Universities united in research excellence
Science and Engineering South is a hub of world leading, research-intensive universities, committed to achieving a positive impact on the world around us.
Who we are
The Science and Engineering South Consortium (SES) is made up of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Southampton, Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, and University College London. We also work with other centres of research excellence in the UK and around the world.
In conjunction with healthy competition, collaborative research stimulates the exploration of new ideas and produces innovations that have a positive impact on society and industry.
Our researchers work on a variety of innovative projects, from slowing the ageing process to building better boats. Applications are wide and varying, providing an exciting future for UK research and industry.
To read more about how our researchers are working together and accessing shared research equipment, visit the case studies section of our website.
What we do
Access to high-value research equipment and expertise are common challenges across academic disciplines. By pooling demand and resources in science and engineering, we support our community of researchers by helping them access to a wide range of equipment and expertise.
SES has demonstrated how coordination of efforts and resources can leverage our collective expertise to deliver cutting-edge research findings that are helping society respond to its most pressing concerns. Through working together on mutual priorities such as high-performance computing, equipment and infrastructure, we seek to enable researchers to achieve things that would otherwise be impossible.
Our region
Our institutions’ catchment areas cover an area ranging from east Anglia in the east to the Cotswolds in the west, from the English Channel in the south, to the Fens in the north.
Each member institution’s location has wide-reaching inequalities. Their catchment areas include communities with some of the biggest inequality gaps between rich and poor in the UK.
Whether inner-city London, the rural east of England or the coastal towns of the Solent, our communities have their own distinct challenges, yet also many assets. Already, our members are ensuring that the impact of their research help to address some of these challenges, while also building partnerships and identifying future Science and Engineering research talent living in the communities that surround their campuses.
But our research impacts are not limited to the south of England. Many communities across the UK and the world have benefited from our members’ research activities. Partner institutions outside the region have had access to the facilities we have developed along with expertise at our universities, through collaborations and other initiatives.
Founding Principles
- Universities are regional anchors, integral to their ‘place’ in terms of excellent science, the translation of knowledge and skills into local economies, and being open to industry to benefit from access to leading scientists and infrastructure.
- Our institutions are globally-leading because they have the autonomy to invest in high quality science, and are dynamic in the competitive environment which is essential for the healthy development of excellent and impactful research.
- The south is a well-established and widely recognised UK hub for science and technology, supported by leading economic and social research.
- As communities of scholars and researchers, we believe in, and actively promote, the value of collaboration and the sharing of insights and resources in the UK and beyond.
- Our institutions, individually and in partnership with others and with industry and the public sector, train and develop the next generation of knowledge workers, raising the profile of UK-based research and innovation.
- Universities are the key drivers of the knowledge economy.