity to undertake an ambitious programme of original research in a supportive and intellectually vibrant environment. Up to six Fellowships are available.
Research news
Exterior building Cosin's Hall

A new cohort of Fellows join the IAS

The Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) has welcomed its second cohort of Fellows for the current academic year, who will be in residence until the end of term in Durham.
Research news
External shot of Institute of Advanced study at Cosins Hall
More News

Publications, Videos and Social Media

Find out more about the Institute of Advanced Study including publications, details of former Fellows, and past projects.

Highlights

  • IAS Word Press

    Keep up to date with the IAS newsletter, IAS videos, and historic IAS information
    External shot of Institute of Advanced study at Cosins Hall

  • Publications

    Explore some of the recent publications from IAS Fellows or from Durham colleagues supported by the IAS via funded projects and activities.
    External shot of Institute of Advanced study at Cosins Hall

IAS Word Press

Keep up to date with the IAS newsletter, IAS videos, and historic IAS information
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Publications

Explore some of the recent publications from IAS Fellows or from Durham colleagues supported by the IAS via funded projects and activities.
Durham Cathedral on the River Wear in winter

Get in touch

Enquiries about IAS should be sent via the email below.

Institute of Advanced Study

Durham University,

Cosin’s Hall,

Palace Green,

Durham,

DH1 3RL 

Tel: +44 (0) 191 334 2589