Electrical and Electronic Engineering: Unit of Assessment 24

The majority of research in UoA 24 Electrical and Electronic Engineering is officially classified as world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour, having been placed in the highest categories of 4*and 3* in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

Quality Level 4* 3* 2* 1* Unclassified
% of research activity 15 45 30 10 0

Since the award of Grade 5A in RAE 2001, research in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering has increased dramatically. We have:

  • grown to 30.7 research active staff, exceeding the RAE 2001 target of 30;
  • increased prestigious journal publications from 147 to 531;
  • three award-winning papers in professional journals;
  • over 200% increase in research students from 32 to 101;
  • been awarded major Royal Society, EPSRC and RAEng fellowships;
  • won four EPSRC platform grants;
  • increased research income from £6.1m to £20.4m;
  • attracted £9m for world-class research facilities from SRIF, EPSRC and the RDA (One-NorthEast);
  • protected intellectual property with 13 international patents.

Research is focused in three internationally-leading groups:

Research groups provide common research laboratories, specialist equipment, a forum for collaborative research and the exchange of ideas. They host visiting academics, arrange seminars and conferences and develop strategic goals.

Research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, and is also conducted through Newcastle’s research institutes including:

Since the last RAE, we have enhanced our infrastructure and support with the following investments:

  • £4.0m - clean-room and electronics research facilities;
  • £1.95m - Advanced Drive Centre and Test facilities;
  • £0.5m - Communications research facility;
  • £4.0m - nanoLAB;
  • £11.3m - INEX multi-material 150mm development and prototyping facility. The nanotechnology exploitation unit INEX has its own commercial and business development staff, and has performed some 65 development and prototyping contracts with industry and other institutions since 2003;
  • £2.1m - Research Centre in 'Extreme Environment Technology'.

Our laboratories are supported by a dedicated electronics workshop, and a mechanical workshop, newly refitted with numerically-controlled machines.

We host the Engineering-Doctorate in Power Electronics, Drives and Machines, one of only five Engineering-Doctorates relevant to UoA24 and the only one in electrical engineering. This brought £1.75m from EPSRC and £557k from industry, all for studentships. Engineering-Doctorate research topics are driven by industry and outputs are used in products or demonstrators.

We annually invest £300k of internal income for research studentships, giving 10-12 overseas scholarships plus 4-5 ORS awards to attract outstanding students from developing countries. Typically a further 10 international PGR students enrol with University scholarships and a high proportion work closely with industry. All students present papers at our annual research conference, which familiarises academics and postgraduates with research throughout the School.