The Department of Physics and Astronomy

The Department of Physics and Astronomy currently has a full-time academic staff complement of 30 (including 11 Professors) supported by over 100 research, technical and clerical staff. The Department is also host to 230 undergraduate students, following either BSc or MPhys degree courses, and over 40 postgraduate students registered for a higher degree.

The Department has a 40-year track record of internationally renowned academic research which attracts external funding, in the form of research grants and contracts, in excess of £5 million per annum. The main Physics building accommodates the Radio & Space Plasma Physics, X-ray & Observational Astronomy, Condensed Matter Physics and Theoretical Astrophysics Groups, as well as national centres for supercomputing, radar sounding and X-ray astronomy. A purpose built Space Research Centre (SRC) houses the Space Research Group and provides laboratories, clean rooms and other facilities for Instrumentation Research, Earth Observation Science and the Bio-imaging Unit.

Current space projects include the X-ray camera for the SWIFT gamma-ray burst mission launched November 2004 and the MIRI instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope. The SRC had a major role in the Beagle 2 Mars lander, will provide an instrument of the Bepi-Colombo Mercury mission and expects to be a key player in the future ESA Aurora programme for planetary exploration.

The department has strong links with the Diamond synchrotron light source: the largest scientific facility to be built in the UK for nearly 30 years. The construction of the £250M synchrotron began in March 2003, and, by January 2007 the Diamond light source will be offering cutting edge research facilities to scientists in the UK and abroad. Professor Colin Norris, the Physical Sciences Director of Diamond, is currently on leave of absence from the University of Leicester, while other members of the department are actively involved in the development of individual beamlines at this excting new facility.

As well as its world renowned scientific research the Department is committed to fostering links with industry to establish the transfer of ideas and technology from the cutting edge of research directly into the marketplace. In March 2004 we began a collaborative project with Seagate Technology LLC, the worlds largest manufacturer of disc drives. Seagate Technology are funding a project headed by Professor Chris Binns to create new, ultra-magnetic, materials with a prototype cluster-assembly technique pioneered at Leicester.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy carries out world class research in areas as diverse as:

	Condensed Matter Physics
	X-ray and Observational Astronomy
	Theoretical Astrophysics
	Earth Observation Science
	Radio and Space Plasma Physics
	Space Projects and Instrumentation

The research in all science departments in UK universities is externally and independently assessed every four years. In the most recent exercise (2008), 94% or our research outputs were deemed to be internationally excellent. Research in astronomy, space and planetary science has always formed a major part of activities within the department, leading to the award of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for this work in 1994. The department was rated as excellent in the most recent assessment of Teaching Quality in UK universities.

Besides as this enviable record in research and teaching our staff are recognised by their peers as some of the best in the world - some of the prizes and awards received by members of the Department are listed in the "Reviews and Awards" page. 

The University of Leicester

The University of Leicester is one of the UK’s leading research and teaching universities. The University was founded as a University College in 1921 and granted a Royal Charter in 1957. It has 19,000 students including more than 10,000 at postgraduate level. Many of these students are from overseas. There are 42 academic departments and 35 special divisions and centres located in six faculties. There is a University-wide Graduate School and an Institute of Lifelong Learning. The University employs approximately 3,000 staff and has been ranked in the UK’s top twenty universities in 2001 and 2002. It is also in the top 20 for research grant and contract income.