Search icon Menu icon bar 1 Menu icon bar 2 Menu icon bar 3 ARC - Advanced Research Centre The ARC, the Advanced Research Centre, will be the creative and collaborative heart of research at the University of Glasgow. The £113 million building will help bridge the boundaries between research, cross subject collaboration and true societal impact. The ARC will open in Spring 2022. The ARC will bring world leading researchers together in a building specifically designed to break down organisational structures and facilitate collaboration. By housing diverse teams within the same building, the ARC will expose individuals and research areas to each other, increasing opportunities for cross-disciplinary working. As well as providing collaboration facilities for the entire University research community, it will be home to academics working on global challenges across five broad themes: Creative Economies & Cultural Transformation, Digital Chemistry, International Development, Quantum and Nanotechnology, and Technologies Touching Life. The ground floor of the ARC will be open to the general public to showcase the excitement and relevance of the University’s research. It will offer a mix of multi-purpose spaces for events and conferences, as well as team building and networking activity and public engagement. Artists impression of the Advanced Research Centre (source: HOK Architects) OUR RESEARCH - TACKLING GLOBAL CHALLENGES TOGETHER Water Engineering – tackling the global water challenge Some 35% of the world's population, most of whom live in rural communities, lack access to either improved sanitation or safe drinking water. The western, centralised model for water supply and treatment is too energy and capital-intensive to deliver sustainable solutions in these countries. Professor Bill Sloan and his team will harness the bioprocessing power of microorganisms to deliver clean drinking water and treat wastewater in rural communities using low-energy, sustainable, off-grid technologies. He said: “I have spent much of my career to-date researching the fundamentals of engineering biology in water systems. A suite of emerging technologies now presents me with the opportunity of applying the knowledge I have gained in new ways that will help to deliver clean water and sanitation to rural communities. We intend to work in collaboration with global partners to develop new off-grid water technologies for remote communities from the Scottish islands to tropical rainforests.” Working from the Advanced Research Centre will ensure Professor Sloan and his team have proximity to a range of disciplines which will help him achieve this ambitious goal. The team will be working with biomedical engineers who have developed low-cost point-of-use sensors to monitor the biology and chemistry of distributed off-grid water biotechnologies, and with chemists applying ideas from digital chemistry to bioremediation. They will collaborate with social and political scientists through demonstrators and workshops to explore responsible and acceptable solutions. The goal, as Professor Sloan says “is a co-located cohort of academics, business development professionals, and research and development facilities, that will have international reach.” OUR DIRECTOR Andrew Tobin, Professor of Molecular Pharmacology, is the ARC's founding Director. Professor Tobin joined the University of Glasgow in September 2016 and, as lead of the Technologies Touching Life theme, he has been closely involved with the development of the ARC since the project began. He is passionate about the opportunities this new building brings. “I am delighted to have been asked to contribute to this fantastic project that underlines the commitment of the University to ground-breaking collaborative research across disciplines. The ARC, and the principles behind it, have been a long-term goal of the University. As a name, it encompasses our vision to conduct collaborative, out-of-reach research that has real societal impact. It is so much more than a building. We want to take a shared vision and expertise from across all areas of the University community to genuinely transform the way we do research, with the ultimate aim of changing the lives of the people, community and world around us.” Find out more: Professor Andrew Tobin staff's profile Take a tour of the ARC BUILDING PROGRESS (APRIL/MAY 2021) The five-storey building will house around 600 academics, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. Support us Discover how you can support our world-changing research and support the transformation of our campus. Find out more If you would like to know more about the ARC please contact aileen.gardner@glasgow.ac.uk STUDY Subjects A-Z Undergraduate Postgraduate Online study Short courses International students Student life Scholarships and funding Visit us / Open Days RESEARCH Research units A-Z Research opportunities A-Z Glasgow Research Beacons Research strategy & policies Research excellence Our research environment EXPLORE Meet World Changing Glasgow City of Glasgow Visit us Accessibility Maps and travel Facts & figures News Events Schools Research Institutes Colleges Services Library CONNECT Staff A-Z Information for our alumni Support us Business & innovation Community and public engagement Social Media listings Ask a student JOBS AT GLASGOW Current vacancies The University of Glasgow is a registered Scottish charity: Registration Number SC004401 Contact us British Sign Language BSL users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line British Sign Language interpreting video relay service. Find out more about BSL assistance: contactSCOTLAND Legal Accessibility statement Freedom of information FOI publication scheme Modern Slavery Statement Privacy and cookies Terms of use Current students MyGlasgow Students Staff MyGlasgow Staff The University of Glasgow uses cookies for analytics and advertising. Find out more about our Privacy policy. privacy settings close