Research & Innovation for a Better WorldHighlights
The University has seven interdisciplinary Strategic Themes all of which contribute to the sustainability agenda:
- Advanced manufacturing & materials
- Energy
- Health & wellbeing
- Innovation & entrepreneurship
- Measurement, digital & enabling technologies
- Environment, infrastructure & transport
- People, place & policy
These provide focus for research and knowledge exchange activity aligned with local, national, and global needs.
This thematic approach breaks down traditional faculty silos, creating new interdisciplinary connections and fostering an open, inclusive culture that stimulates partnerships and enables researchers to collaborate across disciplines. By bringing together the full breadth of Strathclyde's research capabilities, the Strategic Themes ensure the University directly addresses pressing societal challenges, from energy transition and sustainable manufacturing to health innovation and policy development, positioning Strathclyde as a leader in delivering useful learning for a sustainable future.
Advanced manufacturing & materials
The University of Strathclyde launched the Advanced Net Zero Innovation Centre (ANZIC) in 2025 as a major national facility supporting the UK’s transition to a net zero economy through innovation, collaboration, and advanced manufacturing.
Located at the Rolls-Royce facility in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, ANZIC provides open-access, industrial-scale research, testing, and development capabilities for clean energy, transport, and digital technologies. The centre combines Strathclyde’s world-class research with expertise from the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) and the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS), creating a unique ecosystem strategically aligned with both the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy and the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan.
Environment, infrastructure & transport
In the lead-up to the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, Strathclyde launched the Active Mobility Hub. The hub is a cross University initiative using research, knowledge exchange, and community action to champion cycling and active travel as drivers of healthier, low-carbon living.
This work addresses numerous SDGs, including health, sustainable cities, and reducing inequalities. The hub’s activity has been
establishing and expanding, bringing in researchers from more disciplines as well as external practitioners, securing external funding, and leading local and global conversations on active mobility.
Innovation & entrepreneurship
Researchers from the entrepreneurial mindset team, with support from Scottish Government, are helping young children develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Outputs include ‘Meet the RECCO Crew’, an illustrated book series that turns the abstract entrepreneurial mindset concepts of Resilience, Empathy, Creativity, Collaboration, and Optimism (RECCO) into fun, cartoon characters that children can relate to and learn from in a way that is natural and engaging for them.
Other researchers from the Innovation and Entrepreneurship theme have been part of the UKRI funded InterAct programme which encourages manufacturing companies to innovate and adopt digital technologies to become more competitive, sustainable and resilient.
Energy
The University launched the Scottish Global Renewables Centre (GRC) in 2023 as an innovative knowledge exchange hub connecting Scotland’s renewable energy expertise with international development partner countries - Malawi, Zambia, and Rwanda. Addressing the critical SDG 7 challenge of affordable, reliable, sustainable energy for all, the GRC enables collaboration to tackle unique energy access challenges faced by each partner country through networking, shared learning, and targeted resource development.
The GRC has also enhanced global citizenship at Strathclyde through research collaborations, funding bids, and student-led Vertically Integrated Projects focused on real-world renewable energy challenges, creating meaningful learning opportunities while addressing pressing sustainability needs.
People, place & policy
Sustainability is a key focus of our research and collaboration efforts. One example is the project “Margin to Mainstream: Using Engagement to Change Entrenched Consumption Practices Around Food Waste”, in collaboration with the University of Adelaide.
Working with Zero Waste Scotland and Green Industries South Australia, this project explores how everyday engagement, particularly on social media, can help shift accepted ways of behaving around food waste, especially when guided by thoughtful leadership and strategic messaging.
Health & wellbeing
The University of Strathclyde is hosting professionals from health and social care to conduct part-time PhD and MPhil research. The students merge professional practice and academic rigour to derive challenge-led innovation in their respective fields of work. With over 30 students across all four faculties convened under the ‘Future Hospital & Beyond its Walls’ initiative, the centre of learning provides outcomes and guidance for sustainable healthcare development.
Measurement, digital & enabling technologies
STRATHLab is an ecosystem for the entire community at the University of Strathclyde, and for our citizens, commercial, community, and civic partners. This ‘Living Lab’ uses inclusive co-design to identify and prioritise what matters, helping to co-create solutions that solve real-world problems, and generate evidence of impact in inclusive and socially progressive ways.
STRATHLab has a collection of state-of-the-art research and innovation facilities including design space, labs, and innovation zones, enabling it to operate here, there and everywhere. These range from a Virtual Reality lab space to modelling ‘real-world’ spaces such as GP surgeries, pharmacies, or rooms around the home. Examples include our Fabrication Lab, The Centre for Co-Creation of Rehabilitation Technology and the Laboratory for Innovation in Autism.