The University of Reading is a public research university in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, Reading in 1902. The institution became a university with the power to grant its own degrees in 1926 by

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

from King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

, and was the only university to receive such a charter between the two

world war A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...

s. The university is usually categorised as a

red brick university A redbrick university (or red-brick university) normally refers to one of the nine civic universities originally founded as university colleges in the major industrial cities of England in the second half of the 19th century. However, wi ...

, reflecting its original foundation in the 19th century. Reading has four major campuses. In the United Kingdom, the campuses on London Road and Whiteknights are based in the town of Reading itself, and Greenlands is based on the banks of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

in Buckinghamshire. It also has a campus in

Iskandar Puteri Iskandar Puteri (formerly known as Nusajaya) is a Cities of Malaysia, city and the administrative capital of the state of Johor, Malaysia. It is situated along the Straits of Johor at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula and the southernmos ...

, Malaysia. The university has been arranged into 16 academic schools since 2016. The annual income of the institution for 2023–24 was £339.2 million of which £33.7 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £257.2 million.

History

University College, Reading

The university owes its first origins to the Schools of Art and Science established in Reading in 1860 and 1870. In 1892, the ''College at Reading'' was founded as an extension college by Christ Church, a college of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. It opened in September of that year under the name of ''The University Extension College in Conjunction with the Schools of Science and Art, Reading'', which was soon shortened the following spring to ''The University Extension College, Reading''. The first president was the geographer Sir Halford John Mackinder, and the college's first home was the old hospitium building behind Reading Town Hall. The Schools of Art and Science were transferred to the new college by Reading Town Council in 1892. The new college was incorporated in 1896 and was approved to participate in the Parliamentary grant to university colleges by the Commissioners of the Treasury in 1901, resulting in it changing its name to ''University College, Reading'' in 1902. Three years later it was given a site, now the university's London Road Campus, by the Palmer family (connected with the firm of Huntley & Palmers). The same family supported the opening of Wantage Hall in 1908 and of the Research Institute in Dairying in 1912.

University status

The college first applied for a

in 1920 but was unsuccessful at that time. However a second petition, in 1925, was successful, and the charter was officially granted on 17 March 1926. With the charter, the college became the University of Reading, the only new university to be created in the United Kingdom between the two world wars. It was added to the

Combined English Universities Combined English Universities was a university constituency represented in the United Kingdom Parliament (from 1918 until 1950). It was formed by enfranchising and combining all the English universities, except for Cambridge, Oxford and London ...

constituency in 1928 in time for the 1929 general election. In 1947, the university purchased Whiteknights Park, which was to become its principal campus. In 1984, the university started a merger with Bulmershe College of Higher Education, which was completed in 1989.

2006–present

In October 2006, the Senior Management Board proposed the closure of its Physics Department to future undergraduate application. This was ascribed to financial reasons and lack of alternative ideas and caused considerable controversy, not least a debate in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

over the closure which prompted heated discussion of higher education issues in general. On 10 October, the Senate voted to close the Department of Physics, a move confirmed by the council on 20 November. Other departments closed in recent years include Music, Sociology, Geology, and Mechanical Engineering. The university council decided in March 2009 to close the School of Health and Social Care, a school whose courses have consistently been oversubscribed.

Melanie Newman Melanie Lynne Newman (born May 27, 1991) is an American radio and television Sports commentator#Main/play-by-play commentator, play-by-play broadcaster for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB) and previously did national ''Friday ...

