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Draft:University of Edinburgh School of Engineering

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  • Comment: Primary sources do not establish notability per WP:ORG.
    Note that while universities by and large are notable, individual faculties/departments/schools/colleges by and large aren't. DoubleGrazing (talk) 10:49, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

University of Edinburgh School of Engineering
Established1868 (1868)
Parent institution
University of Edinburgh
Location,
Scotland
,
UK
Websitewww.eng.ed.ac.uk

The School of Engineering is an academic unit of the University of Edinburgh, responsible for research, teaching, outreach and commercialisation in Engineering. It is the largest of seven Schools in the College of Science and Engineering.

The School of Engineering is ranked 59th in the world by the QS World University Rankings 2024 and 83rd in the world by the THE World University Rankings 2024. Its joint submission with Heriot Watt University is ranked 3rd in the UK in the latest 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) by research power:[1].

The School is organised into four major Disciplines (or subject areas) of Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Its research is carried out in a number of thematically coherent Research Institutes.

History

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Engineering and its underpinning applied mathematics, chemistry and natural philosophy has been taught and practiced at the University since at least the 1600s[2]. By the middle of the 19th Century it had gained a global reputation for educating the leading engineers of the day.

Engineering gained a formal footing as a Department with the establishment of the UK’s first Regius Professor of Engineering in 1868 and was based in Old College. A degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering was introduced and Honours degrees were awarded separately in Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from 1926 and in Chemical Engineering from the mid-1950s.The School celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2018[3].

The School has taken several forms over the years reflecting more or less integration and wider university practices. These include as a single Department of Engineering, a School of Engineering Science, and separate Departments or Divisions of core subject areas. The School reached its current reunified form in 2002 with the merger of the Division of Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

Since 2002 the School has grown rapidly and is similar in scale to engineering faculties at many other UK universities. The Head of School has similar authority and responsibilities as a Dean at other leading institutions.

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes

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The School offers a wide range of taught programmes. The School offers single and joint honours Bachelors (BEng) and Masters (MEng) across its Disciplines[4]

In addition it offers a range of one and two year taught masters (MSc) degrees that reflect its research strengths.

Research

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The School’s research is carried out across a number of interdisciplinary research Institutes:

  • Institute for Imaging, Data and Communications (IDCoM)[5]
  • Institute for Energy Systems (IES)[6]
  • Institute for Infrastructure and Environment (IIE)[7]
  • Institute for Integrated Micro and Nano Systems (IMNS)[8]
  • Institute for Materials and Processes (IMP)[9]
  • Institute for Multiscale Thermofluids (IMT)[10]

The School has a large Graduate School of around 500 research students undertaking PhDs, Engineering Doctorates, MPhil and MScR degrees.

Buildings

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The School is currently accommodated on the King's Buildings campus across a large number of buildings. These include the Sanderson Building, one of the first buildings on the campus which opened in 1932. This was followed by a major expansion in the 1960s adjacent to the Sanderson Building which comprising the Hudson Beare, Faraday, and Fleeming Jenkin buildings and the Structures Hall. Other buildings developed since then include the Alrick, John Muir, Alexander Graham Bell and William Rankine buildings, as well as the Scottish Microelectronics Centre and FloWave facilities. It also has substantial footprint in several other buildings at King's Buildings and the Fastblade facility at Rosyth Dockyard. A new building is due to open in early 2026[11].

Prior to its move to King's Buildings Engineering was also accommodated at other sites within the University including at Old College (to 1906) and High School Yards (1906-1932)[12].

Notable People

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Current Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh

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Alumni and former staff who have made significant contributions

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  • Sir James Alfred Ewing, engineer and cryptographer, coined the term ‘hysteresis’, former Principal and Vice Chancellor (1916- 1929) of the University of Edinburgh
  • Sir Alexander Moncrieff FRS, Military engineer[13]
  • Robert Stephenson, pioneering railway and locomotive engineer
  • Robert Stevenson, lighthouse engineer
  • Robert Louis Stevenson, author
  • John Rennie, canal and bridge pioneer
  • Robert Stirling, inventor of the Stirling engine.
  • George Parker Bidder, ‘calculating boy’, railway engineer and former President of the Institution of Civil Engineers
  • William Rankine, Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at Glasgow University and founder of thermodynamics
  • Elijah McCoy, son of a fugitive slave and prolific inventor
  • Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin, telegraph pioneer, first Regius Chair in Engineering
  • Dorothy Donaldson Buchanan, first female member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and co-designer of Sydney Harbour Bridge.
  • Molly Ferguson, first woman to graduate with honours in engineering from the University of Edinburgh and first female Fellow of the ICE
  • David Milne, founder of Wolfson Microelectronics
  • Jim Reid, founder of Wolfson Microelectronics
  • Sir Duncan Michael, co-designer of the Sydney Opera House and former chairman of ARUP[14]
  • Azar Besharat, first female graduate in chemical engineering; developer of Canadian hair removal company[15]
  • Stephen Salter, wave power pioneer
  • Frank Rushbrook[16], fire safety expert
  • Xia Peisu, Chinese computer scientist and “The mother of Computer Science in China”
  • Jason Meredith Reese, Regius Chair of Engineering, fluid mechanicist
  • Harald Haas, Van Eck Professor of Engineering, University of Cambridge; and inventor of LiFi
  • Uwe Stein, Technical Director of Flowcopter Ltd and formerly at Artemis Intelligent Power[17]
  • Richard Yemm, inventor of the Pelamis wave energy converter

References

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  1. ^ "Research rankings confirm Edinburgh as world leader". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  2. ^ Ron M. Birse, Engineering at Edinburgh University: A Short History, 1673-1983 University of Edinburgh School of Engineering, 1983, ISBN 0950892009
  3. ^ https://engineering150.eng.ed.ac.uk/
  4. ^ https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/studying/degrees
  5. ^ https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/idcom
  6. ^ https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/ies
  7. ^ https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/iie
  8. ^ https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/imns
  9. ^ https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/imp
  10. ^ https://www.eng.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/imt
  11. ^ www.ed.ac.uk/estates/campus-development/kings-buildings/current-projects
  12. ^ Ron M. Birse, Engineering at Edinburgh University: A Short History, 1673-1983 University of Edinburgh School of Engineering, 1983, ISBN 0950892009
  13. ^ https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1912_supplement/Moncrieff,_Alexander
  14. ^ https://engineeringhalloffame.org/profile/duncan-michael
  15. ^ https://www.ed.ac.uk/global/uncovered/1960/azar-besharat-moayeri
  16. ^ https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-dr-frank-rushbrook-fire-safety-expert-1544303
  17. ^ https://raeng.org.uk/about-us/fellowship/new-fellows-2022/dr-uwe-stein-freng