Royal Holloway, University of London

Royal Holloway, University of London is one of the UK’s leading research-intensive universities covering a broad range of subjects spanning the arts and humanities, sciences, social sciences, management and economics. Our academics are able to provide analysis, opinion and expertise on a wide range of research areas and current affairs. This directory contains a selection who are happy to discuss their areas of research and teaching.

We have a unique best-of-both-worlds location; a safe, leafy campus in Egham, Surrey - less than 40 minutes by train from central London and just seven miles from Heathrow airport, creating the environment where a close-knit community thrives.

Our campus is one of the most beautiful in the world with numerous teaching and study spaces, bars and cafés, high-quality accommodation, and sports facilities. All this is set in 135 acres of stunning parkland. Most teaching and social activity takes place on campus and, with the exception of Kingswood Hall (just a mile away), this is where most undergraduates live in their first year. It’s a friendly place, with a strong sense of community as new students soon become familiar faces.

Founder’s Building is one of the world’s most spectacular university buildings, and home to our famous Picture Gallery containing Thomas Holloway’s fine collection of Victorian paintings, and our beautiful chapel. It also houses a dining hall and library and provides a home for 500 students.Situated just 40 minutes by train from London and seven miles from Heathrow, with a number of attractions, sporting and entertainment venues within easy reach, you'll love our brilliant location.

Royal Holloway was founded by two social pioneers; Elizabeth Jesser Reid founded Bedford College in 1849 and Thomas Holloway, inspired by his wife Jane, founded Royal Holloway College. He built the stunning Founder's building, which was opened in 1886 by Queen Victoria, and is still at the heart of our campus today. Their vision lives on today with our teachers and researchers expand minds and make discoveries that change the world.

Both colleges were among the very first institutions in the UK to give women access to higher education. In 1900, the colleges were admitted to the University of London and merged in 1985 to form what is today known as Royal Holloway, University of London.

Royal Holloway was ranked 197th in the world and 31st overall in the UK in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2017/18. Royal Holloway sits within the top 25% of universities in the UK for research rated ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent' by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014.

The National Student Survey (NSS) 2017 revealed that Royal Holloway, with a rating of 88%, is once again top among the University of London institutions and the larger London based universities for overall student satisfaction, and has a higher score than most Russell Group institutions.

Our world-leading researchers continue to address global challenges, including the development of treatments and therapies for rare diseases and life-limiting conditions, the rapid decline of bees and protecting the UK's national infrastructure from cyber-attack. Recognised as world-class experts in the arts, humanities and sciences many Royal Holloway academics act as advisors to policy-makers and the Government on a wide range of issues, such as combating radicalisation and terrorism.

Royal Holloway has a total of 9,966 students. Of these 7,992 are from the UK or European Union and 1,974 are international (outside the EU) students. We have 7,648 undergraduates, 1,599 postgraduate taught and 719 postgraduate research students.

We have 1,575 established members of staff working at Royal Holloway across academic, administrative and support areas. In addition, we have visiting teachers, student interns and student staff who work across campus. The university benefits the UK economy by £480m a year, with around £230m benefiting the county of Surrey. There are over 74,000 alumni of Bedford College, Royal Holloway College and Royal Holloway and Bedford New College worldwide. Our notable alumni include novelist George Eliot, suffragette Emily Davison, the first woman doctor in the west Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, actor Mark Strong, EU Foreign Minister Baroness Cathy Ashton, broadcaster and scientist David Bellamy and Paralympic triple gold medallist Sophie Christiansen.

Our vision for the future informs our choices we make, so that we are certain, in every case, our actions are bringing us closer to our goals. We intend to realise our vision by both building on our existing strengths and also setting in place a number of fundamental improvements to a range of areas. Together, these actions will create a university that, by 2020, will look like this: Royal Holloway will be consistently recognised as a top 20 UK university in major league tables and we will hold our place amongst the world's top 200 universities.

We will attract independently minded students who will benefit from a personalised education. This will enable them to fulfil their potential, by achieving academic excellence, being prepared for the world of work, having a global outlook and having the confidence to lead in a socially responsible manner.

Across each of our academic disciplines, we will have high-quality staff and at least one distinctive, world-leading research specialism, along with high levels of performance within the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment exercise. All our taught courses will contain elements that are informed by cutting-edge research and scholarship and our research students will be guided by world-leading researchers.

We will grow our student numbers from 8,700 to 10,500, whilst retaining our overall human scale and sense of community, so that we can continue to respond flexibly in a changing environment and to work effectively across organisational and disciplinary structures. Whilst our scale and culture mean that we sometimes achieve more than some larger organisations, other activities will require greater scale and resource. We will be open and collaborative so that we can work with key partners to ensure the best use of our resources and achieve more than we can do alone.

Our inspiring and imposing Founder's Building will be complemented by outstanding new facilities that add to the sense of a scholarly community, encourage collaborative, multi-disciplinary activities and provide a personalised, individual experience for students and staff.