Research centre directory
A complete overview of our research centres across and within faculties.
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Externally-funded research centres
| Name | Acronym | Description | Faculty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centre for Korean Studies | The centre provides a home for the University of Sheffield’s research and teaching in the interdisciplinary field of Korean Studies. Housed within one of the largest East Asian Studies departments in Europe, the Centre marks Sheffield out as a leading hub for Korean Studies in the region and the world. | Arts and Humanities | |
| Royce at the University of Sheffield | Royce at the University of Sheffield is leading the Advanced Metals Processing research area of the Henry Royce Institute. We are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to help accelerate university and industry ideas through to an industry production scale in order to meet our global challenges. | Engineering | |
| Sheffield Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Research Centre | S2GRE | Since 2009, the unique S2GRE Research Centre has been developing the most reliable, innovative and efficient wind turbine generators. The Centre is located at the Kroto Innovation Centre, and is part of the long term partnership with the EMD Group. | Engineering |
| South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre | SYSC | Led by the University of Sheffield, the South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre connects world-leading research with regional partners to develop and implement plans to reduce emissions, while also providing jobs and economic growth. | Engineering |
| Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre in Advanced Electrical Machines and Drives | UTC | The UTC is one of 30 such centres worldwide. The UTC in Advanced Electrical Machines and Drives undertakes research programmes under the direction of Rolls-Royce with a view to facilitating advancements in technology aimed at future Rolls-Royce market requirements. | Engineering |
| EPSRC Future Continuous Manufacturing and Advanced Crystallisation Research Hub | CMAC | Working in close partnership with our Tier 1, Tier 2, academic and innovation partners, over the last 10 years CMAC has established a vibrant portfolio of pre-competitive multidisciplinary collaborative research, training and translation projects, within a world-class facility. | Engineering |
| EPSRC Future Electrical Machines Manufacturing Hub (FEMM) | FEMM | Through delivering world-class manufacturing research and innovation, the Hub will assist UK manufacturing to capture significant value in the electrical machine supply chain, improve UK industrial productivity and deliver the environmental benefits and cleaner growth at the heart of the UK’s industrial strategy. | Engineering |
| EPSRC Manufacture using Advanced Powder Processes (MAPP) | MAPP | Working with academic, commercial and innovation partners, MAPP is delivering on the promise of powder-based manufacturing to provide low energy, low cost, and low waste high value manufacturing routes and products to secure UK manufacturing productivity and growth. | Engineering |
| Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre | BRC | The BRC creates an environment where early-phase, clinical and applied research can thrive. Our aim is to bridge the gap between new discoveries and the development of improved treatments, diagnostics, medical technologies and policy changes, ultimately improving patient care. | Health |
| Sheffield Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre | Health | ||
| Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation | LC3M | The Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation brings together researchers from a wide range of backgrounds to explore the potential of using enhanced rock weathering on croplands to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. | Science |
| Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures |
The Grantham Centre is a collaboration between the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment and The University of Sheffield. Experts from academia, business and policy come together to create a sustainable future. Key to this is mentoring the next generation of sustainability researchers: the Grantham Scholars. |
Science | |
| ESRC Centre for Care | The Centre for Care aims to produce crucial new research and to make a strong theoretical contribution to understandings of care. Our focus is on care from the perspective of families and individuals, communities and workers and the care practices, services and systems that affect them. We aim to produce accessible, impactful research for all to use. | Social Sciences | |
| UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence | CaCHE |
The UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence is a consortium of eight institutions including the University of Sheffield. Established in August 2017, the centre is a multidisciplinary partnership between academia, housing policy and practice. CaCHE researchers produce evidence and new research that contribute to tackling the UK’s housing problems at a national, devolved, regional, and local level. |
Social Sciences |
Cross-faculty research centres
| Name | Acronym | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy Lifespan Institute | HELSI | The Healthy Lifespan Institute is transforming the experience of ageing. We’re the UK’s first interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to understanding and preventing multimorbidity and frailty - to help everyone live healthier lives for longer. |
| Institute for Sustainable Food | The Institute for Sustainable Food finds dynamic solutions to the challenges of food security and sustainability. Our innovative research draws on the fields of science, engineering, social sciences, and arts and humanities. | |
