The School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering is very pleased to have achieved a very good performance in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) – the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. 86% of the research in the School was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.
Dr. Peter Gardner, Head of School, commented: “Our REF results have been announced at an exciting time for our School where we have recently embarked on a new strategic direction with a renewed vision. Our research strengths are fundamental to this new vision and are mapped on to fundamentally important societal challenges in the fields of Energy, Communications, Transport, Healthcare, Environmental Monitoring, and Human-Systems Integration. Our research is aligned to the themes of Interactive Systems Engineering, Wireless Communications and Remote Sensing, Emerging Device Technology, Railway Systems Engineering, Electrical Power and Control Systems and Space Environment Research”
“The impact case studies in our REF submission were all rated as ‘outstanding’ or ‘very considerable’. They reported examples of significant research impacts, drawn from a cross section of our research activities, in the areas of mobile phone antennas, vehicular radar, railway condition monitoring and submarine safety training using virtual and augmented reality technology. Our work in all of these areas continues to generate new advances. Our major spin-out company, Smart Antenna Technology, is developing advanced multiple band and reconfigurable antennas for emerging 4th generation mobile communication systems, while our ongoing mm-wave and THz antenna research in the School is creating technology for the future 5th and 6th generations. Our vehicular radar work is breaking new ground, exploring the use of THz signals to generate higher resolution images and smaller antennas, paving the way for future generations of autonomous vehicles. Our railway research, jointly with the School of Civil Engineering, is enjoying unprecedented growth fuelled by major internal investment and addressing many new challenges arising locally from HS2 and internationally from a host of railway developments. Our virtual and augmented reality work also continues to advance, with new projects on the development of future command space design tools for submarines and surface ship air power command stations.”
The School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering is part of the University’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences which draws together research strengths across the academic schools to focus on the wider research themes of Advanced Manufacturing, Science Frontiers, and Resilience, Energy and Sustainability. Professor John Bridgeman, College Director of Research, said: “The School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering is a key contributor to our overall research aims. Much of the research in the School is highly interdisciplinary, looking at integrated systems and applied science, creating cross-University collaborations with colleagues in, for example, the Schools of Physics and Astronomy, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Psychology.”
Learn more about the School of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering’s research strengths and the over-arching College research themes