UK HEP Forum 2025: "Wandering in the Dark"

20 Oct 2025, 20:00 → 22 Oct 2025, 19:05 Europe/London

Jacob Linacre (STFC RAL), Rodrigo Alonso (Durham)

The UK HEP Forum 2025 will take place on 21-22 October 2025 at The Cosener's House in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and via Zoom.

The focus will be on dark matter and dark energy, from both experimental and theoretical perspectives, with a session on the future prospects for the Boulby Underground Laboratory.

In-depth presentations will be given by invited speakers. In addition, the forum will feature a session of short talks giving UK PhD students the opportunity to present their work in all areas of HEP. Interested students are encouraged to submit a talk via the registration form.

The forum is sponsored by the IPPP and STFC. There is no registration fee. Accommodation will be free of charge for all UK attendees. Travel expenses within the UK (ground transport only) will be reimbursed to students who present a talk.

Registration is required and is open to participants with UK affiliation only.

We look forward to welcoming you.

UK HEP Forum Organising Committee [R. Alonso (co-Chair), T. Cornford, D. Croon, S. Dixon, J. Ellis, J. Linacre (co-Chair), D. van Dyk, M. Wielers]

Email: UKHEPForum@stfc.ac.uk

Monday 20 October

20:00 → 21:30 Dinner

Tuesday 21 October

10:00 → 10:30 Registration and coffee

10:30 → 10:35 Welcome

Speaker: Michael Spannowsky (IPPP, Durham University)

10:35 → 11:10 Setting the scene

Speaker: Keir Rogers (Imperial)

11:20 → 11:55 Hubble Tensions

Speakers: Eleonora Di Valentino (University of Sheffield), Eleonora Di Valentino (University of Sheffield)

12:05 → 12:40 DESI Tension

Speaker: Willem Elbers (Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University)

12:50 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 14:35 Dark matter theory overview

Speaker: Malcolm Fairbairn (King's College London)

14:45 → 15:20 Direct DM searches overview

Speaker: Laura Baudis (University of Zurich)

15:30 → 16:05 Student talks: 1

16:05 → 16:35 Coffee break

16:35 → 17:10 Student talks

17:10 → 17:45 Light dark matter, axions, and all that

Speaker: Martin Bauer (IPPP Durham)

17:55 → 18:30 New experimental searches for light DM

Speakers: Ashlea Kemp (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory), Ashlea Kemp (University of Oxford)

18:40 → 19:00 The Cosmic Dipole Anomaly

Speaker: Sebastian von Hausegger (University of Oxford)

19:30 → 21:30 Dinner

Wednesday 22 October

09:15 → 09:50 Indirect DM Searches

Speaker: Elena Pinetti (Simons Foundation)

10:00 → 10:35 DM overview at LHC

Speakers: James Frost (University of Oxford / RAL), James Frost (University of Cambridge)

10:45 → 11:10 Coffee break

11:10 → 11:45 Dark energy theory overview

Speaker: Ed Copeland (University of Nottingham)

11:55 → 12:30 Solutions to the DE tensions

Speakers: Elsa Teixeira (University of Sheffield), Elsa Teixeira (Université de Montpellier, LUPM/CNRS)

12:40 → 13:40 Lunch

13:40 → 14:00 Status and plans for the Boulby Underground Laboratory

Speaker: Sean Paling (STFC Boulby Underground Laboratory)

14:05 → 14:40 XLZD at Boulby

Speaker: Henrique Araújo (Imperial College London & STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)

14:50 → 15:25 Future DM experiments (non-XLZD)

Speaker: Christopher McCabe (King's College London)

15:35 → 15:40 Farewell