"Institutions draw up plans for closures and job losses"
''Times Higher Education'', 19 February 2009

"Alarm grows as jobs to go at four more institutions"
''Times Higher Education'', 26 March 2009 In January 2008, the university announced its merger with the Henley Management College to create the university's new ''Henley Business School'', bringing together Henley College's expertise in MBAs with the university's existing Business School and ICMA Centre. The merger took formal effect on 1 August 2008, with the new business school split across the university's existing Whiteknights Campus and its new Greenlands Campus that formerly housed Henley Management College. A restructuring of the university was announced in September 2009, which would bring together all the academic schools into three faculties, these being the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social sciences, and Henley Business School. The move was predicted to result in the loss of some jobs, especially in the film, theatre and television department, which has since moved into a brand new £11.5 million building on Whiteknights Campus. In late 2009 it was announced that the London Road Campus was to undergo a £30 million renovation, preparatory to becoming the new home of the university's Institute of Education. The Institute moved to its new home in January 2012. The refurbishment was partially funded by the sale of the adjoining site of Mansfield Hall, a former hall of residence, for demolition and replacement by private sector student accommodation. The university is a lead sponsor of

UTC Reading UTC Reading is an Ofsted 'Good' rated university technical college (UTC) that opened in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Berkshire, England in September 2013. The University of Reading, Reading College and Oxford and Cherwell Valley College are the ...

, a new

university technical college A university technical college (UTC) is a type of secondary school in England that is sponsored by a Universities in the United Kingdom, university and has close ties to local business and industry. University technical colleges specialise in su ...

which opened in September 2013. In 2016, a move to reorganise the structure of Reading University provoked student protests. On 21 March 2016, staff announced a vote of no confidence in the vice chancellor Sir David Bell. Eighty-eight per cent of those who voted backed the no confidence motion. In 2019, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported the university was in "a financial and governance crisis" after recently reporting itself to regulators over a £121 million loan. The university is sole trustee of the charitable National Institute for Research in Dairying trust, and after selling trust land had then borrowed the £121 million proceeds from the trust, despite the potential conflict of interest in the decision making. Including this loan, the university has debts of £300 million, as well as having an operating deficit of over £40 million for the past two years. In 2021, the university declared, in a statement reply to the student's union, that it would not refund tuition fees for its students.

Campuses

The university maintains over of grounds, in four distinct campuses:

Whiteknights

Whiteknights Campus, at , is the largest and includes Whiteknights Lake, conservation meadows and woodlands as well as most of the university's departments. Though within the Reading urban area, most of the campus actually falls within Wokingham District (parish of Earley). The campus takes its name from the nickname of the 13th century

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

John De Erleigh IV or the 'White Knight', and was landscaped in the 18th century by the Marquis of Blandford. The main university library, in the middle of the campus, holds nearly a million books and subscribes to around 4,000 periodicals. The URS building, designed by Howell, Killick, Partridge & Amis in concrete

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

style in the 1970s is Grade II listed. The Whiteknights campus was voted one of the best green spaces in the United Kingdom for the seventh year running in the 2017 Green Flag People's Choice awards.

London Road

The smaller London Road Campus is the original university site and is closer to the town centre of Reading, sited across from the Royal Berkshire Hospital. The London Road site is home to The Institute of Education – a major provider of teacher training in the UK. The Institute moved to its new home in January 2012 after the campus was refurbished at a cost of £30 million. The London Road site also plays host to the university graduation ceremonies twice a year, in the Great Hall.

Greenlands

The Greenlands Campus, on the banks of the

in Buckinghamshire. Once the home of William Henry Smith, son of the founder of

WH Smith WH Smith plc, trading as WHSmith (also written WH Smith and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son), is a British retailer, with headquarters in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of railway station, airport, port, hospital and motorway service st ...

, and latterly the site of the Henley Management College, this campus became part of the university on 1 August 2008, with the merger of that college with the university's Business School to form the ''Henley Business School''. The school's

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

and corporate learning offerings will be based at Greenlands, with undergraduate and other postgraduate courses being based at Whiteknights.

Malaysia

An Asian campus at Iskandar,

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

was formally opened in February 2016. It offers a range of professional programmes at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels including the Henley Business School

. First announced in October 2012, it is the university's first overseas campus. The project was overseen by Tony Downes. Professor Wing Lam took over as Provost in May 2018 after the retirement of Tony Downes and restructured the campus to enable it to focus on core professional disciplines that were aligned with the region's need for talent.

