Faculty research
The University of Reading is one of the leading research-intensive universities in the UK, and we have an established world reputation in the sciences. The University's renowned research strengths have been recognised in the outcomes of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), with over 87% of the University's research rated as of international standing.
Research in the Faculty of Science covers a broad spectrum, including Construction, Archaeology, Geography, Environmental Sciences, Meteorology, Mathematics, Computing, Cybernetics and Electronic Engineering. Departments in the Faculty have twice won the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education, in 2006 for Meteorology and in 2009 for Archaeology.
Research areas in Science
To find-out more about research in specific areas of science and research facilities at Reading, please follow the links below.
The Faculty also has close research links with the Faculty of Life Sciences.
Graduate training in Science
Generic research and transferable skills training for postgraduate research students in Science is provided by the University's Graduate School, which provides a series of workshops and on-line courses to supplement the training provided by Schools and Departments.
Recent research awards
The Faculty of Science has a strong reputation in securing research grant funding. Awards made since January 2011 include:
- Dr Richard Allan (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Comparing atmosphere-land surface feedbacks from models within the tropics'
- Professor Nigel Arnell (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): DEFRA, 'An assessment of climate change impacts in the near term'
- Professor Atta Badii (School of Systems Engineering): European Commission, 'MOSAIC - Multi-modal situation assessment and analytics platform'; European Commission, 'VideoSense: Virtual Centre for Excellence for ethically-guided and privacy-respecting video analytics'
- Professor Stephen Belcher (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'OSMOSIS: Ocean Surface Mixing, Ocean Sub-mesoscale Interaction Study'
- Dr Jon Blower (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): European Commission, 'Myocean 2: Prototype operational continuity for the GMES ocean monitoring and forecasting service'
- Dr Anna Boozer (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): British Academy, 'MAP: Meroe Archival Project'
- Professor Richard Bradley (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): British Academy, 'Hill of Tuack excavation project'
- Dr Jessica Budds (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): ESRC, 'The political ecology of extractive industries and changing waterscapes in the Andes'
- Dr Andrew Charlton-Perez (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Stratospheric Network for the Assessment of Predictability (SNAP)'
- Dr Christine Chiu (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): US Department of Energy, 'Use of the ARM measurements of spectral zenith radiance for better understanding of 3D cloud radiation processes and aerosol-cloud interaction'; US Department of Energy, 'Study of shortwave spectra in fully 3D environment: Synergy between scanning radars and spectral radiation measurements'
- Dr Chris Collins (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): European Commission, 'INFLAME - Indoor contamination with flame retardant chemicals: Causes and impacts'
- Dr Hella Eckardt (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): AHRC, 'Objects and identities in Roman Britain and the North-Western provinces'; and 'Foreigners and locals in Roman Britain: Painting a more complex picture for school children'
- Dr Abbas Ali Elmualim (School of Construction Management and Engineering): HEFCE, 'Carbon brainprint'; and British Council, 'Developing educational and professional courses in sustainable construction, engineering, management and social housing in Sudan'
- Dr James Ferryman (School of Systems Engineering): European Commission, 'ARENA'
- Professor Jonathan Gregory (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Modelling ice-sheets, climate and sea-level during the last glacial cycle'
- Dr Lizzie Froude (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Storm forecast and climate information to industry'
- Professor Michael Fulford (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): Leverhulme Trust, 'Evaluation of PPG16 'grey' literature and the rural settlement of Roman Britain'
- Professor Robert Gurney (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): University of Southampton, 'Enhancing HEI engagement with the satellite industry for workforce upskilling'
- Professor Keith Haines (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'ERror Growth in Operational Data Initialised Coupled Systems (ERGODICS)'
- Dr Ed Hawkins (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'APPOSITE: Arctic Predictability and Prediction on Seasonal to Inter-annual Timescales'; NERC, 'Predicting the climate of the coming decade'
- Professor Eleanor Highwood (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'South Asian PrecIpitation: a SEamless Assessment - SAPRISE'; and NERC, 'South American Biomass Burning Analysis (SAMBBA)'
- Dr Kevin Hodges (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'West African monsoon and African easterly wave variability in past, present and future climate simulations'
- Professor Mark Hodson (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): STFC, 'Shining light on the environment'; and NERC, 'Stress in a hot place: Ecogenomics and phylogeography in a pantropical sentinel inhabiting multi-stressor volcanic soils'
