Research Institutes

All research is conducted in our five multidisciplinary theme-based Research Institutes (RIs). We have access to a range of state-of-the-art facilities at our research institutes and centres. For more information about these and possible research fields follow the links below.

Research Institute for Humanities 

We bring together over 100 academic staff and postgraduate students working mainly in History, Music and Music technology, English and American literature and Creative writing. The Institute supports the research of ambitious individual scholars and teams, and seeks to foster cross- and inter-disciplinary cooperation. they provide research training and supervision, while dedicated and expert staff provide advice on grant applications and support for an impressive range of events. In RAE 2008 85-95% of research in Music, English and History was judged to be of international quality; members of the Research Institute currently hold grants from the Leverhulme Trust, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Staffordshire county council.

Research Institute for Social Sciences 

We bring together over 170 academic staff and over 200 postgraduate students working across a range of social science disciplines.  Staff and research students are grouped within five Research Centres, these providing a focus for seminars, grant activity, support to PGRs, and research support and supervision. 

The five Centres that make up the Social Sciences Research Institute are the:Centre for Economics and Management, Centre for Law, Ethics and Society, Centre for the Study of Politics, International Relations and Environment, Centre for Psychological Research and Centre for Social Policy.

In RAE 2008 85-95% of research across the main areas submitted was judged to be of international quality.  Members of the Research Institute currently hold major grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the British Academy and the European Union.  The RI welcomes researchers from across the University and beyond to attend the regular programme of seminars, conferences and workshops advertised elsewhere on this site. 

Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences & Applied Mathematics 

EPSAM  is composed of more than 80 academic staff and contract research staff and more than 60 postgraduate researchers across a spectrum of science from Fire Ecology to Stellar Astrophysics. The Institute seeks to promote interdisciplinary synergies and collaboration both internally and externally and has a wealth of experience of Research Council funded, Industrial and Charity funded research grants and contracts. The Institute can bring this experience and  breadth of vision to bear on your research problem and  it is our goal  to obtain sustainable, renewable solutions wherever possible.

Research Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine 

We combine the research activities of basic science and clinical academic colleagues working within the NHS at 3 hospital sites and the main University campus at Keele.  Research at the University Hospital is consolidated at the Guy Hilton Research Centre, which provides state of the art basic science laboratories for clinically oriented research, and hosts two very successful MSc programmes. The Institute aims to improve the health of patients in the UK and elsewhere in the world, by applying knowledge gained from basic science to develop insights into the causes of disease and ways of treating them.

We have collaborations across the world, working on the transmission of human disease by insects, and the causes of common conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. We have colleagues with an international profile for their research that ranges from Bioengineering and the therapeutic use of stem cells to cutting edge diagnostics using novel approaches to identify and measure biomarkers of disease, and the biomechanics of muscle diseasein the elderly . The 70 academic and clinical staff in the Institute provide supervision for more than 90 PhD and 45 Master’s students and contribute to the teaching of our undergraduate medical and science students at the University of Keele.

Research Institute for Primary Care & Health Sciences 

We embrace current strengths in community health research at Keele University and our NHS partners in North Staffordshire. Our research fields comprise the following groups: Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre -whose main topical theme is research into musculoskeletal conditions and chronic pain, focused on joint pain and osteoarthritis, back pain and widespread and regional pain; the NIHR Research Design Service for the West Midlands, Keele University Hub; Academic Rheumatology which researches the interface between primary and secondary care in the management of musculoskeletal conditions; Concordance in Medicines Use which investigates the use of medicines in musculoskeletal problems; Addiction Research which is focused on substance mis-use and its inter-relationship with mental health and lastly, Education Research across the range of Health Professionals.