Equipment
To achieve and sustain internationally leading levels of research in the fields of science and engineering, good access to research equipment and cutting-edge techniques is essential.
Over the past decade, more and more collaboration has been taking place, both within and between universities, to make better use of equipment.
SES members are working together to identify opportunities to provide greater efficiencies in equipment procurement and use, by encouraging greater collaborative activity.
At the same time our members are engaging with industry and other bodies to promote economic growth through sharing research facilities and equipment.
Together, we explore how shared infrastructure and training help strengthen the UK’s international competitiveness in research.
Equipment sharing
The SES member institutions contribute to a national database of research facilities and equipment identifying, those facilities which are available for sharing across the consortium.
The equipment.data search engine, run by Jisc and funded by EPSRC, allows our researchers to locate equipment, which are internally available at one of our institutions.
Find equipment at your institution:
- Kings College London
- Imperial College London
- Queen Mary University of London
- University College London
- University of Cambridge
- University of Oxford
- University of Southampton
You can access the national equipment database via the button below.
Equipment sharing group
Our equipment sharing network meets on a termly basis, to share knowledge and explore common issues. Recent meetings have discussed sharing platforms and how participants are responding to challenges at their universities.
Please email Rosie Niven for further information.
Facilities and infrastructure
In the south east, we also have a number of national research facilities and infrastructure hubs based at our member universities.
- National Crystallography Service – Southampton
- National Centre for Research methods – Southampton
- National Oceanographic Centre – Southampton
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies – UCL
- National Dark Fibre Infrastructure Services – UCL
- National Wind Tunnel Facility – Imperial and Cambridge
- Maxwell Institute – Cambridge
- Royce – Cambridge
Further information
Useful links
The latest on equipment
Royce Cambridge
The Royce facilities at the University of Cambridge provides state-of-the-art equipment for the study of many different materials with almost a third of users from outside the host institution. Find out more about how Royce Cambridge supports the UK research ecosystem.
Research technology professionals – adding value to research teams
When research technology professionals work with your team it makes for ‘happy researchers’ delegates at a SES event heard last month.
Research technology professionals: the hidden roles behind research success
Research Technology Professionals play a crucial role in achieving high-quality research outputs. Supporting their career progression benefits the whole research community.
SES members to receive £24m for particle physics research
Six SES members to receive a share of a £60m investment, which supports the next generation of particle physicists.
Making laboratories greener with LEAF
Historically, universities have lacked guidance on how to make labs more sustainable. Now SES members are using the LEAF framework to build sustainability into day-to-day lab usage.
Using the equipment sharing database to tackle COVID-19
University equipment sharing databases were a response to new grant funding requirements, but Chris Wilkinson reports that the University of Cambridge’s database is taking on added significance in the COVID-19 pandemic.