Other sites

The former Bulmershe Court Campus in Woodley was the site of the former Bulmershe Teaching College, which merged with The University of Reading in 1989. The campus was sold in January 2014 as the university decided to concentrate its activity on its three other campuses. It had previously moved all teaching and research at Bulmershe either to Whiteknights or to London Road, and closed the student accommodation. The university also owns of farmland in the nearby villages of Arborfield,

Sonning Sonning (traditional: ; modern: ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, on the River Thames, east of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. The village was described by Jerome K. Jerome in his book ''Three Men in a Boat'' as "the most fair ...

and Shinfield. These support a mixed farming system including dairy cows, ewes and beef animals, and host research centres of which the flagship is the Centre for Dairy Research. As part of the proposed Whiteknights Development Plan in Autumn 2007, the university proposed spending up to £250 million on its estates over 30 years, principally to focus academic activities onto the Whiteknights site. The university also announced its intention to site some functions on the London Road site, and proposed a complete withdrawal from Bulmershe Court by 2012, which was accomplished.

Museums, libraries and botanical gardens

Reading University maintains four museums, the main campus library, a range of inter-departmental libraries, and a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

. The largest and best known of these museums is the

Museum of English Rural Life The Museum of English Rural Life, also known as The MERL, is a museum, library and archive dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England. The museum is run by the University of Reading, and is situated in Red ...

, which has recently relocated from a location on Whiteknights Campus to a site nearer the town centre next to the London Road Campus. The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, the Cole Museum of Zoology, the University of Reading Herbarium and the Harris Garden are all on the Whiteknights Campus. The Department of Typography and Graphic Communication holds a number of lettering, printing and graphic design collections including those of Isotype, Ephemera, printing presses, Twentieth-century posters, non-Latin typefaces and the archive of partners Banks and Miles. The University Library at Whiteknights makes available over 1 million physical resources, as well as a range of electronic online resources, from 14,000 square metres of space across seven floors. The secondary site library at the university's Bulmershe campus closed in 2011 and its operative collections were transferred. There is also a library in the university's Meteorology department. The library underwent refurbishment costing £40 million starting in 2016 and was re-opened in autumn 2019. The redevelopment aimed to improve the energy efficiency of the building with the installation of new windows, cladding and roofing. New lifts, additional study seating capacity, a larger Library cafe with an outside seating area, more toilets (including disabled and gender-neutral provision) and card-access security barriers were also part of the refurbishment programme.

Organisation and governance

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science *School of Arts and Communication Design **Department of Art **Department of Film, Theatre and Television **Department of Typography and Graphic Communication *Institute of Education *School of Humanities **Department of Classics **Department of History *School of Law *School of Literature and Languages **Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics **Department of English Literature **Department of Languages and Cultures *School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics **Department of Economics **Department of Philosophy **Department of Politics and International Relations *International Study and Language Institute Faculty of Life Sciences *School of Agriculture, Policy and Development *School of Biological Sciences *School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy **Department of Chemistry **Food and Nutritional Sciences **The Reading School of Pharmacy *School of Psychology and Clinical Language Science **Department of Clinical Language Sciences **Department of Psychology Faculty of Science *School of Construction Management and Engineering *School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science **Department of Archaeology **Department of Geography and Environmental Science *School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences **Department of Mathematics and Statistics **Department of Meteorology **Department of Computer Science

Henley Business School

Henley Business School is a highly selective, top-ranking business school, among only 58 institutions worldwide to be granted

Triple accreditation Triple accreditation (also known as the triple crown) refers to a business school being accredited by all three leading international accreditation organizations: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in the US, the ...

by the three largest and most influential business school accreditation associations:

EQUIS The EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) is a business school accreditation managed by Brussels based EFMD. It provides accreditation for higher education institutions of management and business administration and is run by the European Fou ...

