A NORTH-EAST lecturer has been given nearly £70,000 to investigate how the sun works.

Dr Anthony Yeates, from Durham University, landed £68,000, as part of an £818,000 grant to the universities of Durham and Dundee.

The aim of the project is to discover the basic physical processes taking place on the sun and throughout the Universe.

Academics will focus particularly on the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun.