Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

The Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences includes the schools of Chemistry, Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science and Physics and Astronomy. The faculty is also home to the Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics, incorporating the Optoelectronics Research Centre, The Web Science Institute, and the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.

The Faculty counts 12 Fellows of the Royal Society, 17 Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, 3 Queen Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, and a number of faculty members had received Queen honours (Damehood, Knighthood and CBE). Alumni include business and industry leaders, eminent scientist and engineers, and government advisors.  The Faculty has a diverse community of nearly 6000 undergraduate and post-graduate students from world-wide, representing over 30 different nationalities.

The faculty's cleanrooms have the UK’s best photonics fabrication capabilities and nanoelectronics, and are just one example of our unique facilities. We are also home to the UK’s National X-ray Crystallography Service and the R.J. Mitchell Wind Tunnel, which is used extensively by industries such as motorsport, automotive, aerospace, marine, maritime and performance sport. Our High Voltage Laboratory is a world-class centre for research into dielectric materials, insulation systems and high voltage phenomena, and we are using the world’s fastest parallel supercomputers to predict high energy physics with unprecedented precision.

We have excellent rankings in the league tables across all our subjects: 

Guardian University Guide 2020

• Electronics and Electrical Engineering is ranked 6th in the UK.
• Civil Engineering is ranked 5th in the UK.
• Physics and Astronomy is ranked 13th in the UK.
• Mechanical Engineering (including Aeronautics and Astronautics, Acoustical Engineering and Ship Science) is ranked 11th in the UK.
• Computer Science programmes is ranked 17th in the UK.

Research Excellence Framework 2014

• General Engineering is 1st in the UK for research power
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering is 1st in the UK for research power
• Chemistry is 8th in the UK for research power
• 100% of our Computer Science research impact is world-leading or internationally excellent

Visit our school sites below to find out more about our subject specialisms and facilities, or find out more about our faculty.

Key people

Dean of Faculty, Engineering and Physical Sciences: Professor Michael Butler

Executive Officer to the Dean: Heidi Divis

Faculty Director of Graduate School: Dr Alan McAlpine

Associate Director of Faculty Operations: Jennie Calder-Smith

Head of Faculty Finance: Simon Mason 

Faculty Academic Registrar: Lesley Anne Adams 

HR Business Partner: Karen Payso

Associate Deans 

Associate Dean of Education: Professor Martyn Hill

Associate Dean of Research: Professor Robert Wood 

Associate Dean of Enterprise: Professor Ian Williams  

Associate Dean of International: Professor Mark Zwolinski 

Associate Dean of Academic Infrastructure: Professor Michael Butler 

Heads of School

Head of School, Chemistry: Professor Jonathan W Essex

Head of School, Electronics and Computer Science: Professor Paul Lewin

Head of School, Engineering: Professor David Richards

Head of School, Physics and Astronomy: Professor Mark Sullivan

Head of Zepler Institute for Phototonics and Nanoelectronics, incorporating the Optoelectronics Research Centre: Professor Sir David Payne