- Professor Robin Hogan (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Dynamical and microphysical evolution of convective storms (DYMECS)'; and European Space Agency, 'Dimensional variations retrieval of synergetic EarthCARE products'
- Dr Christopher Holloway (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'The organisation of tropical rainfall'
- Professor Sir Brian Hoskins (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Changing atmospheric blocking'
- Dr Faustina Hwang (School of Systems Engineering): Technology Strategy Board, 'Tackling barriers to adoption of assisted living technology for older adults'
- Dr Daniel Kirshbaum (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'PRESTO (PREcipitation STructures over Orography'
- Stanislav Kutuzov (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): European Commission, 'Dust impacts on glaciated environments'
- Dr Amos Lawless (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Treatment of model bias in coupled atmosphere-ocean data assimilation'
- Professor Roger Matthews (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): British Academy, 'RADII: Recording Archaeological Data from Iran and Iraq'; AHRC, 'Sedentism and resource management in the Neolithic of Western Iran'; European Commission, 'ARCHIRAN - Ancient Iran: A social archaeology'
- Dr John Methven (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Fundamental influences of large-scale wave dynamics on tropical weather systems'
- Dr Stefano Migliorini (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): EUMETSAT, 'Improving the use of satellite data for nowcasting'
- Dr Gundula Müldner (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): British Academy, 'Animal husbandry in the intertidal zone: A stable isotope approach to changing subsistence strategies in the Belgian Coastal Plain'
- Dr Slawomir Nasuto (School of Systems Engineering): John Templeton Foundation, 'Cognition as communication and interaction'; and EPSRC, 'Brain-computer interface for monitoring and inducing affective states'
- Dr Keri Nicoll (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): Leverhulme Trust, 'Charged particle effects on clouds'
- Dr Maria Noguer-Alba (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): African Climate Change Fellowship Programme, 'Enhancing urban adaptation to climate change through effective ecosystem governance: A case study of Kampala city'; and University of Dar Es Salaam, 'An assessment of effects of climate change on crop production across agro-ecological zones in Zimbabwe'
- Professor Alan O'Neill (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): Science & Technology Facilities Council, 'A facility for climate and environmental monitoring from space'
- Dr Len Shaffrey (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'The Environment of the Arctic: Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice (TEA - COSI)'
- Professor Keith Shine (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): European Commission, 'ECLIPSE: Evaluating the cluimate and air quality impacts of short-lived pollutants'
- Professor Rowan Sutton (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): CNRS, 'PRECLIDE: Decadal climate predictability'
- Dr Gabor Thomas (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): British Academy, 'Reconstructing early medieval monasteries: A view from Anglo-Saxon Kent'; Society of Antiquaries of London, 'Reconstructing the monastic landscape of Anglo-Saxon Lyminge'; Marc Fitch Fund, 'Metallurgical analysis of an Anglo-Saxon plough coulter from Lyminge'
- Professor Sue Todd (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): MRC, 'Using surrogate endpoints for decision-making in adaptive seamless designs'
- Dr Andrew Turner (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Hydrometeorological feedbacks and changes in water storage and fluxes in northern India'
- Professor Peter Jan van Leeuwen (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Next generation numerical weather prediction: 4DVar ensembles and particle filters'; NERC, 'Climate model initialisation and improvement using particle filters'; and European Commission, 'SANGOMA - Stochastic Assimilation for the Next Generation Ocean Model Applications'
- Professor Kevin Warwick (School of Systems Engineering): European Commission, 'Regulating emerging robotic technologies in Europe: Robotics facing law and ethics'
- Karen Wicks (School of Human and Environmental Sciences): Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 'Environment and economy of the Mesolithic settlement on Eastern Islay'
- Dr Paul Williams (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): Royal Society, 'New insights into atmospheric turbulence'
- Professor Shirley Williams (School of Systems Engineering): KTP / World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), 'To use Information Technology to remove barriers that prevent potential female leaders from accessing the skills development opportunities offered through the WAGGGS leadership development programme'
- Dr Steve Woolnough (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences): NERC, 'Coupled model errors in the tropical atlantic in CMIP5 and their impact on the reliability of climate predictions'
- Dr Runming Yao (School of Construction Management and Engineering): RICS Education Trust, 'A survey of urban microclimates and modelling urban heat island for Chongqing, China'; and Intelligent & Green Systems Ltd., 'Progressing Eco-City policies into mainstream practice'