| Digital Humanities Institute | DHI | The UK's leading centre for research and teaching in digital humanities, digital culture and cultural data. |
| Music Mind Machine | CMMM | Music Mind Machine research centre offers a platform for researchers and students to investigate musical experience from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining theories and methods from music, psychology, social sciences and computational sciences. |
| INSIGNEO Institute | Driving innovative research at the interface of healthcare, engineering and science to transform the future of healthcare technology. | |
| Sheffield Water Centre | An interdisciplinary water research centre, dedicated to continuing the University of Sheffield's highly collaborative and innovative approach to solving major challenges in the water sector. | |
| Centre for Machine Intelligence | CMI | Bringing together researchers from across the disciplines to tackle some of the greatest global challenges facing society today, such as energy production and security, sustainable food systems, healthy ageing and treating neurological disorders. |
| Neuroscience Institute | The Neuroscience Institute brings together leading experts in medicine, science and engineering to better understand the nervous system and tackle the biggest challenges in neuroscience. | |
| Energy Institute |
The institute is home to more than 300 of the best minds in energy research from around the world, dedicated to using transformational research, innovation and collaboration to address the world’s biggest energy challenges. |
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| Bateson Centre | The Bateson Centre is a vibrant partnership between basic and clinician scientists at the University of Sheffield, and is the world’s foremost Centre dedicated to the use of innovative models for understanding human disease. | |
| Florey Institute for Host-Pathogen Interactions | Set within the context of emerging antibiotic resistance, we study the complex interaction between pathogens and their host. By working together with our collaborative partners, we are ‘bridging the gap’ between science and patient care to tackle this global threat to human healthcare. | |
| Sheffield Institute For Nucleic Acids | SInFoNiA | SInFoNiA is the home for all forms of nucleic-acids focused research at the University of Sheffield. We are a cross-cutting group, incorporating teams from the faculties of Science, Medicine and Engineering with a common goal to understand nucleic acids better. |
| Data Connect | Improving researcher access to health and social care data, and working with the people and service providers of South Yorkshire to improve health outcomes across the region. |
Faculty research centres
Arts and Humanities
| Name | Acronym | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sheffield Centre for Research in Film | SCRIF | The Sheffield Centre for Research in Film (SCRIF) acts as a hub for a diverse, interdisciplinary community of scholars and researchers, from the University of Sheffield and beyond, with shared interests in the significance, analysis, role and impact of the moving image. |
| Sheffield Centre for Early Modern Studies | SCEMS |
Sheffield is home to one of the largest, most vibrant, and respected centres for early modern studies in the world, with currently over 50 staff and fellows. Expertise ranges from the late medieval to the late eighteenth century, from musicology to social history, and from Yorkshire parishes to American colonies; from literary editing and manuscripts, to news-books and novels, to material culture and social practice; from history and literature to linguistics and philosophy. |
| Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies | SCIBS | We're one of the leading global institutes for innovative, multidisciplinary research on the Bible. Our research is internationally recognised and we explore a variety of interests in ancient and contemporary contexts. |
| The Prokhorov Centre | The Prokhorov Centre is the only research forum in the UK with an integrated focus on the intellectual and cultural histories of both Central and Eastern Europe, not from a political or political-science perspective, but from the vantage-point of the various humanities disciplines, above all philosophy, history, art history, and comparative literature. | |
| Centre for Engaged Philosophy | The Centre for Engaged Philosophy brings together scholars and practitioners dedicated to philosophical practices that aim to inform, learn from, and build, ongoing collaborative relationships of import beyond the academy. | |
| Centre for Contemporary and Modern History | CoMo | CoMo brings together international research expertise that ranges across the globe. We share a belief that the modern and contemporary world is best understood as an interconnected whole and we bring a historical perspective to current events. |
| Centre for the History of the Gothic |
The Centre brings together colleagues from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities who have an interest in the historical and national contexts in which the Gothic of the eighteenth century emerges and the influence that it had on the nineteenth century Gothic. |
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| Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies | Since 1992 the Centre has supported collaborative research on fundamental issues concerning the nature of cognition. The Centre is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together researchers across a broad range of different fields, including animal psychology, anthropology, biology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, economics, evolutionary psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, and philosophy. | |
| Medieval and Ancient Research Centre | MARCUS | MARCUS brings together a concentration of research and teaching expertise that is unique within the UK. Ranging from archaic Greece to Renaissance Europe, MARCUS represents an array of disciplines, from history to biblical studies, from philosophy to languages, and from archaeology to music. |
| The Sheffield Animal Studies Research Centre | ShARC | ShARC is an interdisciplinary centre for research which considers nonhuman animals and human–animal relations. Sheffield is unique in having a significant number of prominent animal studies researchers, leading to the development of the ShARC, a network of scholars, graduate and undergraduate students. |
| Sheffield Performer and Audience Research Centre | SPARC | SPARC was founded in 2010 as part of the strong profile of music psychology research at the University of Sheffield. We work collaboratively with arts sector organisations, developing rigorous, interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the how, why and when of audience experience. |
| Centre for Linguistic Research | The Centre for Linguistic Research brings together linguists from across the university. Our members work with a range of theoretical frameworks, and over than a dozen Germanic, Romance, Slavonic and Asian languages. | |
| Contemporary Folklore Research Centre | Rooted in the University of Sheffield's notable history of Folklore and Cultural Tradition research, The Contemporary Folklore Research Centre promotes and supports research into expressions of cultural and communal identities and practices. | |
| Centre for Dutch and Flemish Studies | The Centre for Dutch and Flemish Studies is a hub for all Dutch and Flemish related cultural and research activities at Sheffield and in the North of the UK. | |
| Centre for Luxembourg Studies | The University of Sheffield is home to the international Centre for Luxembourg Studies, the only one of its kind outside of Luxembourg. | |
| Centre for Nineteenth Century Studies | The Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines across the University of Sheffield and aims to promote genuinely interdisciplinary and collaborative research. | |
| Centre for Poetry and Poetics | CPP | The CPP brings together those fascinated by poetry both in and out of Sheffield. It comprises faculty from the University of Sheffield, alongside Sheffield based poets, presses and other affiliates. The centre is unique in the country for its ability to draw on experts in the history of poetry and its forms, from the twelfth century to the present day, from cognitive poetics to the material history of cheap print, from translation to creative writing through editorial theory. |
Engineering
| Name | Acronym | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Rail Innovation and Technology Centre | RITC | Drawing on disciplinary specialists from across the university we apply expertise to address the challenges of infrastructure, vehicle systems, energy supply, and station operation. |
| Centre for Research into Electrical Energy Storage and Applications | CREESA | The Centre for Research into Electrical Energy Storage and Applications is one of the UK’s leading research centres on all aspects of electrical energy storage. |
| Leonardo Centre for Tribology | Tribology is the science of interacting surfaces and covers friction, lubrication and wear. The Leonardo Centre specialises in all aspects of fundamental and industrially applied research and development in tribology. | |
| Rolls-Royce Control and Monitoring Systems University Technology Centre | UTC | Working alongside Rolls-Royce experts, from within a world-class Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering, the UTC carries out short-term and long-term collaborative research with the aim of supporting the company's business aims through improving the product, improving productivity and reducing cost-of-ownership. |
| Centre for Experimental Thermodynamics | CETUK | CETUK is a technology hub for measuring fundamental material properties and for thermal processing. It aims to support national and international academic and industrial communities, benefiting applications of materials design and processing for the cement, ceramics, metallurgy, and glass sectors. |
| Urban Flows Observatory | Urban Flows will help cities to thrive within the carrying capacity of the planet by developing a globally leading understanding of the flows of energy and resources. | |
| Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Group | Understanding how materials interact with the human body and what we can do to develop new materials to improve quality of life is what drives our research into biomaterials and tissue engineering. | |
| Communications Research Group | We excel in the implementation of hardware test beds to assess the performance of communications systems under development, improving the efficiency of radios and wireless networks used in areas of research, such as 5G and beyond. | |
| Dynamics Research Group | DRG | The DRG conducts research into vibrations and the dynamics of structures. The main areas of research are: nonlinear dynamics, structural health monitoring, active and passive vibration control and smart materials and structures. |
| Electrical Machines and Drives Group | EMD | With an outstanding track record for innovation and successful commercialisation the Electrical Machines and Drives group is known for its pioneering research on permanent magnet machines and drives for applications used in automotive, aerospace, renewable energy and consumer product sectors. |
| Green Nanomaterials Research Group |
Our vision is to develop sustainable, scalable and economical routes to functional nanostructured materials. We address aspects from discovery to manufacturing, applications and commercialisation. The group is passionate about training next generation scientists and in widely disseminating research outcomes. |
