Six Durham researchers have earned a place on one of the world’s most respected research rankings.
Professors Carlos Frenk, Adrian Jenkins, Tom Theuns, and the late Richard Bower from our Department of Physics/Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) are all included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list.
They are joined by Professors David Alexander, also from our Department of Physics/Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, and Yunfei Chen from our Department of Engineering
The Highly Cited list is compiled through rigorous analysis of global citation data, highlighting researchers whose work has had exceptional reach and influence within their fields.
Professor Frenk, the founding Director of our ICC, is a leading figure in cosmology and is involved in two high-profile international research projects.
One is a new generation of supercomputer simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxies which is deepening our understanding of our Universe.
The other is the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey of galaxies and quasars.
DESI has measured the expansion history of our Universe over the past 10 billion years and indicates that it is more complicated than assumed in the standard model of cosmology.
Professor Jenkins serves as Project Scientist for the DiRAC supercomputing facility based at Durham.
His groundbreaking simulation work has deepened scientific insight into both astronomy and particle physics.
Professor Theuns’ contributions to Physics have transformed current knowledge of galaxy formation through his role in major cosmological simulation initiatives.
This includes the EAGLE project (Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments).
EAGLE uses advanced supercomputer simulations to recreate the formation and growth of galaxies, helping scientists understand the physical processes that shape the Universe.
Professor Alexander uses telescopes and observatories to study Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), the observed manifestation of a growing super-massive black hole.
Professor Alexander explores the environments in which these AGN are found and how and why they grow, including how their growth is connected to the growth of galaxies.
He is the former Director of our Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy (CEA) and the former Head of Astronomy at Durham.
His current major project is working with philosophers and social scientists to explore how we can better use scientific communities to help make progress in research.
Professor Chen specialises in wireless communications and signal processing.
His expertise spans wireless system design, wireless sensing, THz technologies, machine-learning-enhanced wireless systems, and integrated networks.
His current major project is working with 20+ other UK universities in the TITAN project to lay the groundwork for the UK’s evolution towards the sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks.
The late Professor Bower, who died aged 58 in January 2023, spent almost three decades at Durham.
He worked across both observational and theoretical aspects of galaxy formation, playing a central role in the development of the high-performance computing platform SWIFT.
Main image shows from left: Professors Tom Theuns, Adrian Jenkins, Carlos Frenk, Yunfei Chen and David Alexander.
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