In 2016, Brunel University London celebrated 50 years as a university.  However, our history can be traced back much further to 1798 through our predecessor colleges of Borough Road College, Maria Grey College, Shoreditch College and the West London Institute of Higher Education and as well as through Acton Technical College then Brunel College.  Our rise since 1966 has been impressive and our reputation grows year on year.  Now a university of 12,746 students – 3,309 students engaged in postgraduate and research study – our special approach is to combine academic rigour with the practical, entrepreneurial and imaginative approach pioneered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Our research seeks to bring meaningful change to society; and empowers our students to lead that charge. That means tackling the major scientific and economic challenges facing the modern world, and delivering a world-class, research-informed education in all our subjects.

Meet the Brunel University London team

Cranfield University is a specialist postgraduate university. The university’s world-class expertise, large-scale facilities and unrivalled industry partnerships are creating leaders in technology and management globally. We work in partnership with business, academia, governments and other organisations to develop and deliver applied research and innovative education in science, technology, engineering, and management. Cranfield’s distinctive expertise is in its deep understanding of technology and management and how these work together to benefit the world. Our education portfolio is renowned for its relevance to business and industry, and we are the largest UK provider of master’s-level graduates in engineering and offer a flagship MBA, extensive world-class customised executive education and professional development programmes. Our work informs government policy and leads the way in producing cutting edge new technologies and products in partnership with industry. The research and consultancy we carry out for industry, government and business provides our students with a real-world learning environment, allowing them to develop as professionals and then transfer their knowledge to the global economy.

Meet the Cranfield University team

Heriot-Watt University is a specialist, pioneering University, with a global presence, world renowned, innovative research and highly employable graduates. The University strives to develop solutions in key areas of economic and societal benefit, through a number of interdisciplinary research centres and institutes including the flagship Lyell Centre. The School of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS), has an international research reputation and close connection with the professional and industrial world of science, engineering and technology. The university offers an integrated and multidisciplinary melting pot and a unique platform for innovation in science and technology to meet global environmental challenges, as reflected in this academic-industrial and collaborative research proposal by way of conducting dedicated research toward producing recombinant rhamnolipids for use in applications to enhance/improve the bioremediation of contaminated waters and land.

Meet the Heriot-Watt University team

As a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive Universities, Newcastle University has been working to understand our world since 1834. We push the boundaries of knowledge through innovation and creativity. Ranked as a Global top 110 University, our research and teaching are world leading. We have three campuses in Newcastle, Singapore, and Malaysia. Our 27,000-strong student community is drawn from 145 countries. Our community of over 250,000 alumni are creating outstanding impact around the globe. We’ve developed a global network of strategic industry partners and employers. Our collaborations are providing ideas and solutions of economic, social and cultural benefit for our world. Newcastle University offers a synergistic blend of world-leading research in engineering biology, state-of-the-art facilities, and cutting-edge expertise. Newcastle University is a powerhouse in engineering biology, with cross-faculty expertise spanning computational and model-based design of synthetic systems, development of synthetic bacterial systems, and core synthetic biology disciplines. This includes computing science, bioinformatics, engineering, cell biology, and responsible innovation. The environmental engineering group in the School of Engineering has been finding biological solutions to environmental problems since the late 1940s. For the past two decades they have spearheaded the synthesis of molecular microbial ecology, theoretical microbial ecology and design required to harness the metagenomics.

Meet the Newcastle University team

The University of East Anglia, part of the Norwich Research Park (NRP) is a world leading centre for microbiology, environmental sciences and biotechnology. The NRP is one of the largest hubs for microbiology research with over 250 scientists generating important discoveries year on year and has potential applications in the fields of pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food processing and environmental monitoring and remediation

Meet The University of East Anglia team

The University of Edinburgh is a world-leading centre of academic excellence. Thirty-eight percent of the university’s research was rated world-leading, and a further 45% internationally excellent, in the most recent assessment of research quality in UK universities. The University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Engineering Biology is a community of over 50 research groups and 200 researchers spanning biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, informatics, medicine, and social sciences. It is underpinned by specialist research facilities including Edinburgh Genome Foundry, the world’s largest automated DNA assembly platform and EdinOmics, for mass spectrometry, metabolomics, and proteomics analysis. Aligned with the UK Government’s National Engineering Biology Programme (NEBP) the centre builds on fundamental synthetic biology research and transforms it into real world solutions, driving impact and strengthening the UK’s position as an international leader.

Meet the University of Edinburgh team

The University of Essex is a university where curiosity prevails, and where exploring new ways of thinking and pushing boundaries, isn’t just encouraged, it’s expected. The university is equally committed to excellence in education and research, for the benefit of individuals, communities and society. The university’s determination to make a difference in society means it is ranked 56th in the global Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2023, which ranked more than 1,400 universities around the world. Making an impact through research is at the heart of the University. It is in the UK top 10 for research quality in four subjects (Grade Point Average, REF2021) and in the UK top 10 for research power in five subjects (Times Higher Education 2022).

The Ecology and Environmental Microbiology Group research aims at understanding the ecological mechanisms behind changes in global biodiversity and by association ecosystem functioning, and providing clear management and policy recommendations. The group addresses these challenges across all levels of biological organisation (from genes to ecosystems) and across taxonomic groups (from microbes to macro-organisms), focussing on four broad themes:

• Biodiversity (including microbial)
• Climate and environmental change
• Biogeochemical cycling
• Environmental biotechnology

The group’s research benefits society in the areas of conservation and sustainable use of living resources and their habitats, assessment of anthropogenic impacts on the environment, and detection and remediation of pollution.

Meet The University of Essex team

The University of Glasgow, Scotland, is a research-lead world top 100 university, founded in 1451. The University has over 23,000 undergraduate and 19,000 postgraduate students distributed over four colleges, including the College of Science and Engineering (CoSE). The James Watt School of Engineering is the largest school within the CoSE and hosts the Water and Environment Research group involved in EBIC.

Meet the University of Glasgow team

The University of Southampton is a research-intensive university and a founding member of the Russell Group. Our world-class teaching and research activities are delivered across 5 faculties, each of which hosts several subject-specific schools and departments. Our School of Engineering’s achievements in engineering span the last 3 centuries, during which we have used sound science and creative engineering to help shape the world you know today. Our expertise looks deep below the Earth’s crust, reaches into space and encompasses everything in between. In particular, we pride ourselves on our specialist knowledge in 4 key areas: aerospace, biomedical engineering, infrastructure and sports engineering. Our research focuses on solutions to real-life problems across a range of industries. From sustainable energy to resilient infrastructure, we’re addressing some of the biggest challenges facing modern society.

Meet The University of Southampton team