University of Sheffield

Origins The University of Sheffield was originally formed by the merger of three local institutions: the Sheffield School of Medicine, Firth College, and the Sheffield Technical School. With a history dating back to as early as the 1810s, the Sheffield School of Medicine is the university's oldest predecessor institution, which is also the oldest higher education establishment in Sheffield. In 1795, the General Infirmary was opened, becoming the first hospital in the city. Because of the apprenticeship-type training, the medical education at that time was largely unstructured. Regarded as the father of Sheffield's medical education, surgeon apothecary Hall Overend began to train medical students in 1811. His school of anatomy and medicine was externally recognised in 1828, and he conducted and taught human dissection in an anatomy museum at his home in Church Street. Overend, however, was not officially registered as a lecturer with the Society of Apothecaries, a recognised body for medical education. Physicians and surgeons of the General Infirmary suggested that a school associated with the hospital would be highly eligible for recognition by the society. As a result, in 1828, a public meeting was called by physician Sir Arnold Knight, and supported by Overend, to establish a new medical school. The Sheffield Medical Institution was formally opened a year later in 1829 on Surrey Street, with the Latin motto Ars longa vita brevis (Art is long, life is short), which refers to the difficulty to acquire and practice the art of Medicine. Knight laid the foundation stone and delivered the opening lecture. During the period, the steel industry in Sheffield was prospering and the city's population was doubled to around 240,000 from the 1840s. The college saved the medical school, which had an insecure early history, from collapse and took over the teaching of all background subjects to medical students. In 1888 the medical school was relocated, opposite Firth College, to a new building on Leopold Street. A grant was secured in 1883 to fund a professor of Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering. The Technical School was originally founded as a new technical department in Firth College, and in 1886, the school moved to St George's Square (later renamed Charlotte Street and now Mappin Street) on the site of the old Grammar School. As a first stage of his ideal, Hicks was devoted to the union of the three higher education institutions in Sheffield and to transform Firth College into a university college. He also extended the college by creating new departments and adding new buildings. The university college started to develop its estate soon after: Western House by Weston Park on Western Bank was bought and demolished in 1903 for building a new university property. was the founding vice-chancellor of the university It was originally envisaged that the university college would join Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds as the fourth member of the federal Victoria University. The new university was proposed to be named "Victoria University of Yorkshire" by Leeds but was rejected by the Privy Council. The Victoria University, however, began to split up as independent universities before this could happen, when Liverpool gained a charter of its own in 1903. Rather than joining a Yorkshire university with Leeds, the University College of Sheffield was driven by civic pride to pursue independent university status, and 114 of them were enrolled full-time. The number of full-time students was stabilized at about 750 between the two world wars. Sheffield predicted a 50% increase in student population but the university was unprepared for such growth. There was pressure on the university to expand since the student numbers had increased from around 1,000 to 3,000 by 1946. The 1980s saw the opening of many new buildings and centres, such as the multi-purpose Octagon Centre and the Sir Henry Stephenson Building. The university's teaching hospital, Northern General Hospital, was also extended. which earned him a Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for 1953. In 1938, the university opened the Department of Biochemistry (renamed since the 1990s as the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology) and Krebs became its first Head. Krebs Institute, a research centre for mechanistic biology, was founded in 1988 within the Department of Biochemistry. George Porter joined the university as Professor of Physical Chemistry in 1955 and he further developed his later Nobel Prize-winning work flash photolysis at Sheffield. Porter was appointed Firth Professor of Chemistry and became Head of the Department of Chemistry in 1963. 21st century In the 21st century, the university opened many more major buildings in the area immediately to the east and west of Upper Hanover Street, such as the Jessop Building, the Soundhouse, Jessop West and the Information Commons. The Arts Tower building, the Students' Union and University House buildings, the Sheffield Bioincubator and University Health Centre were also refurbished. A new campus, North Campus, was opened. In 2005, the South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority announced that it would split the training between Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University – however, the university decided to pull out of providing preregistration nursing and midwifery training due to "costs and operational difficulties". On 28 September 2015, a new six-storey building, the Diamond, was opened. In February 2016, the university started to work with Sheffield City Council to transform public spaces around the campus. The £8 million project includes building and improving pedestrianisation, crossings, cycle routes, as well as greening the campus. The university intended to expand the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and provision for apprenticeships; however, while the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership recommended that the £10 million funding bid should be approved, the university withdrew the bid in November 2018. The University Concourse was refurbished in 2019 to replace the 50-year-old paving and walls. Major development projects in the 2020s include constructions of a new Information School building (Northumberland Road Building), Social Sciences Building, Royce Discovery