The Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences (NMES) comprises the Departments of Chemistry, Engineering, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics. The Faculty also hosts interdisciplinary research centres in the Physical Science of Life and Net Zero, the Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) based in Informatics and is home to the university’s Artificial Intelligence Institute.
King’s is making significant investment in the Faculty and both student and staff numbers are growing. We currently have just under 5,000 undergraduate and postgraduate taught and research students, and around 400 academic and research staff, supported by 150 Professional Services staff. We are international in our outlook; our staff come from over 45 countries, with around two-thirds coming from outside the UK, and over half of our students are from overseas.
All our academic departments have highly rated research activities, and the Faculty offers a wide-ranging portfolio of undergraduate, postgraduate taught and PhD programmes. Our work crosses traditional subject boundaries, creating cutting-edge research that provides opportunities to engage in multidisciplinary activities across the university, and to develop partnerships with external groups and industry. Each department has a vibrant research environment, where students work with, and learn from, world-leading academics whilst benefitting from an open-door policy and a wealth of high-quality support.
Celebrating the completion of the Quadrangle redevelopment project
Our vision is to establish King’s as an outstanding institution in science, engineering, computer science, mathematics, and technology, competitive with the world’s best. We aim to be distinctive and bold, by strengthening our individual departments in their disciplinary identities and their participation in broader cross-King’s interactions. This applies to our core areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering as well as expansion into other areas that complement our current portfolio.
Externally, our ambition is to develop synergistic research opportunities with key external partners including King’s Health Partners, the Francis Crick Institute, the London Centre for Nanotechnology, the Thomas Young Centre, and others both nationally and internationally, including exploring the opportunities for joint activities with our PLuS Alliance partners (the University of New South Wales and Arizona State University) and TU Dresden in the context of Transcampus Dresden.
Our unrivalled central London location offers easy access to major research libraries and leading scientific societies such as the Royal Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, British Computer Society, Institute of Physics, Institution of Engineering and Technology, Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the London Mathematical Society. We are committing significant investment to the development of our estate, with major capital projects on our campuses. We have recently opened new education and research laboratories including new engineering laboratories under the Quad Building at the historic centre of the Strand campus, to provide our students and staff with facilities fit for a world-leading university.
We are very proud of the tradition of excellence within the Faculty, which includes a history of high levels of research funding and a number of Nobel Laureates from among our distinguished former staff and students, and we are working hard to promote the careers of women working in science, engineering and technology. Our work in this area is helping us to identify best practice for the working environment of all staff working in our Faculty.
Supporting our staff is important to us. We offer a Parenting and Carers fund of up to £10k for academic and research staff working in all disciplines. The Carer’s Career Development Fund also supports academic, research and professional services staff with the additional care costs associated with attending conferences and events outside normal working hours. Staff are able to apply for flexible working to help them to balance the demands of their professional and personal commitments and we offer comprehensive leave policies for maternity, paternity, adoption, surrogacy, dependant and shared leave. We have a variety of diversity and inclusion networks at King’s including an active LGBT+ Staff Network who run events throughout the year. We host a series of social events for all staff and PhD students in the Faculty to provide an informal setting for colleagues to socialise and connect with one other, including themed coffee mornings, occasional evening events and an annual summer picnic for staff and their families. We also organise lunches for new staff, to help them to meet new colleagues from across NMES.
We are also keen to help our staff to develop their careers. We offer a clear and transparent academic promotion process, including briefing sessions for staff and feedback from our Faculty Academic Staffing Committee on draft applications, as well as support for academic supervision and research grant applications.
King’s is committed to serving its local community in London. Examples lead by NMES include the King’s Maths School, which provides high quality mathematics education for gifted mathematicians aged 16-19 in the heart of London, and CUSP London (the Centre for Urban Science and Progress) based in Informatics, a joint initiative with the University of Warwick, that brings together researchers, businesses, local authorities and government agencies, to apply urban science to improving public health and wellbeing.
King’s College London offers an intellectually stimulating environment, where staff are dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and learning in the service of society. We are a multi-faculty institution, providing high-quality education, research and innovation across the sciences, humanities, medicine, law, dentistry, and social sciences. As a member of the Russell Group, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards in research and education. King's is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres spread across its three teaching hospitals.
Research in science and engineering
King’s College London is amongst the top 35 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2023) and is one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities. Based in the heart of London, King’s has over 45,000 students (including more than 19,000 postgraduates) from some 150 countries, and over 10,000 employees.
King’s vision is to make the world a better place through world-leading education, research and service to society. King’s provides world-class education which enables students to become rounded critical thinkers, set up for success and with the character and wisdom to strive for social change. Through enquiry-driven research, King's delivers transformative insights and solutions that have the power to advance and accelerate global progress. In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 exercise, King’s maintained its 6th position for ‘research power’ in the UK, 6th by Quality Index, and was ranked 3rd amongst multi-Faculty universities for impact.
King’s is led by the President and Principal, Professor Shitij Kapur.
The Principal’s Senior Team comprises:
Executive Deans of the nine faculties report to the Senior Vice President (Academic). The Director of Operations in each faculty reports to the Senior Vice President (Operations). Professional Services are provided in every faculty as well as centrally to deliver support for students and staff. The Director of Operations in each faculty provides the leadership and coordination of services as well as making the necessary links with institutional leaders of relevant services.
Executive Deans at King’s are members of the Academic Board, and the University Executive (the decision making body made up of Executive Deans of Faculty, Senior Vice Presidents, Vice Principals, and select Professional Services leaders, chaired by the President & Principal) and play a pivotal role in the management and governance of the university.
King’s is governed by Council with powers delegated to the President & Principal, who is supported in the leadership of the College and delivery of strategic objectives by senior officers as set out below.
King’s Health Partners (KHP) Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering collaboration between King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts. KHP is the top recruiting Academic Health Science Centre in the UK (to NIHR portfolio studies) with Guy’s & St Thomas’ the top recruiting individual NHS Trust. As one of six AHSCs in the UK, the partnership drives improved outcomes and experience for patients whilst ensuring delivery ambitions for world-leading science, translational research and education and training. Integrating mental and physical wellbeing, value-based healthcare, production of transparent outcomes and joined up informatics is at the heart of this work.
King’s is a founder member of the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical discovery institute bringing together six of the UK’s most successful scientific and academic organisations to understand the fundamental biology underlying health and disease and to translate discoveries into new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat major illnesses.
King's Strategic Vision 2029 sets out bold ambitions for the future of King’s as we look towards our 200th anniversary: to make the world a better place through our excellence in teaching, research and our service to society.
Launched in 2017, Vision 2029 outlines transformative initiatives aiming to broaden the base of King's, extend our reach, expand access, deliver an extraordinary student experience and strengthen how well we work together. Over the last five years, we have developed new areas of outstanding quality and built on our existing areas of strength across Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Health and Life Sciences.
The opportunities and challenges that framed our Vision have amplified, while Brexit, COVID-19 and geo-political tensions have altered the contexts in which we work, teach and learn. In response, colleagues across King’s came together to consider how we build on our strengths to guide our future. This work culminated in Strategy 2026, which sets out how we intend to work over the years ahead to chart the next stage of our journey towards delivering Vision 2029.