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| Immobilisation Science Laboratory | Nuclear energy provides over a third of the world’s low-carbon electricity. Our research is working on ways that we can continue to generate power this way safely, securely and sustainably. We look at the materials used in power generation, emerging generation methods and nuclear waste disposal. | |
| NanoLAB | NanoLAB is a research centre that focuses on the development of new and improved nanostructured materials/products and novel nanocharacterisation methodologies to determine material microstructure, chemistry and function down to the nanoscale. | |
| Natural Language Processing Group | The Natural Language Processing Research Group, established in 1993, is one of the largest and most successful language processing groups in the UK and has a strong global reputation. | |
| Natural Robotics Lab | The Natural Robotics Lab was founded in 2010, to investigate robotic systems inspired by nature and robotic models of natural systems. Particular emphasis is on the study of self-assembling robotic systems and swarm robotic systems. | |
| Pennine Water Group | The Pennine Water Group aimed to advance engineering and scientific knowledge across all aspects of potable water, storm water and waste water. | |
| Research Software Engineering Group | RSE | The RSE group supports research software developers (any researcher who develops software) and research software engineers across the University through our community activities. |
| Rigorous Research | The Rigorous Research team was established in March 2015 in the Algorithms research group of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield. Rigorous Research focuses on understanding how computers may imitate processes occurring successfully in nature to automatically solve complex computational problems. | |
| Resources, Infrastructure Systems and Built Environments | RISE | RISE is a growing research group which seeks to enable the creation of a built environment that allows humanity to thrive within the carrying capacity of the planet. |
| Security of Advanced Systems | The Security of Advanced Systems Research Group carries out fundamental and applied research in cybersecurity. We draw on expertise in correctness by design and in machine learning and are building wider collaborations with high technology domains. | |
| Sheffield Fluid Mechanics Group | SFMG | We develop fluid mechanics research in our traditional areas of expertise. At the same time we believe that interdisciplinary partnership can bring additional complementary strength in understanding research problems. The group creates an environment where new directions or research emerge. |
| Sheffield Biomedical Robotics Laboratory | Our focus is the design, fabrication and control of robots that operate long term to restore, repair or replace biological functions and impact human healthcare. Our work includes robotic implants, ingestible capsules, prosthetic wearables and plant prostheses. | |
| Speech and Hearing Group | SPandH | The Speech and Hearing Research Group is concerned with computational modelling of auditory and speech perception in humans and machines; robustness in speech recognition and large vocabulary speech recognition systems and their applications. |
| Translational Energy Research Centre | TERC |
TERC is a world-leading pilot-scale testing and demonstration facility, forming part of the Energy Institute. We give industry pioneers and researchers the opportunity to work with cutting-edge equipment and world-leading academics to develop innovative technologies which can decarbonise our energy systems. |
| UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre | UKCCSRC | The mission of the UKCCSRC is to ensure that carbon capture and storage plays an effective role in helping the UK achieve decarbonisation and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. |
Health
| Name | Acronym | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mellanby Centre for Bone Research | The Mellanby Centre combines a world-class translational programme of basic and clinical bone research with a wide-ranging and comprehensive remit. | |
| Centre for Urgent and Emergency Care Research | CURE | The Centre for Urgent and Emergency Care Research (CURE) aims to improve the quality of urgent and emergency care through rigorous objective independent research. |
| MRC Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated Research into Musculoskeletal Ageing | CIMA |
We focus on the role of epigenetic changes in cells and tissues affected by musculoskeletal ageing, the development of an assessment protocol for monitoring age-related decline in the musculoskeletal system, and proof of principle pre-clinical and human studies to identify interventions that reduce the deleterious effects of ageing on the musculoskeletal system. |
| Health and Care Research Unit | HCRU |
Our aim is to carry out research that influences health care, social care and third sector practice and policy for the benefit of service users and the public. We develop and evaluate services and technologies to measure the impact on user outcomes, service effectiveness and the wider social and economic effects. |
| Sheffield Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre |
Science
| Name | Acronym | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Imagine: Imaging Life | We aim to push the boundaries of microscopy and imaging technology to understand biology at the molecular level. | |
| Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research | ||
| Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre | SP2RC | The Centre's work is at the forefront of addressing theoretical and observational issues in solar and solar system physics. This includes solar magneto-seismology, dynamics of the solar atmosphere, solar wind, magnetosphere and space weather. |
