Visitors

Visiting Durham Astronomy

Welcome to Durham Astronomy. This page provides practical information for visitors to the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy and the wider astronomy group, including accommodation, registration procedures, funding, parking, and things to do during your stay.

Information for Visitors

Accommodation and downloads

 Invitation & Registration

How to invite and register a visitor

 Funding Requests

Request funding for a visitor

 Car Parking

Reserve visitor parking on site

 Code of Conduct

Code of conduct and visitor acceptance form

 Current Visitors

Currently visiting academics

 Attractions

Things to do in Durham and the North East

Information for Visitors

Accommodation

The following hotels and guest houses are within easy reach of the department, listed from most to least expensive. Contact the astronomy secretaries at astro.secretary@durham.ac.uk or +44 (0)191 334 3760 for information on negotiated university rates.

Hotel / Guest House Address Telephone
Durham Marriott Hotel Royal County Old Elvet, DH1 3JN +44 (0)191 386 6821
Radisson Blu Hotel Durham Frankland Lane, DH1 5TA +44 (0)191 372 7201
Premier Inn Durham City Centre Freeman's Place, DH1 1SQ 0333 777 4669
Kings Lodge Inn Waddington Street, DH1 4BQ +44 (0)191 370 9977
Farnley Tower The Avenue, DH1 4DX +44 (0)191 375 0011
The Georgian Town House Crossgate, DH1 4PS +44 (0)191 386 8070
Castle View Guest House Crossgate, DH1 4PS +44 (0)191 386 8852
The Victoria Inn (closest to science site) Hallgarth Street, DH1 3AS +44 (0)191 386 5269

University-negotiated rates may be available at some hotels. Contact the secretaries for details.

Downloads

Inviting & Registering a Visitor

Staff inviting visitors to the department should follow the steps below. These steps apply regardless of whether funding is being requested.

University Visitor Policy

Before proceeding, please review the university's rules for academic visitors: Durham University — Academic Visitors.

  1. Register the visitor — once visit dates and funding are confirmed, add their details to the CEA/ICC visitor spreadsheet (requires CIS login).
  2. Contact the astronomy secretaries at astro.secretary@durham.ac.uk to arrange:
    • Office or desk space
    • Guest WiFi access
    • Taxi bookings (use Sheet 2 of the visitor spreadsheet)
    • Office keys for short-term visitors
    • Accommodation assistance (subject to availability)
  3. After-hours and building access — for other office keys or swipe-card access outside normal hours, contact Duncan McCallum in the Physics department: d.j.mccallum@durham.ac.uk, ext. 43585, room PH119C (Rochester building).
  4. Summer project students — book a desk in Physics classroom PH216 (Rochester building) through Wayne Dobby: wayne.dobby@durham.ac.uk.
  5. Guest wireless — visitors can connect to the internet via TheCloud@Durham. Those with an eduroam account may use that instead. A CIS account is required for access to internal university systems.

Visitor Funding Requests

CEA, ICC, and CfAI staff may apply for departmental funding to support visiting researchers. Due to limited funds, it will often only be possible to support overseas and/or long visits in part. Funding is not needed if the visitor is self-funded or if costs are covered from a staff member's own budget.

Please also follow the visitor invitation and registration steps regardless of whether funding is being requested.

Request Funding

This form is only available from Durham internal network.

Car Parking

University car parking space is limited and demand exceeds supply. However, marked visitor bays are available on the Science Site for external visitors attending official university business.

Staff hosting visitors should arrange parking in advance using the links below.