, AMBA and the AACSB. It includes several academic areas: *Marketing and Reputation *Business Informatics, Systems and Accounting *Leadership and Organisational Behaviours *International Business and Strategy * ICMA Centre *Real Estate and Planning

Doctoral and Researcher College

The Doctoral and Researcher College was created in 2011 as the Graduate School to provide a range of support for doctoral researchers across the University. The College now additionally supports early career research staff.

Governing bodies and roles

The university is nominally led by a

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

, who is the titular head of the university and is normally a well-known public figure. The day-to-day chief executive role is the responsibility of the

vice-chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

, a full-time academic post. The senior management board of the university is headed by the vice-chancellor, assisted by a deputy-vice-chancellor, three pro-vice-chancellors, four deans and five heads of directorate. It is responsible for the day-to-day management of the university and meets fortnightly throughout most of the year. The senior management board reports to the university's Senate, the main academic administrative body. The senate has around 100 members and meets at least four times a year and advises on areas such as student entry, assessment and awards. Membership includes deans, heads and elected representatives of schools, as well as professional staff and students. The Senate in turn reports to the Council, which is the supreme governing body of the university, setting strategic direction, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and approving constitutional changes. The Council meets four times a year and comprises a broad representation of lay members drawn from commercial, community and professional organisations. On 24 March 2016, it was announced that William Waldegrave was to be the new chancellor of Reading University. Lord Waldegrave is the fourth Conservative politician to be appointed chancellor of the university, following

Austen Chamberlain Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of ...

, Sir Samuel Hoare and

Lord Carrington Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secreta ...

. Waldegrave's predecessor, Sir John Madejski is also a supporter of, and contributor to, the Conservative Party.

Finances

In the financial year ending 31 July 2024, Reading had a total income of £339.2 million (2022/23 – £321.9 million) and total expenditure of £257.2 million (2022/23 – £325.7 million). Key sources of income included £198.8 million from tuition fees and education contracts (2022/23 – £186.9 million), £32 million from funding body grants (2022/23 – £36.5 million), £33.7 million from research grants and contracts (2022/23 – £34 million), £9.6 million from investment income (2022/23 – £7.4 million) and £4.1 million from donations and endowments (2022/23 – £4.9 million). At year end, Reading had endowments of £111.4 million (2023 – £101.9 million) and total net assets of £533.6 million (2023 – £453.2 million). It holds the thirteenth-largest endowment of any university in the UK. Between 2009 and 2010, the university was beset by controversy, with the closure of departments and job losses among staff. The university lost 7.7% of its

HEFCE The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, which was responsible for the distribution of funding for higher education to universities and further education colleges in Engl ...

funding in fiscal year 2010–2011. In 2016 a move to reorganise the structure of Reading University provoked protests.

Academic profile

Reputation and rankings

Departments in the university have been awarded the biannual

Queen's Anniversary Prize The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education (formerly Queen's Anniversary Prizes) are a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to universities and colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom. Uniquely it forms ...

for Higher and Further Education five times: in 1998, in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Law category, for work on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

; in 2005, in the Environment category; in 2008, again in Humanities, Social Sciences and Law; in 2011, for "teaching and design applications in typography, through print and new technologies" in Typography & Graphic Communication; and in 2021, again in the category of Environment And Conservation, for "connecting communities with climate change" through "new modelling work on the interaction between the Earth’s climate and local weather systems, enabling the development of risk assessment, community preparedness and action to tackle climate change." Reading was ranked 35th in the UK amongst multi-faculty institutions for the quality (GPA) of its research and 28th for its Research Power in the 2014

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is ...

. In total, 98% of the university's research is labelled as 'internationally recognised', 78% as 'internationally excellent and 27% as 'world leading'. Its School of Agriculture Policy and Development was ranked top in the UK and 11th in the world, according to the QS classification of universities by subject. Reading has been highly ranked in

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

and

atmospheric science Atmospheric science is the study of the Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Clima ...

