Science and Engineering

Science and Engineeringwww.glasgow.ac.uk/colleges/sciencengineering

Research

Addressing major societal challenges

As well as being a major player in single discipline science and engineering, the College embraces major societal challenges faced worldwide and engages in multidisciplinary research. Included are:

Digital economyEnergy & sustainabilityEnvironmentHealthcare technologyInfrastructure & transportMaterialsNanotechnologySensors and intelligent imagingSustainable high value manufacturingSystems & synthetic biologyUnderpinning capabilities

www.glasgow.ac.uk/colleges/scienceengineering/research/

Digital economy

The digital economy concerns methods & technologies associated with the communication and manipulation of information, including the secure management of databases and communications across mobile wireless networks.

The theme crosses many disciplines and covers the processing of medical records, remote sensing from space, the modelling and simulation of changes in the climate and the landscape, creating an integrated transport system and enhancing entertainment experiences.

Energy and sustainability

Energy and water remain two of the most important resources that we need to sustain in order to ensure our long-term survival on this planet.

Enabling the world’s rapidly growing, resource-intensive population to thrive in the coming decades will require that we look to new technologies associated with the treatment, desalination, recycling, storage and transportation of water.

In one example, our engineers are now working with aid-agencies to develop low cost purification units for providing clean drinking water in the Developing World.

Environment

New, green technologies for improving the environment are being developed within the University. These technologies range from the development of low-carbon industrial processing, through natural product chemistry to understanding seasonal changes in carbon cycling in the Amazon basin, and the effect that this has on the global climate. 

This cross-disciplinary theme is not just concerned with the development of new science and technology, but also involves understanding the social and political processes by which people interact with the environment.

Health and Wellbeing

The diagnosis of disease lies at the centre of improvements in our medical infrastructure. Examples range from low-cost, disposable biosensors for infectious diseases such as malaria in the Developing World, to the detection of the early signs of heart disease in more affluent populations.

Other heath-care opportunities, enabled by new technologies drawn from across the sciences and engineering, include rehabilitation engineering (with new automated systems helping patients with spinal injury to walk) and the use of new biomaterials to improve medical implants, promote wound healing in the skin and enable organ regeneration.

Infrastructure and Transport

Glasgow has a rich history in transport and infrastructure, with a world-renowned engineering heritage that changed the world. This heritage includes inventions to improve the steam engine through manufacturing locomotives and building ships.

Nowadays, our expertise lies at the current state of the art, for example working with the space agencies to develop new technologies for communication and travel.

The development of infrastructure is also closely associated with the energy agenda, creating new algorithms and techniques to link a distributed green energy network into the national grid. 

Materials

This theme cuts across many science and engineering topics, including the development of new materials for solar fuels, biocompatible materials for implants and new plastics to replace conventional electronic components.

The field is not, however, simply about making new materials with extraordinary functional properties.  It is equally important to understand how advanced structural materials break and corrode, using modelling and simulation tools to predict catastrophic failure in aeroplanes, bones and concrete.

Nanotechnology

We are at the forefront of the use of nanotechnology in a wide spectrum of industries including electronics, healthcare, security, photonics and renewable energies.

Our scientists and engineers are involved both in carrying out fundamental research and in creating a new generation of start-up companies.

Researchers and industrial multinationals alike now travel across the world to use our state of the art facility and draw upon our world-renowned expertise.

Systems and Synthetic Biology

Modern biology and medicine pose complex questions on how cells, organs and tissues interact with each other. Systems biology seeks to use mathematical techniques developed from within engineering and computer science to explore the nature of the signals that control life, regeneration, disease and death.

Similarly, synthetic biology draws heavily on both engineering and the physical sciences, seeking to develop rules that enable new biochemical pathways to be produced within cell-like structures.

The subject has recently received considerable media attention associated with the development of artificial cells, where several pathways are linked together to create new forms of “life”.

