As a research-intensive university, Birmingham is committed to conducting research that is world-leading in terms of its originality and distinctiveness, significance and rigour. We are internationally recognised for research that is agenda-setting and for transferring research outcomes to ensure positive impacts on culture and society, human health, the economy and environment.
We encourage individual excellence and capitalise on our distinctive multi- and inter-disciplinary research strengths in order to address key national and global challenges, with research that tackles global health risks, strives to identify new energy sources, encourages adaptation to climate change and even tackles the effects of ageing. We recognise that the complexity of these challenges are best met when the best minds from different disciplines are able to work together, combining their different perspectives and skills.
The Research Fortnight’s University Power Ranking, based on quality and quantity of research activity, confirms that Birmingham is the West Midlands' top university and 12th in the UK, leading the way across a broad range of disciplines including Primary Care, Cancer Studies, Psychology, Music and Sport and Exercise Sciences.
The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study
The Guangzhou Cohort Study is a collaborative research project between the Universities of Birmingham and Hong Kong and the Guangzhou Occupational Diseases Prevention and Treatment Centre in China. The major study, which involved more than 20,000 people in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, has shown that exposure to passive smoke is putting many non-smokers at risk of developing chronic lung disease (including chronic bronchitis and emphysema).
The results, published in The Lancet, suggest that exposure to passive smoke could cause up to 1.9 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among non-smokers across China.
Kar-Keung Cheng Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Health and Population Sciences is a co-Principal Investigator of the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study and has longstanding interests in the impacts of smoking and obesity prevention. Professor Cheng is the lead researcher on health in the UK Government’s China Task Force chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Biomechanics of Road Traffic Injury
Pioneering researchers in Birmingham and New Delhi have been exploring the biomechanics of road traffic injury.
Research Fellow Dr Ali Hassan, a crash analyst in the University of Birmingham’s School of Civil Engineering, is collaborating with Professor Anoop Chawla, of the Indian Institute of Technology (IITD), on the project.
They have carried out a preliminary simulation study of head injuries to drivers in passenger cars involved in frontal impacts. They are now validating this model by using data from real-world passenger car collisions.
Dr Hassan is currently in charge of the Birmingham Automotive Safety Centre (BASC) and has published 25 research papers since gaining his doctorate.
Clean Energy
Energy Secretary David Miliband recently spoke about the need for cleaner fuel with nuclear energy as one of a 'trinity' of future fuel options alongside renewables and clean coal. Today the University of Birmingham is at the forefront of clean energy development and a sustainable and green transport system.
Dr Waldemar Bujalski is a key part of the University’s outstanding Birmingham Fuel Cells Group, which is researching a range of practical applications for hydrogen as an energy vector. His expertise as a chemical engineer in the field of fluid mixing has been applied to a range of applications aimed at improving mass and heat transfer in stirred reactors.
His current work focuses primarily on fuel cells, which are capable of converting various fuels into electricity and heat, and in the case of using hydrogen, producing only water as the waste product.
Dr Bujalski leads the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Applications and Modelling Research Group within Fuel Cell Group activities at the School of Chemical Engineering. He is particularly interested in developing the science needed to run novel high-temperature fuel cell reactors such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.