Research

Our work ranges in scale from nuclear physics to interplanetary space exploration, and we have an enviable reputation for the contributions we have made towards a variety of challenges faced by our society. These challenges include improving our environment, health, communications, transport, security, information technologies, energy and water.

Research excellence

In the latest UK Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), we ranked 15th in the UK for ‘research power’ in engineering.

Overall, Surrey has risen 12 places in the rankings since 2014 to 33rd in the UK for our research quality.

* Research power is the overall quality of submissions, calculated by grade point average and multiplied by the full-time equivalent number of staff submitted.

About our research

We believe in the importance of linking fundamental scientific research to engineering applications, so many of these activities are underpinned by strong industrial links, and several successful spin-out companies have resulted from this. About half of our income comes from Research Councils UK (principally EPSRC), a third from the EU, and the rest mainly from industry (our largest clients being EADS Astrium, Rolls Royce, E.on, Toyota, AWE and QinetiQ).

Research outputs on Nature Index

University research and innovation strategy

Impact we are making

Our academics and researchers show how we're making a positive impact on society both locally and globally.

Mathematical models for sleep, light and the body clock

Verifying the integrity of the democratic process whilst using electronic voting

Improving air quality and reducing exposure in polluted urban environments

Research in focus

Research in Focus is a new magazine we have developed to showcase the exciting and ground breaking work being conducted in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Close up of a blue eye on a black background

Issue one: Health and wellbeing

Living labs

Applying current research and innovation to address real-world issues using the University campus and surrounding communities as a test-bed.

People sitting on the hill by Guildford Castle

University of Surrey Living Lab

Woman measuring air quality at Stoke Road

Guildford Living Lab

Cross-disciplinary research

We are working alongside the other faculties on various areas of research.

Pan-University institutes

The primary purpose of the pan-University institutes is to support the University's aspirations for increasing the scale and enhancing the excellence of our research and innovation.

Strategic research themes

The University research themes allow us to build on our existing strengths and invest in new complementary areas where we can demonstrate a distinctive capability.

Open Research

In these case studies, researchers from our Faculty explain how they have used open and transparent practices to carry out and communicate their research, and explore the benefits and challenges of being open.

Find out more about Open Research at Surrey, and download the Open Research Handbook (PDF).

Open research principles for depression diagnosis with machine learning

Andrew Bailey, PhD in machine learning for emotion recognition with Professor Mark Plumbley, has been focusing on diagnosing depression and tackling the challenges presented to new researchers in this field.

Open 3D video dataset for interdisciplinary, audio-visual research

Dr Philip Jackson and his colleagues have released carefully-curated recordings of realistic actions as 3D videos, to widen access to such 'volumetric' data and foster interdisciplinary research on audio-visual perception and immersive technologies.

Innovation for health

Innovation for health research in the Faculty for Engineering and Physical Sciences includes: medical engineering such as biomedical, chemical, electrical and physical sciences such as chemistry, computing, mathematics across many medical indications. Our research helps to diagnose, treat, recover from and prevent illness and disease.

Explore our research

Postgraduate research

We are proud of our record in postgraduate training and we offer a rich variety of research topics for PhD study, through the traditional routes and also through our highly successful EngD programmes.

Student using mechanical engineering equipment

EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Micro- and NanoMaterials and Technologies

Solving academically challenging and industrially relevant problems through a profound understanding of processing–microstructure–property relationships.

Quantum biology students in the laboratory

Leverhulme Quantum Biology Doctoral Training Centre

Training a new generation of scientists who can operate across the boundaries of biology, chemistry and quantum physics to pioneer research in quantum biology.

Fellowships

We are keen to support fellowship applications for talented applicants. Explore available fellowships.

Studentships

Browse all open studentships that we offer here at the University, from self-funded to fully funded.

Research by school and department

The Faculty’s research takes place predominantly within large, coherent groups whose mass and state-of-the-art facilities provide unique opportunities for pursuing a wide variety of topics, many of them with a multidisciplinary flavour drawing on academic staff from multiple disciplines.

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering

Centre for Environment and Sustainability

Department of Mathematics

School of Mechanical Engineering Sciences

Department of Physics