Chemistry

Research themes:

Chemical Biology & Biological Chemistry

Chemical Nanosciences

Chemical Structure & Dynamics

Inorganic and Organic Synthesis

Materials Discovery and Functionality

Physical Organic Chemistry

www.glasgow.ac.uk/schools/chemistry/research/

Chemistry

A major Chemistry presence since 1747

4 Nobel Laureates from Glasgow

In top-10 of 2010 Times Good University Guide

95% satisfaction in 2009 National Student Survey

Partner in WestCHEM Research School

Chemistry

Chemical Biology & Biological Chemistry‾ synthesis of biologically-active compounds‾ biological macromolecules in molecular biology

Chemical Nanosciences‾ nano-scale molecular manipulation‾ functionality through self-assembly & structure

rearrangement

Chemistry

Chemical Structure & Dynamics‾ theoretical, experimental and computational studies

of materials from enzymes to minerals

Inorganic and Organic Synthesis‾ inorganic biology, molecular magnetism,

polyoxometalate (POMs), nano-machines, total synthesis , medicinal chemistry, asymmetric synthesis & catalysts, organic materials

Chemistry

Materials Discovery and Functionality‾ materials for energy, inorganic nanochemistry,

cluster chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis, biomolecular materials

Physical Organic Chemistry‾ Reaction intermediates, supramolecular chemistry,

Electron & proton transfer

Chemistry

WestCHEM A RESEARCH level link between Universities of Glasgow

and Strathclyde Chemistry

£11M of funding, 2005-2009, pooling initiative (from Scottish Executive and OST)

Part of ScotCHEM umbrella (unifies Chemistry across Scotland; large critical mass of researchers)

In top-10 in UK in RAE2008 on Power Ratings (Quality x critical mass)

Chemistry

WestCHEM £4.5M Centre for Physical Organic Chemistry

SPIRIT collaborations (£1.8M across ScotCHEM; 30 PhDs with local industry; £1M Crystallisation initiative)

£3.2M Programme Grant on Molecular Metal Oxide Nanoelectronics

Computing Science

Research themes:

Computer Vision and Graphics

Embedded, Networked and Distributed Systems

Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms

Human Computer Interaction

Inference

Information Retrieval

Software Engineering and Security

www.glasgow.ac.uk/schools/computing/research/

Computing Science

Robot Vision Land Mine Detection 3D Imaging

Computing Science

Embedded, Networked and Distributed Systems (ENDS)

Automated management of large-scale communication networks

Real-Time Video Distribution over IP Networks Machine architectures

System-on-Chip architecture FPGA computing and high-level FPGA

programming

Wireless Sensor Networks Performance modelling of communication systems

Parallel programming and computer architecture

Modelling and Analysis of Networked and Distributed Systems

Computing Science

Formal Analysis, Theory and Algorithms (FATA)

Algorithms and complexity Formal modelling of complex systems Model checking Combinatorial search Quantum computation Computational biology

Applications from kidney exchange matching to telecommunications software

Computing Science

Human Computer Interaction (GIST)Multi-modal Interaction 3D sound and Earcons in human-computer

interfaces interaction design for older users and users

with visual disabilities brain-computer interaction gestural and auditory interactions for mobile

environments, multimodal, negotiated interaction in mobile

scenarios,

Social/Ubiquitous/Mobile social and perceptual issues in the design

and theory of computer systems

Accident Analysis failure of complex systems, including

national critical infrastructures understanding failures in international

infrastructures: a comparison of major blackouts in North America and Europe

Computing Science

Inference key survival pathways in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) stem cells and novel

approaches to their eradication

mathematical and statistical modelling of Cytokine Receptor Cross-Regulation by Cyclic Amp

inference-based modelling in population and systems biology

CLIMB - Classifiers in Medicine and Biology (Advancing Machine Learning Methodology for New Classes of Prediction Problems

Bayesian Inference in Systems Biology: Modelling Organ Specificity of Circadian Control in Plants

