Research themes

Our ambition is to become a leading global university performing impactful research and innovation and achieving outcomes which make important contributions to society.

Find out about the research areas we are focusing on from a global level to faculty-specific priorities, which is underpinned by our strategy.

Grand research challenges we are addressing

Our research grand challenges combine expertise from across the University to address key global challenges.

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Pan-University institutes

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

Faculty research themes

At the heart of all our research at Surrey, our three faculties are focused on the following specific areas.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

  • Living and Working in the Digital Age
  • Society, Economy and Sustainability
  • Innovative Methodologies
  • Crime, Security, and Justice
  • Inequalities, Governance, and Wellbeing
  • Cultural Practices

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Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

  • Connected systems
  • Future electronics
  • Communication technologies
  • Computational fluid dynamics and environmental flow
  • Visual and audio analysis
  • Nuclear science
  • Made-to-measure materials
  • Sustainability, environment and resilience
  • Engineering for health
  • Space and aerospace

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Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

  • Chronobiology and sleep
  • Digital health and data science
  • Educational research
  • Healthy ageing and supporting long-term conditions
  • Infection and immunity
  • Nutrition and food security
  • Understanding people's relationship with social and physical environments

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