. In the 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, it was ranked 5th in the world for atmospheric science. It was ranked 15th in the world for Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences by '' U.S. News & World Report'' in 2024 and 13th among global universities in atmospheric science in the 2024

SCImago Institutions Rankings The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) since 2009 has published its international ranking of worldwide research institutions, the SIR World Report. The SIR World Report is the work of the SCImago Research Group, According to the 2023 ''Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' Good University Guide, approximately 13% of Reading's undergraduates come from independent schools.

Affiliated institutions

The Gyosei International College in the U.K. was established on property acquired from the University of Reading in 1989. The college, later renamed Witan International College, was acquired by the University of Reading in 2004.The University of Reading and Witan International College
"
Archive
University of Reading. 6 August 2004. Retrieved on 9 January 2014. Witan College closed in 2008. In 2009 the university partnered with the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology to offer Chinese students courses taught by the department of chemistry. In 2015 this was expanded to form the NUIST Reading Academy which currently offers six degree programs and enrolls nearly 400 students annually.

Student life

Students’ Union

Reading University Students' Union (RUSU) is the affiliated student organisation which represents the students' interests. The university also has a number of Junior Common Rooms that are linked to the Students' Union. The Students' Union has been the launchpad for many successful careers including

Penny Mordaunt Dame Penelope Mary "Penny" Mordaunt (; born 4 March 1973) is a British former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons from 2022 until 2024. She was the Memb ...

(Former MP for Portsmouth North), who was the 1994–5 president of the Students' Union. The Students' Union runs the student radio station. It broadcasts locally from the Whiteknights campus in university retail outlets and over an internet live stream on a full-time basis. The station was formed in 1997 and started broadcasting in 2001 on 1287AM and transferred to solely online in 2007. It also publishes the Spark, a newspaper aimed at the student population of the university, which is published fortnightly during term-time only and student television station RU:ON. The union provides a free advice service to students, and facilitates over 160 different activities for students to get involved in. The Students' Union building on Whiteknights Campus contains a 2500 capacity venue called 3sixty (recently renovated in 2018), with seven bars, and a number of retail outlets. The retail outlets include an Asian supermarket, a Starbucks and a hairdressers.

Halls and accommodation

Student accommodation is provided in a number of halls of residence offering a mix of partially catered (19 meals per week) and self-catering accommodation, along with other self-catering accommodation. Following a major review the university is now proceeding with the integrated Halls and Catering Strategy, that will see several halls replaced as well as new ones created with social, catering & welfare facilities provided in hub areas. Most of the halls of residence lie close to the northern campus periphery and in residential areas close by. Wantage Hall is the second oldest purpose-built hall in England outside of Oxford and Cambridge, opening a year after Hulme Hall at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, and is built in the style of an 'Oxbridge' college. St. Andrews Hall closed in 2000 and is now the home of the

. St. George's Hall and the Reading Student Village (renamed Benyon) are leased back to the university from UPP. The cost of leasing back the Student Village to the university, according to the university accounts, was £1.3 million in 2002–03 and £1.5 million for 2003–04. In 2011 the management of the mature and international halls, Hillside and Martindale, was taken over by the "Estates management team", as was Bulmershe Hall in 2012, the sale of which was finalised in 2014. In the same year the new Kendrick Halls were opened on the ground of halls which had not been in use for many years. These are not managed by the university.

Working with business

Reading hosts a number of private sector businesses on its campuses, either occupying dedicated buildings or in managed space at the Science & Technology Centre or Enterprise Hub.

Science & Technology Centre

The University of Reading Science & Technology Centre is situated on the eastern side of Whiteknights Campus. The Science & Technology Centre supports and accommodates technology companies from start-up through to larger SMEs. Notable companies currently or previously based at the Science & Technology Centre include Reading Scientific Services Ltd.