Computing Science

Information Retrieval large scale systems development

– Terrier- IR platform web information retrieval retrieval from blog and twitter data measuring the user’s experience (i.e. usage

based effectiveness measures) understanding user behavior (i.e why users

act in certain ways) multimedia information retrieval enabling collaborative search for video exploiting emotion for retrieval adaptive search interfaces

Computing Science

Software Engineering and Security “alternative” authentication mechanisms

– working on security issues from the policy perspective

– automatically choosing distractors for Doodle password systems

dependable socio-technical systems Java Object Oriented Program Animator

(JOOPA) parallelization for many-cores runtime memory management novel analysis of program code

Mikon Authentication for Children

Five research divisions:

Aerospace Sciences

Biomedical Engineering

Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering

Infrastructure and the Environment

Systems, Power and Energy

Engineering

www.glasgow.ac.uk/schools/engineering/research/

Aerospace Sciences Structural vibrations

Dynamic modelling

Non-linear dynamics

Helicopter flight dynamics

Unsteady fluid dynamics

Helicopter aerodynamics

Wind turbine aerodynamics

Active flow control

Computational fluid dynamics

Engineering

Rehabilitation Engineering Functional restoration Exercise therapy in spinal cord injury Rehabilitation through function

electrical stimulation

Bioelectronics & Bioengineering Environmental biological sensing Medical diagnostics Cell engineering

Biomedical Engineering

Engineering

Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering Nanofabrication and multi-scale heterogeneous integration

Integrated sensors, THz technologies and systems

Electronic and photonic devices, circuits and systems

Nano-CMOS fluctuation and Monte Carlo simulation

Engineering

Water and Environment Systems biology for environmental

engineering Sustainable water resources Fluvial and coastal engineering

Mechanics and Materials Multi-scale/multi-physics modelling Unsaturated soils Biomechanics

Infrastructure and Environment

Engineering

Power and Energy

Renewable energy

Power electronics

Electric machines

Drive systems

Motor controllers

SPEED

Power transmission systems

High power ultrasonics

Dynamics

Shape memory materials

Engineering

Research themes Earth-life processes Earth technology Environment, knowledge and development Extra-terrestrial and mantle processes Geographies of creativity and experiment Geographies of difference Political-economic geographies of justice

and solidarity Surface processes Shallow crustal processes

Extra-terrestrial and mantle processes Early Earth processes, early solar system

evolution

Geographical and Earth Sciences

www.glasgow.ac.uk/schools/ges/research/

Surface processes Interaction of tectonic and surface processes

in coastal, glacial and fluvial settings

Shallow crustal processes Primary geodynamic and tectonic processes

creating and modifying topography

Extra-terrestrial and mantle processes Early Earth processes, early solar system

evolution

Geographical and Earth Sciences: Earth Systems

Earth-life processes Processes, feedbacks and dependencies in

response to climatic and tectonic forcing

Biominerals and biomarkers

Earth technology Modelling of processes at or near the Earth’s

Surface

InSAR and high precision dGPS

Geochronology, especially low-temperature thermochronology

Geographical and Earth Sciences:

Earth Systems

Alkenones

Heptatriaconta-8E,15E,22E-trien-2-one; C37:3

Heptatriaconta-15E,22E-dien-2-one; C37:2

Environment, knowledge and development Indigenous environmental knowledges; community strategies for mitigating the

effects of environmental change; gender relations in ‘development’

contexts; place-based social movements; struggles over inequity

Political-economic geographies of justice and solidarity Structural adjustment; space-economy of old-industrial districts; alternative political-economies; participatory and ‘empowering’ forms of

urbanism; contested cultures of city neighbourhoods; alternative global political networks

Geographical and Earth Sciences: Human Geography

Geographies of differenceThe socio-spatial constitution of ‘otherness’ with particular focus around: physical and mental ill-health; Childhood; marginalised communities in the Global

South; non-human animals; biotechnology.