Centre, energy centre (the Transformer), Translational Energy Research Centre, and redevelopment of the original Henderson's factory. Controversies In recent years, the university has faced criticism over several issues. In 2016, the University used a student's Facebook posts expressing Christian views on homosexuality as grounds for expulsion from his social work course, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision in 2019 .The Court ruled the University's disciplinary process was inappropriate calling it an "extreme penalty" and found that the University's disciplinary procedures were flawed and unfair to the student. The institution has been subject to industrial action due to disputes over proposed job cuts and management decisions. In 2022–2023, student protests led to controversy when it was reported that the University had hired a private investigator to monitor participants. Additionally, staff members have reported experiencing a culture of racism, particularly affecting individuals of African and South Asian origin. On 25 May 2021, the University of Sheffield Executive Board (UEB) voted to close the Department of Archaeology and move two areas into other departments; a world leading institution since its formation in 1976. The decision had been made through a commissioned Institutional Review process and was met with a petition signed by over 40,000 people. Involvement with the arms trade set within a 150-acre campus Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre conducts a wide range of research projects including some funded by arms manufacturers such as BAE Systems. In 2012 the Students Union voted in favour of the university ending all links with the arms trade. In October 2022, students occupied 'The Diamond' over the university's alleged links with Rolls-Royce, and their involvement in arms manufacture. This resulted in the closure of the building, with the occupiers refusing to leave until negotiations with the Vice-Chancellor commenced. Over the past eight years, the university has received some £47 million from Rolls-Royce. The following month, the university hired a private investigator to investigate two students for "alleged misconduct" in relation to the protests. In November 2023, students interrupted the opening ceremony of the university's newest building, in support of Palestine and in protest over the university's financial contracts with arms manufacturers, including BAE Systems, GKN and Boeing. ==Campus and locations==

The University of Sheffield is a city-based campus, with most of its 450 buildings located in close proximity to each other in the St George's Quarter, on the west slopes of the city centre. The two foci started to fuse together in the 1960s, as more buildings were constructed or acquired by the University. The completion of the Information Commons and Jessop West buildings, in the late 2000s, bridge the two sides of the campus. The university campus is composed of an eclectic range of buildings from Victorian style to modernism to contemporary. Sir Frederick Mappin Building and Central Block are two Victorian university buildings, now linked by a contemporary curved glass roof constructed in 2020. Opened as the Western Bank Building, Firth Court is a red brick Edwardian building in Perpendicular Revival style, and is connected to the 1971 modernist Alfred Denny Building. The nearby Arts Tower is also an example of postwar modernist building in the International Style. The Diamond, a contemporary architecture designed by Twelve Architects, is situated next to the Victorian Jessop Building on the former site of Jessop's Edwardian wing. A total of 36 university buildings are listed. is bounded by Upper Hanover Street to the east, Glossop Road to the south, Clarkson Street to the west, and Bolsover Street to the north. Western Bank (A57) runs through the campus. A concourse under the A57 flyover connects Alfred Denny Building on the north side and Students' Union on the south. Until the completion of three pedestrian crossings on Western Bank in 2017, the concourse underpass was the only link that allowed students to easily move between buildings in this cluster. The Information Commons, a library and computing centre opened in 2007, is also located at the Western Bank Campus on Leavygreave Road. In addition, throughout 2010 the Western Bank Library received a £3.3 million restoration and refurbishment, the University of Sheffield Union of Students underwent a £5 million rebuild, and work commenced on a multimillion-pound refurbishment of the Grade II* listed Arts Tower to extend its lifespan by 30 years. St George's Campus To the east of the main campus lies St George's campus, named after St George's Church (now a lecture theatre and postgraduate residence). The campus is the historical location of the Sheffield Technical School. It is bounded by Upper Hanover Street to the west, Broad Lane to the north, Rockingham Street to the east, and West Street to the south, Also known as the Engineering campus, St George's campus is centred on Mappin Street, the location of the Faculty of Engineering (partly housed in the Grade II-listed Mappin Building) and the Department of Journalism Studies, Department of Economics and Department of Computer Science. The university also maintains the Turner Museum of Glass in this area. As part of the 2000s development plan, the university has converted the listed Victorian Jessop Hospital for Women into the new home of the Department of Music in 2009. The formerly Grade II-listed Edwardian wing of the Jessop Hospital was demolished after Sheffield City Council's planning committee voted for approval. The building was replaced by a new £81 million building for the Faculty of Engineering which opened in September 2015, named the Diamond. It is a purpose-built multi-disciplinary building that houses lecture theatres, laboratories, workrooms and other facilities for the teaching of engineering. Amongst the more recent additions to the university's estate located on this campus are the Soundhouse (2008; a music practice and studio facility) and the Jessop West building (2009; the first UK project by Berlin architects Sauerbruch Hutton). The Sir Frederick Mappin Building is a Grade II-listed building in an area known as the St George's Complex. The building houses much of the Faculty of Engineering and St George's IT centre. Completed in 1885, the oldest part