Sargent Centre
The Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering is a multi-institutional research centre of world-class departments at Imperial College London and University College London.
What we do
The Sargent Centre applies systems thinking and engineering to address complex and strategically important problems. We carry out highest calibre R&D and solve real-world problems such as:
Optimisation of vaccine manufacturing and supply chains
Managing uncertainty in decision-making (across industrial companies, governments, enterprises and more)
Integrated energy systems analysis and optimisation (from site to national scale and beyond)
Developing autonomous systems for digital chemical manufacturing
Life-cycle analysis to identify the most impactful pathways to a circular econony
and many more.
We work across technologies, industries, businesses and society, at scales ranging from molecules to enterprises and countries, and in areas including digital technologies, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, sustainability and resilience. We combine resources from engineering, computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, molecular sciences, mathematics and business schools, and work with outstanding external partners all around the world.
Based at Imperial College London and University College London, two of the world’s top ten-ranked universities, we are the largest academic centre of expertise in the world in our area of focus. Our core group at UCL and Imperial is a diverse international team of about 250, with 40 principal investigators leading more than 200 researchers.
Get in touch
Working with external partners is centrally important to the Sargent Centre. There are many ways to work with us – consultancy, projects, sponsoring R&D, joining our Industrial Consortium and more. Please contact us at sargent.centre@imperial.ac.uk to explore the possibilities.
Themes
AI & Digital Technologies
AI & digital technologies are at the heart of our approach to innovation. Individually, Sargent Centre academics are all recognised leaders in at least one of AI, machine learning, modelling, design, optimisation, control and automation. Our deep expertise in these areas, combined with a strong ethos of collaboration, empowers us to tackle challenging problems in Energy, Sustainability, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Resilience. Explore this section for a taster of our technologies.
Energy
What will our energy system look like in 2050? How can we achieve an equitable energy transition against a backdrop of emerging technologies, resource constraints and a need for energy security? We combine holistic system analysis with innovation in technologies and policy to address pressing questions such as least-regret transition pathways, hydrogen infrastructure planning or the role of direct air capture. We work with government departments such as DESNEZ and private sector stakeholders at all levels of the energy supply chain.
Healthcare
The Sargent Centre’s healthcare research portfolio ranges from fundamental biological understanding to pharmaceutical product and process development. We advance knowledge of diseases, such as Parkinson’s, cancer and diabetes, by shedding light on the underpinning cellular and metabolic networks. We improve treatment and patient outcomes by accelerating the discovery and design of therapeutic strategies, including nanomedicines, novel product formulations and individualised CAR T-cell treatment. We partner with industry to create data- and model-based approaches that overcome challenges in medicines manufacturing, including biologics, mRNA vaccines, peptides, oligonucleotides and small molecule drugs.
Manufacturing
How can we manage the increasing complexity of manufacturing the products on which our daily lives depend? Sustainable manufacturing requires making decisions on the use of highly variable renewable feedstocks derived from plants or waste, on the use of emerging electrochemical technologies, on strategies to decarbonise process heat or to deal, and the need to manage new system-wide challenges such as intermittency or circularity. Sargent Centre researchers are creating quantitative, risk-aware approaches to design and operate in this challenging context.
Resilience
At the Sargent Centre, we recognise uncertainty is a central feature of all the systems we work on and one that must be accounted for at every stage of decision-making. Whether uncertainty arises from unexpected events and disruptions or from limitations in our knowledge, we focus on providing tractable approaches to probe its impact on the system resilience, from individual production units to entire supply chains. This includes extracting value from uncertainty through flexible operation and engineering options analysis, optimising risk metrics such as value-at-risk or identifying probabilistic design spaces.
Sustainability
The Sargent Centre pioneers novel technologies and systems engineering approaches in support of the United Nations’ goal of sustainable production and consumption. Our multiscale research goes beyond net zero to address economic, environmental and social sustainability in the planning, design and operation of production systems. We quantify impacts across the lifecycle to help make better decisions from the molecular to supply chain levels. We collaborate with partners across the chemicals, food, water and energy sectors to foster a sustainable future.
Upcoming courses
Process Analytics Course 2026
Introduction to Process Analytics using Multivariate Methods – Fundamentals 18 - 19 May 2026 Course participants will be introduced ... Read more
Industrial Data Science Course 2026
Course participants will be introduced to process data challenges and how to solve them with data science. The syllabus is geared ... Read more
Case Study
Transforming Fundraising Strategies in the Non-Profit Sector
More about the Sargent Centre
Events
Find the latest courses and seminars on offer at the Centre
Partnerships
The Industrial Consortium provides an exclusive gateway to reap the benefits of our extensive research portfolio and to engage with a vibrant community of over 250 dedicated researchers.
News
Find out more on the latest news.
Work with us and become a member
The Industrial Consortium provides an exclusive gateway to reap the benefits of our extensive research portfolio and to engage with a vibrant community of over 250 dedicated researchers.