Geographies of creativity and experimentThe interface of creativity and geography, specifically: public artworks in community regeneration; how social, embodied and emplaced

relations shape the ways ‘geographical’ knowledges are acquired, transformed, represented and circulated;

how academic knowledges are acquired through the grounded ‘performances’ of the researcher.

Geographical and Earth Sciences: Human Geography

Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC)

A collaborative facility operated jointly by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow

Performs, stimulates and supports high quality basic, applied and strategic research within the Scottish university community and, more widely, in the Earth, Environmental and Biomedical Sciences

Host to five NERC Isotope Facilities providing analytical support to the UK scientific community

Main areas of research activity

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Environmental Radioactivity & Radiometrics

Luminescence

Radiocarbon dating

Stable Isotope Bioscience

www.glasgow.ac.uk/suerc

Applied Mathematics Fluid dynamics & magnetohydrodynamics Integrable systems & mathematical physics Mathematical biology Solid mechanics

Statistics Statistical methodology Biostatistics and genetics Environmental modelling

Pure Mathematics Algebra Analysis Geometry and topology

Mathematics and Statistics

www.glasgow.ac.uk/schools/mathematicsstatistics/research/

Applied Mathematics Fluid dynamics & magnetohydrodynamics

Integrable systems & mathematical physics

Mathematical biology

Solid mechanics

Mathematics and Statistics

Example topics:

The biological control of pests

Stress concentration in membranes

Dynamic modelling of heart valves

Recent honours include the William Prager medal

Statistics Statistical methodology

Biostatistics and genetics

Environmental modelling

Mathematics and Statistics

Example topics:

Bayesian modelling

Medical imaging

Air and water pollution

Recent honours include the RSS Guy medal in Silver, the Bradford Hill prize and an OBE.

Pure Mathematics Algebra

Analysis

Geometry and topology

Mathematics and Statistics

Example topics:

Quantum groups

Non-commutative phenomena

Differential geometry

Recent honours include two Whitehead prizes from the London Mathematical Society.

Research themes: Astronomy and astrophysics

Gravitational research

Nuclear physics

Optics

Particle physics

Solid state physics

Collaboration with Physics departments throughout Scotland through Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), and with Universities and Faculties all over the world.

Physics and Astronomy

www.glasgow.ac.uk/schools/physics/research/

Astronomy and astrophysics theory and simulation of solar and astrophysical plasmas;

understanding particle acceleration and energy release through the evolution of EM fields;

low-temperature gas-plasmas for commercial use.  

Institute for Gravitational Research spearheading the development of leading instrumentation for

the next generation of gravitational wave detectors, on the ground and in space

Physics and Astronomy

Nuclear physics First precision measurement of charge distribution within the

neutron at the Mainz Microtron

Optics Optical momentum, its foundations and applications, from

making knots of light, showing new forms of quantum entanglement and imaging to the holographic optical control of bacteria and cells

Theoretical particle physics The world’s most accurate calculations using the theory of the

strong force have given us quark properties to 1%, testing the Standard Model of particle physics

Physics and Astronomy

Experimental particle physics the world’s largest computer GRID now exceeds 100 sites

solving problems in Particle Physics, Bioinformatics, Computing and Engineering

Solid state physics functional materials by nanoscale control

advanced imaging and characterisation for development of novel polymers, semiconductors and magnetic materials leading to new solar cells, memory and much more

Physics and Astronomy

Research themes: Cognitive neuroscience

Visual perception

Language and communication

Aging

Face and gesture recognition

Autism and sensory processing

Sleep and biological rhythms

Human-robot interaction

Psychology

www.psy.glasgow.ac.uk/research/

Interdisciplinary research includes: Molecular pharmacology and cell signalling

systems

Mental disease

Sensory and motor networks

Spinal cord injury

Chronic pain

Sleep research

Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology

www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/neurosciencepsychology/