Cosmological Features on the Largest Scales: Theory and Observations
Final Announcement
The Jeremiah Horrocks Institute (JHI) is pleased to have hosted the first joint Oxford and Lancashire Colloquium in the (northern) spring of 2026: Cosmological Features on the Largest Scales: Theory and Observations. The meeting brought together theoretical and observational cosmologists to discuss cosmological large-scale structure (LSS) on the largest scales, i.e., at and beyond the BAO scale. Discussion topics included: large-scale structure, structure-formation theory, cosmological models, observational anomalies, and consistency with simulations.
Updates
Photos available here!
Catch up on all the presentation talks on the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@jeremiahhorrocks/. (See below for accessing presentation slides and poster contributions.)
Title
Cosmological Features on the Largest Scales: Theory and Observations
Location
Foster Building Lecture Theatre 2 (FBLT2)
Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Lancashire, Preston, UK
Dates
Monday 20 April – Wednesday 22 April, 2026
Themes
Large-Scale Structure; Cosmological Models; Cosmological Simulations; Structure-Formation Theory; Cosmological Anomalies.
Invited Speakers
Luciano Pietronero, Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi
Eleonora Di Valentino, University of Sheffield
Roger Penrose, University of Oxford
Daniel Pomarède, CEA Université Paris-Saclay
Francesco Sylos Labini, Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi
Roya Mohayaee, Sorbonne University
Joseph Silk, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
Contributed Talks + Posters
Speaker presentation slides and poster presentations available here!
(Note, some presentations and posters may not be made available.)
Scientific Organising Committee
Roger Penrose, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
Subir Sarkar, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, subir.sarkar@physics.ox.ac.uk
Carlos Frenk, Institute for Computational Cosmology, University of Durham, c.s.frenk@durham.ac.uk
Alexia Lopez, JHI, University of Lancashire, amlopez2@lancashire.ac.uk
Roger Clowes, JHI, University of Lancashire, rgclowes@lancashire.ac.uk
Derek Ward-Thompson, JHI, University of Lancashire, dward-thompson@lancashire.ac.uk
Local Organising Committee
Alexia Lopez, JHI, University of Lancashire, amlopez2@lancashire.ac.uk
Roger Clowes, JHI, University of Lancashire, rgclowes@lancashire.ac.uk
Derek Ward-Thompson, JHI, University of Lancashire, dward-thompson@lancashire.ac.uk
Travel to Preston
Please find helpful information in the following links.
Preston Campus
Getting to Preston Campus
Accommodation
The Preston Legacy International Hotel is adjacent to the campus, and we recommend that all registrants staying overnight should book here. There will be limited spaces available, so we recommend participates book at their earliest convenience. A discount can be provided by calling* the hotel and quoting the OxLancs meeting. The hotel is on Marsh Lane, opposite Darwin Building, which is marked DB at the lower left corner of the campus map.
* The UK landline number for the Preston Legacy International Hotel is: 01772 255600
Programme
Monday 20 April
12:30 – 14:00 Welcome Reception
- 13:45 Director of the JHI Derek Ward-Thompson: Introductions
- 13:50 Vice Chancellor Graham Baldwin: Welcome Speech
14:00 – 16:00 Science Session 1: Keynote Speakers
Chair: Derek Ward-Thompson
- 14:00 Luciano Pietronero: 30 Years of Fractal Universe Debate: Status and Perspectives
- 14:55 Short break
- 15:05 Eleonora Di Valentino: Cracks in the Standard Cosmological Model: Anomalies, Tensions, and Hints of New Physics
16:00 – 16:20 Posters + Coffee
16:20 – 17:30 Science Session 1 cont.: Keynote Speaker + Contributed Talk
- 16:20 Alexia Lopez: A Giant Ring on the Sky
- 16:45 Roger Penrose (online): Dark matter in CCC and Lopez Galactic Rings
17:30 End of Day 1
Tuesday 21 April
08:30 – 09:00 Posters + Coffee
09:00 – 12:00 Science Session 2: Keynote Speaker + Contributed Talks
Chair: Francesco Sylos Labini
- 09:00 Daniel Pomarede: Discoveries of Large-Scale Structures by the Cosmicflows Program
- 10:00 Short break
- 10:10 Edward Olex: Localized Detection of Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Shells in DESI DR1
- 10:30 Jamie Incley: Tracing Cosmic Structure with Neutral Hydrogen after the Epoch of Reionization
- 10:50 Tobias Russell: Modelling the Effects of Primary Beam Heterogeneity in SKA-Mid for 21cm Cosmology
- 11:10 Short break
- 11:20 Xuelei Chen: Probing the Primordial Fluctuations with Low Frequency Radio Array on the Lunar Far Side
- 11:40 Andras Kovacs: Cosmic Voids as Probes of Large-Scale Structure and Cosmology
12:00 – 14:30 Lunch Break
- 12:30 – 14:00 Conference Lunch (New Continental Preston)
14:30 – 17:30 Science Session 3: Keynote Speaker + Contributed Talks
Chair: Subir Sarkar
- 14:30 Francesco Sylos Labini: The Large-Scale Inhomogeneous and Anisotropic Universe
- 15:30 Short Break
- 15:40 GeonWoo Kang: Constraining Inflation Models with Spinning Voids
- 16:05 Maximilian von Wietersheim-Kramsta: An Analytical Model of the Non-Locality and Stochasticity of the Galaxy-Halo Connection in Spherical Projection
- 16:30 Short Break
- 16:40 Marco Bruni: Supermassive Black Hole Formation from Direct Collapse of CDM-Curvature Peaks in LCDM
- 17:10 Olga Garcia Gallego: Constraining Cosmology with the Lyman-Alpha Forest
17:30 End of Day 2
Wednesday 22 April
08:30 – 09:00 Posters + Coffee
09:00 – 11:40 Science Session 4: Keynote Speaker + Contributed Talks
Chair: Alexia Lopez
- 09:00 Roya Mohayaee: Cosmic Dipole Anomaly
- 10:00 Short break
- Cancelled
10:10 Indranil Banik: The Local Void Solution to the Hubble Tension - 10:30 Sankalan Bhattacharyya: The Evolution of Fluctuations in the Cosmological Photoionizing Background
- 10:50 Robbert Scholtens: Exploring CMBs in Anisotropic Universes
- 11:10 Levon Pogosian: Sound-Horizon-Agnostic Approaches to the Hubble Tension and an Update on Primordial Magnetic Fields
11:30 – 12:00 Posters + Coffee
12:00 – 13:00 Keynote Speaker
- 12:00 Joseph Silk: Conference Summary
- 12:30 Open Discussion
13:00 End of Conference