University of Birmingham is a Russell Group University and is one of the top 25 universities in the United Kingdom. It has been ranked as the 13^th highest performing university for its publications impact in Europe out of 109,500 institutions surveyed for engineering.

The University currently has more than 20,000 student including 4,500 students from 150 countries - the fourth-largest population of international students at any UK higher education institution, and the largest international postgraduate community in the UK. 27% of the academic staff is overseas nationals. The University has always been at the forefront of research and eight of our alumni and staff have been recognised with Nobel Prizes.

School of Chemical Engineering belongs to the College of engineering and physical sciences which is one of the five different colleges within the university. Chemical Engineering at Birmingham developed from the Department of Oil Engineering which was founded in the early 1900s and is celebrating its 100 years this year.

The school has the largest concentrations of Chemical Engineering expertise in the UK, with an excellent reputation in learning, teaching and research. This reputation is reflected in our RAE rating which shows us to be in the top five Chemical Engineering Schools in the country; 20% of our outputs were in the highest 4* category (highest-international, world-leading) and 45% in the 3* (high international) ranking. We also have strong links with key employers who provide projects and work placements for our students and regularly recruit our graduates, including Procter & Gamble, bp, ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil, Cadbury Trebor Bassett, Unilever, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline.

The Centre for Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Research is part of the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Birmingham. It was formed in early 2000. The Centre is nationally and internationally recognised for its dynamism and expertise in Fuel Cell Technologies. It is also part of the £6.5 million Advantage West Midlands Science City initiative, and the Midlands Energy Consortium (MEC) which is host to the Energy Technologies Institute. The Centre, on behalf of the MEC has recently been awarded £5.5 million (RCUK) for the creation and running of a Doctoral Training Centre in Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and their Applications, the first of its kind in the UK

The Centre is composed of five active research groups:

• SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cells)
• PEMFC (Polymer Electrolyte membrane Furl Cells)
• FCAM (Fuel Cell Applications and Modeling)
• H₂ Gen (Hydrogen production)
• Nanoengineering and Surface Chemistry

The Centre focuses on Research and Development, applications and demonstrations of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell systems; and has numerous publications & patents in Fuel Cell Technologies. The Centre also has state of the art facilities and is home to England's first public hydrogen filling station and hydrogen powered house, a hydrogen fuel cell Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system and five hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The FCG also focuses on the implementation of a Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Supply Chain in the West Midlands and the UK with currently 60 SMEs developing and manufacturing HFC components