Reading Enterprise Hub

Reading Enterprise Hub is a

business incubator A business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services, starting with management training and office space, and ending with venture ...

opened in 2003. The hub was jointly sponsored by the university and SEEDA, and sought to attract startup high tech companies, particularly those with interests in

environmental technology Environmental technology (or envirotech) is the use of engineering and technological approaches to understand and address issues that affect the environment with the aim of fostering environmental improvement. It involves the application of scien ...

, information technology,

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

, and

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

. The hub was originally situated in World War II-era temporary office buildings on the university's Whiteknights campus. During the summer of 2008, the hub was demolished, along with the neighbouring former agriculture buildings, and the remaining tenants relocated to a building on the London Road campus. As of April 2010, a new Reading Enterprise Centre is being constructed on the hub's original site.

Notable people

Notable alumni

Officers

Principals of University College, Reading * Sir Halford John Mackinder (1892–1903) * William Macbride Childs (1903–1926) Chancellors of the University of Reading * J. H. Benyon (1926–1935) * Sir Austen Chamberlain (1935–1937) * Sir Samuel Hoare (1937–1959) * Lord Bridges (1959–1969) * Sir Roger Makins (1970–1992) *

(1992–2007) * Sir John Madejski (2007–2016) * William Waldegrave (2016–2022) * Paul Lindley (2022–Present) Vice-Chancellors of the University of Reading * William Macbride Childs (1926–1929) * Sir Franklin Sibly (1929–1946) * Sir Frank Stenton (1946–1950) * Sir John Wolfenden (1950–1963) * Sir Harry Raymond Pitt (1964–1978) * Ewan Page (1979–1993) * Sir Roger Williams (1993–2002) * Gordon Marshall (2003 – July 2011) * Tony Downes (acting; July 2011 – January 2012) * Sir David Bell (January 2012 – September 2018) * Robert Van de Noort (August 2018 – Present)

Notable academics

Stanislav Andreski Stanisław Andrzejewski (or Stanislav Andreski) (8 May 1919, Częstochowa – 26 September 2007, Reading, Berkshire) was a Polish-British sociologist. He is known for his indictment of the "pretentious nebulous verbosity" endemic in the modern ...

– was a professor of

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

at the University of Reading * Malcolm Barber – Emeritus Professor of History, University of Reading * Dianne Berry – Professor of Psychology and Dean of Postgraduate Research Studies at the University of Reading * James Anthony Betts - inaugural Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Reading (1934-1963) * Emily Black - Professor of Meteorology at the University of Reading and a senior research fellow in National Centre for Atmospheric Science (Climate) * Humphry Bowen – Reader in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Reading * Nicola Bradbury – Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Reading * William de Burgh – Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading * Mark Casson – Professor of

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, University of Reading * Susanne Clausen – Professor of Fine Art, University of Reading * Francis Cole – Professor of

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

, University of Reading * Howard Colquhoun – Professor of

Materials Chemistry Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials scien ...

, University of Reading *

John Cottingham John Cottingham (born 1943) is an English philosopher. The focus of his research has been early-modern philosophy (especially René Descartes, Descartes), the philosophy of religion and moral philosophy.Athanassoulis, Nafsika and Vice, Samantha ...

– Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading *

Neil Crosby Neil Crosby is an academic valuer, Professor of Real Estate at the University of Reading.http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=844986&show=abstract ("Neil Crosby is a Professor in the Department of Land Management and Development, ...

– Professor of Real Estate, University of Reading * Jonathan Dancy – Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading * Michael Drew – Professor of

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, University of Reading * Christopher Duggan – was Professor of Modern Italian History, University of Reading *

Antony Flew Antony Garrard Newton Flew (; 11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was an English philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew worked on the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught ...

– was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading * Rosa Freedman – Professor of law, conflict, and global development * Sir Terry Frost – was Professor of Fine Art, University of Reading * Michael Fulford – Professor of

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading * Colin S. Gray – Professor of

International Relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

and

Strategic Studies Strategic studies is an interdisciplinary academic field centered on the study of peace and conflict strategies, often devoting special attention to the relationship between military history, international politics, geostrategy, international ...

