Analyses involving top quarks -the heaviest of all fundamental particles in the SM -allow for rigorous tests of recent NNLO and NNLL pQCD predictions. An unprecedented number of top quarks have been produced at the centres of the main LHC experiments in recent years; previously statistically limited searches for rare SM processes featuring top quarks are now within reach based on the √ s = 13 TeV Run 2 **data** collected so far. For some less rare and previously measured processes, such as the differential tt cross-section, statistical limitations are now being relegated to the extremes of kinematic regions of phase space, where deviations from the SM may eventually be exhibited. One set of rare processes of particular interest involves the associated production of tt pairs with W /Z or H bosons. Moreover, with the top quark as the heaviest of all SM particles, techniques to identify top quarks with highly collimated decay products could prove vital in searches for new physics: any enhancement in the rates of boosted top quarks could provide hints of as-ofyet undiscovered BSM particles. Finally, SM processes featuring top quarks often represent the dominant source of background to many searches for BSM physics; a better understanding of the kinematics of top quark events in general will lead to improved sensitivity in such searches.