The Engineering Forum, a new facility set to transform education, research and industry collaboration in engineering, has opened at the
www.ed.ac.uk University of Edinburgh to support ‘experiential learning and world-class research in fields such as renewable energy systems and future electronics’. Located at the King’s Buildings campus in the south of the city, it will bring together leading academics, students and sector partners in a purpose-built environment for the University’s School of Engineering.
The Forum incorporates advanced technical spaces, including high-specification laboratories, alongside innovation hubs and shared collaboration areas designed to foster interdisciplinary working. The building offers new spaces for students to take part in hands-on teaching and learning, including a teaching studio, innovation lab, and dedicated student support facilities; and each of four teaching rooms ‘is named for an influential woman engineer’. They include Maria Watkins, the first woman to study electrical engineering at Edinburgh and a former president of the
www.wes.org.uk Women’s Engineering Society.
The Power Teaching Lab, a specialist teaching facility providing hands-on experience in power systems and electronics, will also relocate to the new building, while the Institute for Energy Systems (a multidisciplinary research institute that brings together academics, research staff and postgraduate students from across the School of Engineering) has expanded its facilities within the building, adding new laboratories and workspaces to support its work in low-carbon energy systems, technology, and policy.
Furthermore, a £2 million grant from the Wolfson Foundation will create a new laboratory within the Institute. Equipped with advanced research equipment to support the development of sustainable energy technologies in offshore renewables, the Wolfson Electrical Power Conversion Lab is set to open this summer.
Professor Guangzhao Mao, head of the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The Engineering Forum provides an outstanding environment for both teaching and research. Designed to support innovative approaches to integrated learning and discovery, it equips students with the skills and experience required to shape the future of engineering and technology. As a focal point for engineering excellence, it reinforces the University’s standing as a global leader in research and innovation, while enhancing the student experience and contributing to Scotland’s reputation as a centre for technological advancement.”