Find an expert
Welcome to the Durham University Media Guide to Expertise, a resource for journalists seeking informed comment on a wide variety of topical issues.
To find an expert in a specialist area, please use the 'search' facility to search by keyword or expert surname.
History & Archaeology
- Environment and culture
- European Prehistory
- Genetics
- Human dispersal
- Medieval history
- Middle Ages & Early Modern History
- Modern History: Britain & Ireland
- Modern History: Europe
- Modern History: Rest of the World
- Politicial, cultural, social history
- Roman, Greek & ancient civilisations
- World perspectives & techniques
Dr Charles Augarde
Reader, School of Engineering and Computing Sciences
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 42504
Deputy Head of Faculty (Postgraduate), Faculty of Science
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 42504
Durham X-ray Centre
Specialist expertise:
- civil engineering, tunnels, bridges
- computer modelling
- Earth building (using earth materials to create walls, rammed earth, conservation of old earth buildings)
- geotechnical engineering, ground conditions, tunnelling
Dr Antonio Blanco-Gonzalez
Marie Curie Fellow, Department of Archaeology
Specialist expertise:
Professor David R. Bridgland
Professor, Department of Geography
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 41875
Professor, Quaternary Environmental Change
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 41875
Specialist expertise:
- development of rivers especially the Thames
- development of rivers, especially the Thames
- Early humans in Britain and other parts of the world
- earth science conservation
- environment- weather and climate
- environmental change
- Ice Age History
- shallow/near shore processes & rivers
- Stone Age human activities and impacts
Dr Gidon Cohen
Senior Lecturer, and Deputy Head of School, School of Government and International Affairs
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 47184
Centre for the History of Political Thought
Specialist expertise:
- British Politics
Professor Robin Coningham
Professor , Department of Archaeology
Telephone: 41145 (Faculty Telephone 42904)
Pro-Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Social Sciences and Health
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 42904
Specialist expertise:
- Bangladesh
- Buddhism
- Caste
- Heritage
- Identity and the past
- India
- Indian Ocean
- Iran
- Looting
- Nepal
- Pakistan
- Persia
- Persian Gulf
- South Asia
- Sri Lanka
- Trade in illict antiquities
- Urbanism and cities
Prof Douglas James Davies
Professor, Department of Theology and Religion
Fellow, Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
Home telephone: +44 (0) 191 3757697
Specialist expertise:
- Death ritual and belief
Dr Niko Galiatsatos
Research Associate, Department of Archaeology
Teaching Fellow, Department of Geography
Specialist expertise:
- Geographical information creation and integration
- Landscape archaeology in Middle East and Iran, satellite imagery
- Spy satellite imagery, CORONA program
Dr Giles Gasper
Lecturer, Department of History
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 46570
Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Specialist expertise:
- Medieval history, in particular medieval religious thought, the crusades, and church history in general
Prof Richard Hingley
Professor, Department of Archaeology
Centre for Roman Cultural Studies
Specialist expertise:
- Boudica
- Hadrians' Wall
- Iron Age Britain
- Roman Britain
- Roman Northern Britain (northern England, Scotland)
- Roman villas
Professor Michael Prestwich
Professor (emeritus), Department of History
Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Home telephone: +44 (0)191 3862539
Specialist expertise:
- Medieval English History
- Medieval military history
Dr Amy Russell
Lecturer, Department of Classics and Ancient History
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 41462
Specialist expertise:
- Roman History: the social, cultural, and political history of the ancient Roman Republic and empire.
- The City of Rome: its development, archaeology, architecture, and enduring fascination from antiquity to today.
Prof Chris Scarre
Professor & Head of Department, Department of Archaeology
Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture
Specialist expertise:
- Archaeology of France
- Early farming societies of Britain and France
- Megalithic tombs and stone circles
Dr Sarah Semple
Senior Lecturer, Department of Archaeology
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 41115
Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Specialist expertise:
- Medieval Archaeology
Dr Colin Turner
Reader in Islamic Thought, School of Government and International Affairs
Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Centre for the History of Political Thought
Specialist expertise:
- Muslim cultures, religion and political thought.
Dr Robert Witcher
Senior Lecturer, Department of Archaeology
Telephone: +44 (0)191 33 41148
Centre for Roman Cultural Studies
Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East
Specialist expertise:
- Archaeological computing
- Geographical Information Systems
- Hadrian's Wall
- Landscape archaeology - field survey
- Landscape archaeology - methods
- Pre-Roman and Roman Italy