of the building, the former Sheffield Technical School, now the Central Wing, lies in the centre of the building. The extensive Mappin Street frontage includes the main entrance, the John Carr Library and Mappin Hall, and is connected to the Central Wing by a bridge. In early 2020, the Mappin Building and the Central Wing were refurbished. As a result of the refurbishments, the two buildings are joined by a quadruple-height atrium with curved glass roof. The atrium, called the Engineering Heartspace, houses laboratories, offices and social spaces. while the upstairs has been converted for use as student accommodation. Other sites Further west lies Weston Park, the Weston Park Museum, the Harold Cantor Gallery, university's sports facilities Goodwin Sports Centre in the Crookesmoor area, and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health around the Royal Hallamshire Hospital (although these subjects are taught in the city's extensive teaching hospitals under the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and throughout South Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire). It is in this area that the new £12 million Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), opened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 2010, is located. There is a cluster of buildings located to the north of Broad Lane, opposite St George's campus, collectively called the north campus. Kroto Research Institute, Kroto Innovation Centre, Nanoscience and Technology Building, Graduate Research Centre, George Porter Building and the International College are based on this campus area. To the south of the city on Warminster Road are where the sports pitches at Norton Sports Park located. The university also operates Advanced Manufacturing Research Centres (AMRCs) on the border of Sheffield, in Rotherham and Lancashire. The Conference Centre and Teaching Hall at Philadelphia Campus of St. Thomas' Church are used as exam venues by the university. Former locations The old Firth College building, dating to 1879–80, was located at the corner of Leopold Street and West Street. It was designed by T.J. Flockton and E.R. Robson with the front facing West Street. Opposite this building, at 7 Leopold Street, was the old Medical School building, which was designed by John Dodsley Webster and completed in 1888. Both Firth College and the Medical School left these buildings following the establishment of the university in 1905. The Manvers campus at Wath-on-Dearne was where the majority of nursing was taught. Humphry Davy House (named after the chemist) was constructed in 1998 to house the School of Nursing and Midwifery and was located at Golden Smithies Lane. In 2004, following changes to the nursing and midwifery training contract offered by the NHS, the University opted to close the campus. The final intake of Midwifery Studies students was in July 2006 and the site closed one year later. ==Organisation==

Faculties and schools The university has five academic faculties, into which 21 academic schools are organised. These are: • Faculty of Arts and Humanities • School of English • School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities • School of Languages, Arts and Societies • School of Law • Faculty of Engineering • School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering • School of Computer Science • School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering • School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering • Faculty of Health • School of Allied Health, Nursing and Midwifery • School of Clinical Dentistry • School of Medicine and Population Health (including the Medical School) • Faculty of Science • School of Biosciences • School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences • School of Psychology • Faculty of Social Sciences • School of Architecture and Landscape • School of Economics • School of Education • School of Geography and Planning • School of Information, Journalism and Communication • Management School • School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations Faculty of Arts and Humanities The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is made up of eight schools and departments. It is also home to three institutes (Humanities Research Institute, Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, and Digital Humanities Institute) and 16 research centres. The Centre for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism of the faculty was the first centre devoted to scholarly research into Freemasonry in a UK university. The centre was closed in 2010, ten years after its establishment, due to its failure to capture substantial grants to support the centre's activities. In May 2021, archaeology staff at the university have been told their jobs could be at risk after a review. A petition to save the department has gathered more than 35,000 signatures but the university said no decisions had yet been taken, but later changed to announcing they intended to dissolve the department, which was met with international outcry. Faculty of Engineering The precursor to the Faculty of Engineering is the Sheffield Technical School established in the 1880s, which offered part-time and evening class programme to adults working in the steel industry. During 1917, departments of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Civil and Structural Engineering and Mechanical Engineering were founded in response to the needs of the First World War. The departments provided training courses for injured and incapacitated soldiers, and manufactured inspection gauges and munition shells. Faculty of Health The Faculty of Health is made up of three schools, which are the School of Applied Health, Nursing and Midwifery, the School of Clinical Dentistry, and the School of Medicine and Population Health (which includes the Medical School; the oldest school of the University). The Medical School operated independently as the Sheffield School of Medicine until its mergers with Firth College and with Sheffield Technical School. The Medical School is located next to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, one of the Sheffield's teaching hospitals, and the school is associated with Sheffield Children's Hospital, Northern General Hospital, Weston Park Hospital and Charles Clifford Dental Hospital. It is one of 32 bodies entitled to award medical degrees in