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Computing and Engineering has made enormous strides since the last RAE. This has seen the refocusing of two departments into one and the rise of five cross disciplinary research groupings (four of which were submitted under the RAE).
The UoA has dramatically increased its publication output, levels of funding have significantly increased and national and international reputation in its specialised research areas has grown enormously. During the recent period the school has hosted 4 international conferences:
A particular highlight has been Professor Xiangqian Jiang becoming the first researcher at a 'new' university to receive the prestigious Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/), announced the Royal Society the UK National Academy of Science.
Computing and Engineering now occupies three refurbished mill buildings, these award winning buildings, extensively refurbished workshop and laboratory facilities provide an excellent and modern research infrastructure. Focus on centres of proven excellence was core to the previous RAE submission and this has been largely fulfilled during this RAE period. The main aim of the Computing and Engineering research strategy is still to increase the national and international research reputation of niche areas of research and is based on identifying and strategically supporting proven centres of excellence. Since the 2001 RAE we have undergone a number of significant changes in both structure and personnel, including an influx of new young staff who have been seeded into the existing research structure. Most recently Prof Andrew Ball has brought his considerable Diagnostic Engineering research team and industrial contracts from the University of Manchester.
There are plans to develop a new £6M Ultra Precision Manufacturing Centre based in a new bespoke building for development of ultra precision machining and research in diagnostic engineering.
Computing and Engineering provide a supportive research environment and ensures that new academic appointments have good research potential and are aligned with an existing research group with an identified mentor. Existing research groups and established researchers support less-experienced staff by providing internal peer review for draft research proposals, and advising on bidding for external funding. Partnerships between established and new researchers with respect to publications and project proposals are actively encouraged. In addition collaboration with staff in other areas of the University is actively encouraged. The UoA research structure is based around five research groups (four of which were submitted under the RAE); The Centre for Precision Technologies, Automotive Research Group, Systems Engineering Group, Diagnostic Engineering, and Music Technology and Production.
University, RDA and SRIF funding have facilitated the development of new research facilities which have included a £3M investment in a uniquely designed nanotechnology/metrology laboratory the 'Nanolab'. The facility provides an outstanding laboratory for the study of nanometrology. The laboratories have been used as a blueprint for other facilities in Germany, Ireland and Korea Further investment, ~£940K, has overseen the development of nationally outstanding facilities for automotive research. Music Technology has benefited form the development of new music studio facilities (The Blue Room) comprising an investment of approximately £1.3M. A new Optics laboratory, developed (£100K) in conjunction with Wolfson, Scholarship, University and industrial funding in 2005/2006 and finally a new Electronic Systems Laboratory have been constructed (£40K).
The School Research Committee supports and promotes research by
The department has an excellent record in knowledge transfer (KT) and industrial/commercial activities. At the management level the school operates an Enterprise Committee which develops strategy focusing on delivery and marketing school activity to external bodies. KTP's have provided a continuing and sustainable backbone to the research activity and the recent period has seen a steady increase in their number with five current projects, worth over £500K, ten further projects completed since 1999 and two new awards recently announced.
Full details of the University KTPs are available below:
Most technical KT activity and commercial contracts are now operated through the Centre for Precision Technologies. The centre was awarded the prestigious Centre for Industrial Collaboration status by the Regional Development Agency, (Yorkshire Forward) in 2005. The award was based on the CPT's research record and capability, allied with potential to deliver high class research support to industry. This award (£600,000) facilitates the KT activities of the CPT through provision of a Commercial Manager, two project engineers and administrative support plus a considerable marketing/operating budget. Another outstanding aspect of the KT activities of the department has been the activities of the SME support unit. This unit has specialised in KT advice to regional SME's and has helped over 500 companies in the past five years.
For further information please visit the individual research group pages below
A PhD student at the University of Huddersfield has become one of only 24 winners in the UK of the highly-prestigious Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad...
Published: April 2009