| Centre for Stem Cell Biology | CSCB | We are a centre of excellence for pioneering stem cell research, undertaking fundamental and applied research on the biology of pluripotent stem cells with the aim to develop cell therapies for regenerative medicine. |
| Active Touch Laboratory | The Active Touch Laboratory uses methods in psychophysics, computational modelling, and robotics to investigate tactile sensing in people and intelligent machines. | |
| Sheffield Solar |
We provide historical, real-time and forecasted solar PV output data at national and regional level and at network supply points within electricity systems. We maintain solar PV capacity databases and topographic lookups between solar PV sites and the electricity network. We develop models and data services to support the energy industry during the transition to net zero. |
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| Consortium for Fundamental Physics | ||
| NERC Environmental Omics Facility | NEOF |
NEOF is a centre of excellence that allows the UK to maintain and develop its world-leading position in environmental omics. It empowers the next generation of environmental researchers with a full range of omic tools and the skills to address pressing environmental science challenges, including biodiversity, species interactions and threats to our wildlife. |
| Sheffield Autism Research Lab | ShARL | The Sheffield Autism Research Lab seeks to advance research into Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) and genetic syndromes, with the aim of having a positive impact on the lives of diagnosed individuals. |
| Soft Matter Analytical Laboratory | This facility is home to state-of-the-art X-ray scattering and rheology instruments, giving scientists the ability to analyse the structure of nanomaterials in unprecedented detail. |
Social Sciences
| Name | Acronym | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Centre for Criminological Research | We are one of the four original criminological centres of excellence in the UK and recently celebrated our 30th anniversary. Reaching across the university to bring together experts from a wide-range of excellent departments, we form a multi-disciplinary Centre conducting high quality research on a variety of key criminological subjects. | |
| Institute for the Study of the Human | iHuman | Disruptive research into what it means to be human from scholars and researchers in the fields of Science and Technology Studies and Critical Disability Studies. |
| Centre for Decent Work | CDW | Focusing on contemporary developments in labour markets and the workplace. Much of the research undertaken by CDW takes a political economy perspective, examining how work and employment are affected by the interplay of changes in the social and economic policies of governments, national and international regulations and institutions, the strategies adopted by employers and trade unions, and shifts in the international division of labour. |
| Centre for Designed Ecology | The Research Centre for Designed Ecology, hosted by the Landscape Department at the University of Sheffield, collects and collates a supporting knowledge base, provides a forum and a network for international connections and contacts, and promotes the capacity of the Centre to deliver research and consultancy for programmes and projects that embrace the Designed Ecology concept. | |
| Centre for Freedom of the Media | CFOM |
The Centre for Freedom of the Media is an interdisciplinary research centre with global outreach on issues of media freedom, independence and plurality.CFOM aims to inform and advise governments, policy-makers and stakeholders internationally on countering threats to media freedom, and to bring about positive changes to laws, policy and practice and raise standards of journalism safety worldwide. |
| Institute for Work Psychology | IWP | IWP combines scientific quality with practical relevance. Our emphasis is on the effects of work on employee wellbeing and performance. |
| Sheffield Institute of Corporate and Commercial Law | SICCL | SICCL includes members committed to research on law and the economy, including markets and their limitations. We take a pluralistic and interdisciplinary approach, informed by both the social sciences and the humanities, and engage with a variety of perspectives, including doctrinal, socio-legal and empirical, law and economics, critical, philosophical, historical and comparative. |
| The Centre for Research into Accounting and Finance in Context | CRAFiC | CRAFiC aims to develop inclusive, sustainable and resilient societies through the interdisciplinary study of accounting and finance in local and global contexts. |
| Sheffield Centre for International and European Law | SCIEL | We are actively involved in the dissemination of research, forging research links with other national and international academic institutions, research centres and think-tanks and in working with governments, international institutions and NGOs. |
| Centre for Information Literacy Research | CILR | Launched in July 2007, CILR's mission is to explore, illuminate and develop the field of information literacy through the conduct and stimulation of research and related activities. |
| Operations Management and Decision Sciences | OMDS | OMDS carries out research across three main themes: Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Production, and Information Management and Decisions Sciences. |
| Sheffield Metascience Network | MetaNet | Sheffield Metascience Network is a new initiative which aims to facilitate networking, exchange and collaboration between University of Sheffield researchers and professional staff involved in, or supportive of, metascience and research on research. |
Research networks
Explore our many research networks on their faculty websites: