Throughout its 100 year history, the School of Physical and Astronomy has brought people together to foster world-changing discoveries. From trailblazing work on the structure of the atom, to the international collaboration jointly responsible for the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the Higgs boson, our discoveries capture headlines and showcase the diversity of our expertise and the breadth of our collaborations.
Today, we continue to deliver academic excellence and remain at the forefront of some of the most exciting discoveries of the last century. Evidence of our pioneering, collaborative spirit can be found in our leading a team of international scientists in facilities across Europe to discover the closest exoplanet to Earth, Proxima b. The significance of this discovery is manifold; it paves the way for the hunt for life elsewhere in the universe, and true to our spirit, showcases the power of diversity of thought.
By bringing together enquiring minds from across the world, we continue to yield remarkable work in the fields of physics and astronomy, while ensuring that every member of our community has the opportunity and tools to achieve the previously unthinkable.
We offer a range of degree programmes and qualifications available at undergraduate, MSc and PhD levels. These degree programmes reflect our research specialisms: astronomy, condensed matter and materials, theoretical physics and particle physics.
Each of the four research groups has dedicated resources, attracting funding from a variety of sources, including 3 prestigious ERC grants. We perform a range of world-leading fundamental (and applied research and have a long and successful cooperation with the industries closely related to our main research activities. Moreover, we are actively developing multidisciplinary collaborations which span from the traditional areas of science to opening new opportunities between academia, the industry, government services, science, and humanities.
We have an active outreach programme, engaging with our local community and society at large to deliver engaging physics and astronomy activities to inspire the next generation of scientists. In particular, we strive to attract under-represented members of the community and are fully engaged with the IoP JUNO initiative to address the gender imbalance in Physics departments. We are also actively engaged with the QMUL Athena Swan initiative.