Chemical Engineering: Unit of Assessment 26

The majority of research in UoA 26 Chemical 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 10 50 35 5 0

This assessment is based on the activities of 28 staff in the School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials (CEAM) over the RAE period 2001-2007. Building upon our award of Grade 5B in 2001 our level of research activity has increased significantly. We have:

  • increased the number of research-active academic staff in post from 14 to 26 while maintaining the proportion of staff returned above 80% (26/31 or 84% for RAE 2008);
  • doubled the size of our postgraduate community, from 38 at the end of the last RAE period, to 84 now (corresponding total FTE PG research students up from 185 to 358);
  • increased the number of publications in refereed journals from below 250 to over 600, equivalent to three refereed journal papers published per member of staff per year;
  • received more than 3,000 citations (more than 100 each) for work published in the period;
  • secured more than £20m in research funding (in excess of £100k each per year);
  • received 'outstanding' or 'tending to outstanding' overall scores for 70% of 40 EPSRC grant reports;
  • spun out five companies, reflecting the diversity and relevance of our research.

Since RAE 2001 the School expanded, introducing new staff, broadening the subject base and investing £3m in research infrastructure and equipment. As the School has grown it has reorganised its research activities into four themes:

Work in this UoA is also closely aligned with the following Institutes and Centres recognised by the University:

  • Sir Joseph Swan Institute for Energy Research
  • Research Centre in Catalysis and Intensified Processing
  • Biopharmaceutical Bioprocessing Technology Centre

The School also includes the Newcastle Engineering Design Centre (EDC) whose remit is to carry out research in design methods and methodologies.

Research groups are primarily responsible for postgraduate and postdoctoral education, and training and development to international standard. All students are allocated dedicated laboratory and office space. Postgraduate students are required to attend fortnightly seminars and an annual 2-day 'CEAM Postgraduate Conference' at which all second and third year PhD candidates make presentations.

During the RAE period we have published more than 120 papers with co-authors originating from 32 countries. We currently collaborate formally with nine other UoAs (4, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28) at Newcastle University through 30 grants and contracts with EPSRC, BBSRC, the EU and industry. The School also collaborates with a number of UK universities.

The School considers its industrial links to be vitally important. The School has had a large number of formal collaborations with companies since 2001. Industrial collaboration has been helped by the Centre for Process Analytics and Control Technology (CPACT), an industrially shaped multi-disciplinary research centre originally formed by the Universities of Newcastle, Hull and Strathclyde. It has raised the profile and driven the uptake of modern process analytics and control technologies across many industrially sectors.