The Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe at the University of Cambridge is a pioneering interdisciplinary hub dedicated to exploring one of humanity’s most profound questions: how life emerges, evolves, and persists in the cosmos. Drawing together expertise from the physical sciences, life sciences, and philosophy, the Centre fosters bold, collaborative research at the intersection of planetary science, chemistry, biology, and the humanities.
The Centre also collaborates with researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, University College London, ETH Zurich, Harvard University, University of Oxford and the Centre of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey.
Founded in 2022, the Centre has rapidly grown into a vibrant intellectual community, catalysing new research directions and forging international collaborations. Its seminar series, including the flagship Exoplanet Seminar Series and Annual Lecture, have become key platforms for knowledge exchange, attracting leading voices from across the globe and sparking cross-disciplinary dialogue. The Centre’s Coffee Discussions continue to be a vital incubator for ideas, regularly leading to new publications and joint projects.
The Centre’s Visitor Programme has enabled short-term residencies that have directly led to new proposals using cutting-edge missions and observatories such as JWST, ALMA, and LBTI, while the Annual Science Day brings together researchers from across the sciences and humanities to share insights on topics ranging from interior planetary dynamics, to biosignatures, to universal Darwinism.
In 2025, the Centre launched its Large Grant Programme, supporting ambitious, linked projects that integrate experimental, theoretical, and environmental approaches to the origins and distribution of life on Earth and the Universe. These include investigations into plausible activation chemistry, surface hydrothermal vents on the Hadean Earth, and the habitability of ice worlds and Hycean planets. The Centre also continues to support a wide range of single-PI led research projects. Scientific outputs have been consistently published in leading journals including Science- and Nature-family journals, in addition to leading journals in astrophysics and planetary science, chemistry, and Earth sciences.
The Centre is deeply committed to widening participation, and its Student Placement Programme has had a transformative impact on aspiring researchers, with Interns reporting increased confidence, scientific direction, and a strong sense of belonging within Cambridge’s research community. Our relatively small cohort to date has had a remarkable PhD success rate that far exceeds the university average.
Through its growing digital archive of seminars and lectures, now viewed over 11,000 times across more than ten countries, the Centre is extending its reach and influence far beyond Cambridge, engaging a global audience in the search for life in the universe.
Learn more on research themes here.
Image credit: Sir Cam