Welcome to the School of Physics & Astronomy

Women Physicists

28/04/22: A School response to comments by government commissioner Katharine Birbalsingh. 

"Our School contains many women who love studying, teaching and advancing physics, including the maths (both easy and hard) that is part of our work.
The barriers to more women studying physics are complex, we are working hard to address them, but there is more still to be done.
For those interested in what can be done to encourage more women to study physics at school we recommend reading the excellent research done by the Institute of Physics."

Research Excellence Framework 2021

The Research Excellence Framework (REF), assesses all subjects in all universities across the UK, based on submissions describing their research and the wider societal impact that it has had. 

The School of Physics and Astronomy maintains a strong position in the upper quartile of the Physics Unit of Assessment, with an increase from REF2014 in the percentage of both ‘internationally excellent’ and ‘world-leading’ outputs, with more than a doubling of the percentage assessed as ‘world-leading’. The impact case studies submitted had an increase in those rated as ‘outstanding’ and the research environment also recognised being at least ‘internationally excellent’, with an increase to 75% ‘world-leading’ compared to REF2014. 

In addition to being delighted that our research and the associated societal impact has been recognized in this way, we take pride in the close link that we make between the research and the teaching that we undertake at all levels, from outreach activities in schools to the advanced research projects that our undergraduates carry out as part of their courses. Indeed, one of the “impact case studies” that we included as a key part of our submission for REF2021 described the work we have undertaken explaining physics research on the Sixty Symbols YouTube channel.

We are delighted to announce that staff in the School of Physics & Astronomy, led by Professor Richard Bowtell have been awarded £29.1 million to establish the UK’s most powerful Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner as a national facility.

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