, University of Reading * Edward Guggenheim – was a thermodynamicist and professor of chemistry at the University of Reading *

Andrew Gurr Andrew John Gurr (born 23 December 1936) is a contemporary literary scholar who specializes in William Shakespeare and English Renaissance theatre. Life and work Born in Leicester, Gurr was raised in New Zealand, and educated at the Univers ...

– was a professor of English at the University of Reading until his retirement and is a leading authority on Shakespeare * Katherine Harloe - Professor of Classics, expert on classical reception, in particular the classicist and art historian

Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann ( ; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenism (neoclassicism), Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Ancient Greek art, Greek, Helleni ...

Beatrice Heuser Beatrice Heuser (born 15 March 1961 in Bangkok) is an historian and political scientist. She held the chair of International Relations at the University of Glasgow until autumn 2024. Life Heuser has a B.A. in History from Bedford College (London) ...

– Professor of

, University of Reading *

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

– former lecturer in Music at University College, Reading * Brad Hooker – Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading * Harold Hopkins – was a professor of Applied Physical Optics at the University of Reading * Sir Brian Hoskins – Professor of

Meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

, University of Reading and Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change,

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

* Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy – Professor of Formulation Science and Royal Society Industry Fellow * Mary Lewis – Professor of Bioarchaeology, University of Reading * Michael Lockwood – Professor of Space Environment Physics, University of Reading * William Burley Lockwood – Professor of Germanic and Indo-European Philology 1968–1982 * J-P Mayer – Professor Emeritus, editor of the works of

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...

and founder of the Tocqueville Research Centre at the university * Roger W. Mills – Emeritus Professor of Finance, University of Reading * Edith Morley – Professor of English, University College, Reading: the first woman appointed (1908) to a chair at a British university-level institution. * Helene Muri – Norwegian

climate scientist Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , ''-logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospheric ...

* Crispin St. J. A. Nash-Williams – was a professor of

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at the University of Reading * David S. Oderberg – Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading * Frank R. Palmer – Emeritus Professor of the Linguistic Science, University of Reading * Richard Rado – was a professor of

at the University of Reading * Peter Robinson – poet, poetry editor at Two Rivers Press, and Professor of English and American literature at the University of Reading * Michael Schmitt – Professor of International Law, University of Reading * Ted Shepherd – Grantham Professor of Climate Science, elected Fellow of the Royal Society * Hugh Macdonald Sinclair – pioneer of human nutrition and visiting professor in Food Science at the University of Reading * Keith Shine – Professor of

, University of Reading * Jeremy Paul Edward Spencer - Professor of Molecular Nutrition, University of Reading * Sir Frank Stenton – was a professor of History at the University of Reading *

Galen Strawson Galen John Strawson (; born 1952) is a British analytic philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind, metaphysics (including free will, panpsychism, the mind–body problem, and the self), John Locke, David Hume, Im ...

– Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading * Percy and Annie Ure – husband and wife team. Percy was the first professor of classics at Reading and Annie was the curator of the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology *

Magdalen Dorothea Vernon Magdalen Dorothea Vernon (1901–1991) was a British experimental psychologist who published her research widely and trained many PhD students. She was the first woman to head the then Department of Psychology at the University of Reading, Engl ...

– Professor of psychology, first woman to head the department *

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill Andrew Frederic Wallace-Hadrill, (born 29 July 1951) is a British Ancient history, ancient historian, classical archaeologist, and academic. He is Professor of Roman Studies and Director of Research in the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambr ...

– Director of the

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is a British interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture established in Rome. Historical and archaeological study are at the core of its activities. History The British Sc ...

and professor of

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

, University of Reading * Kevin Warwick – former Professor of

Cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

, University of Reading * Stuart Woolf - Reader in Italian from 1965 to 1974

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reading, University Of Universities and colleges established in 1892 1892 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Reading, Berkshire Universities UK