Foundation: 2015 marked the 40th anniversary of the renaissance of observational astronomy and cosmology in the Department of Physics at Durham University. This activity has grown substantially over this period and we are now one of the largest astronomy groups in the UK and Europe, hosting world-class activities in observational extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, encompassing the formation and evolution of galaxies, clusters and large scale structure. To mark this anniversary and to recognise the scale of the observational research activity at Durham, in 2015 we founded the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy (CEA). Together with the associated astronomy research centres focusing on theoretical and instrumentation development, the CEA provides a rich research environment to enhance productivity by fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration. The Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers 2018 list puts Durham's astronomers and cosmologists first in the UK, second in Europe and sixth in the world for the quality and influence of their research in space science.

PDRA vacancies We welcome applications for the following PDRA posts through AJO . Dr Francesca Fragkoudi is recruiting for postdoctoral research associate positions in galactic dynamics as a probe for dark matter within the context of cosmological simulations. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into these themes in their research statement. Applications are especially welcome from individuals with experience in running and analysing cosmological simulations in CDM and alternative dark matter contexts, producing mock observations from simulations and chemo-dynamical modelling of Milky Way-like galaxies. Dr Kyle Oman is recruiting for a 3-year Royal Society-funded postdoctoral research associate position in the context of the project 'Key dark matter particle properties from dwarf galaxy astrophysics'. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into this theme in their research statement. Applications are especially welcome from individuals with experience in modelling stellar or gas kinematics, observational 21-cm radio astronomy, or analysis of cosmological simulations. Prof. Peder Norberg is recruiting on a STFC funded position a postdoctoral research associate to exploit extra-galactic survey data from the 4MOST project. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into the theme of statistical analysis of the galaxy distribution, with particular focus on finding and characterising Milky-Way sized galaxy groups in observations and in simulations. Prof. Richard Massey is recruiting on a UK Space Agency funded position to characterise and correct the effect of radiation damage on Euclid's weak lensing measurements. You will also gain access to SuperBIT and work with other space-based telescopes. Candidates should have experience in either weak lensing measurements, image processing in a large compute environment, or detector physics. Euclid is collecting large sets of in-orbit data for this project; no laboratory work will be required. Appointment will be initially for 3 years, but is anticipated to continue for the duration of the Euclid mission. Prof. Baojiu Li is recruiting for a STFC-funded research associate position in cosmological tests of gravity. Interested applicants should outline how their past and/or future research fits into this theme in their research statement. Applications are especially welcome from individuals with experience in testing models using cosmological probes such as galaxy clustering, gravitational lensing, clusters of galaxies and gravitational waves. The deadline for applications is the 13th December 2023.

Career Development Fellowship The Royal Society have started a fellowship to support the career development of under represented groups in STEM. In this first round they are specifically supporting researchers with Black heritage. The fellowship offers 4 years support to early career researchers who have less than 2 years postdoc experience. Applicants can be from outside the UK. Career Development Fellowship website The deadline is 24th January 2024.

Mission: Observational astronomy and astrophysics is the fundamental foundation of our understanding of the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies, black holes and large-scale structure in the Universe. The Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy’s core mission is to extend society’s knowledge and understanding of the Universe we inhabit. We achieve this by supporting our internationally-leading staff to pursue innovative research programmes and to exploit these to train the next generation of world class early-stage researchers. The expertise of our staff encompasses the key observational techniques needed to develop and exploit the next generation of multi-wavelength surveys for galaxies, black holes and large-scale structure, and the detailed study of their properties.

Research programme: The CEA's research programme makes extensive use of the world's forefront observational facilities to test advanced theoretical models of galaxy and structure formation developed in Durham. We utilise the largest ground-based optical and near-infrared telescopes including those in Chile, Hawaii, Australia and the Canary Islands, and we have been particularly successful at obtaining time on the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. The multi-wavelength aspects of our programme focus on sub-millimetre and radio observations from ground-based facilities in Hawaii, Spain, Australia and the Americas and X-ray observations from space-based facilities such as the Chandra, Newton and NuSTAR X-ray satellites. A key component of our research explores mass accretion onto black holes. Follow the Research Topics link to find out more about our research.

We also closely interact with staff in the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation to aid the development and commissioning of instrumentation purpose-built for studies relevant to this area. In addition we pursue a number of common projects on galaxy formation, large-scale structure and the nature of the cosmic dark matter with theoretical research staff within the Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) at Durham.

The Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy is one of three major partners in the Durham Astronomy Research Cluster. We welcome requests from individuals with strong science backgrounds who wish to join us as Research Fellows, Postdoctoral Researchers or Graduate Students.

Our latest publications

## DO NOT ALTER THIS PHP CODE 2024 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 527, 2165 (on-line)
Carrillo A, Deason A, Fattahi A, Callingham T, Grand R
Can we really pick and choose? Benchmarking various selections of Gaia Enceladus/Sausage stars in observations with simulations

2024 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 527, 3246 (on-line)
Beauchesne B, Clement B, Hibon P, Limousin M, Eckert D, Kneib J, Richard J, Natarajan P, Jauzac M, Montes M, Mahler G, Claeyssens A, Jeanneau A, Koekemoer A, Lagattuta D, Pagul A, Sanchez J
A new step forward in realistic cluster lens mass modelling: analysis of Hubble Frontier Field Cluster Abell S1063 from joint lensing, X-ray, and galaxy kinematics data

2024 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 527, L144 (on-line)
Andonie C, Alexander D, Greenwell C, Puglisi A, Laloux B, Alonso-Tetilla A, Calistro Rivera G, Harrison C, Hickox R, Kaasinen M, Lapi A, Lopez I, Petter G, Ramos Almeida C, Rosario D, Shankar F, Villforth C
Obscuration beyond the nucleus: infrared quasars can be buried in extreme compact starbursts

2024 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 527, 3220 (on-line)
Reiter M, Haworth T, Manara C, Ramsay S, Klaassen P, Itrich D, McLeod A
Illuminating evaporating protostellar outflows: ERIS/SPIFFIER reveals the dissociation and ionization of HH 900