The School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences (SMPCS) is home to three Departments within the University of Reading – Mathematics and Statistics, Meteorology, and Computer Science.
This coming together of three disciplines makes us one of the largest and most successful clusters of mathematical and computational sciences departments in the UK. We are home to more than 300 staff: including over 90 core academic staff and over 100 research staff; and more than 1000 students across our undergraduate, master's and PhD programmes.
Research
We are well known as a globally-important centre for research in weather and climate, and have world-leading research strengths across all of our disciplines. We have annual research income in excess of £12 million and active partnerships with organisations such as the Met Office, ECMWF, Imperial College and the NERC national centres for Atmospheric Science and Earth Observation.
We are home to the Walker Institute, the University of Reading’s interdisciplinary climate research institute. It is one of eight regional hubs around the world that has been appointed by the World Climate Research Programme to work on its “My Climate Risk” activities.” Join the Institute's interdisciplinary community by emailing info@walker.ac.uk, and find out more about our interdisciplinary training arm, the Walker Academy.
Overseas travel - information for staff and students
Teaching and learning
We are proud of our record in teaching and learning across our undergraduate, master's and PhD programmes, delivering challenging, rewarding, relevant and attractive programmes of study in a supportive environment. We have a clear focus on student achievement and employability, we embrace new modes of delivery and seek to provide the best approaches to enhancing our students' experiences. This is underpinned by a firm commitment to valuing, supporting and developing all staff engaged in teaching and learning.
School Executive Board
Head of School: Professor Andrew Charlton-Perez
School Director of Teaching and Learning: Dr Calvin J Smith
School Director of Academic Tutoring: Dr Nikos Katzourakis
School Director of Wellbeing, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality: Dr Fazil Baksh
School Executive Administration Manager: Sukhi Sanghera
Head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics: Professor Jani Virtanen
Head of the Department of Meteorology (Academic Staff and External Affairs): Professor David Brayshaw
Head of the Department of Meteorology (Finance and Support Staff): Professor John Methven
Meteorology, NCAS: Professor Len Shaffrey
Head of the Department of Computer Science: Professor Shuang-Hua Yang
Director of the Walker Institute: Professor Rosalind Cornforth
RDL 2023: Professor Emily Black
Human Resources Partner: Rachel Thorns
Finance Business Partner: Anne-Marie West
Executive Support Office to HoS (Secretary): Debbie Turner
Terms of Reference
• To discuss key issues, short-term or strategic, of broad relevance to the School
• To discuss and agree policy at a School level
• To provide a forum for discussion of School plans, including rolling School operating plans
• To provide advice and feedback to the Head of School, including advice and feedback in relation to interactions with University Senior management and externally
• To provide a forum to encourage and enable communication across the School, to encourage joined-up working, and to encourage a wider appreciation of issues, goals, and activities across the components of the School.