the United Kingdom by the General Medical Council (GMC), the body responsible for registering doctors to practise medicine as well as regulating medical education and training in the United Kingdom. Faculty of Science The Faculty of Science comprises seven classical science departments: Animal and Plant Sciences, Biomedical Science, Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Physics and Astronomy, and Psychology. All of the university's six Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with this faculty. Biology has been taught in Sheffield since 1884 in Firth College. Appointed the first Professor of Biology in 1888, Alfred Denny was the only biologist in the Department of Biology at the college who taught zoology and botany to science and medical students. In 1896, a second biologist, botanist Bertram H. Bentley, joined the college. Soon after the university was founded, in 1908, two separate departments were established: Zoology (head by Denny) and Botany (head by Bentley). The departments were not merged until the establishment of the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences in 1988, as part of a major rationalisation at the university. David H. Lewis, who was Head of Botany, was the first Head of Animal and Plant Sciences. Faculty of Social Sciences The Sheffield School of Architecture is consistently ranked among the top 10 in Europe and the UK for "Architecture and the Built-Environment" and is one of the longest established architecture schools in the UK, opening in 1908. It was first located in the tower of Firth Court but soon moved to the Sunday School in Shearwood Road and is located on the top 6 floors of the Arts Tower since 1965. The school has courses accredited by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and has an active student society (SUAS). In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, Sheffield School of Architecture ranked 4th in the UK. Established in 1986, the Management School is a triple-accredited (AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS) business school. In 2013 the school moved into newly refurbished facilities close to the University of Sheffield campus and Broomhill. It now has dedicated learning and teaching space, a courtyard, dedicated café and Employability Hub. The Information School (iSchool) is a constituent school of the Faculty of Social Sciences. It was founded as Postgraduate School of Librarianship in 1963 and became the Department of Information Studies in 1981. In 2010, the Information School devoting to the study of the information field was established. The current head of school is Professor Peter Bath. The school is ranked second in the world and first in Europe for Library and Information Studies in the QS World University Rankings 2020. The Department of Urban Studies and Planning (USP) was founded as the Department of Town and Regional Planning (TRP) in 1965 and is located in the Geography Building in the Western Bank Campus. It was ranked as the top RTPI accredited planning school in the UK by the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) and second for "Building and town and country planning" by the Guardian University Rankings 2021. Former faculties Sheffield had four faculties in 1905, which were Arts, Pure Science, Medicine and Applied Science. The Faculty of Applied Science later split into Engineering and Metallurgy in 1919. in order to bridge the UK with Southeast and Eastern Europe, and was a separate, private legal entity according to Greek law. The faculty also operated the South East European Research Centre (SEERC), a multidisciplinary research centre established in 2003. In 2024, the University ended their partnership with CITY College, which became part of the University of York. Governance Committees There are several bodies which govern the university, including the council, the Senate and the faculties. The council is the governing body of the university, which is responsible for the strategic development, legal and regulatory affairs, and performance of university business (finance and property). The chair and pro-chancellor of the council is currently Tony Pedder. The Senate manages the academic side of the university. It is the highest academic authority of the university, and is also responsible for the regulation of research work and students' discipline. The five faculties regulates departmental teaching, research, examination, and also admission. They are responsible for making recommendations to the Senate on the award of degrees, fellowships, and academic staff appointments and promotions. The board provides leadership and management, as well as advises the vice-chancellor on operational matters. the vice-chancellor is the chief executive and accountable officer of the university. Court The Court was formerly the University's supreme governing body. It existed to foster relations between the University and the community, and included lay members, many of whom are University alumni. Ex-officio members of the Court included all MPs of Sheffield , the Bishops of Sheffield and Hallam, and the chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, along with representatives of professional bodies such as the Royal Society and General Medical Council. The Court was disbanded during the 2014–15 academic year, Vice-chancellors , 3rd Vice-Chancellor of the university • 1905: William Mitchinson Hicks • 1905: Sir Charles Eliot • 1912: Herbert Fisher • 1917: William Ripper (acting) • 1919: Sir William Henry Hadow • 1930: Sir Arthur Pickard-Cambridge • 1938: Sir Irvine Masson • 1953: John Macnaghten Whittaker • 1965: Arthur Roy Clapham (acting) • 1966: Sir Hugh Robson • 1974: Geoffrey Sims • 1991: Sir Gareth Roberts • 2001: Bob Boucher • 2007: Sir Keith Burnett • 2018: Koen Lamberts , 8th Chancellor of the university Chancellors • 1905: Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk • 1917: Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe • 1944: Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood • 1947: Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax • 1959: Rab Butler, Baron Butler • 1979: Frederick Dainton, Baron Dainton • 1999: Sir Peter Middleton • 2015: Dame Anne Rafferty • 2025: Andy Haldane Finances In the financial year ending 31 July 2024, the University of Sheffield had a total income of £887.9 million (2022/23 – £880.2 million) and total expenditure of £651.4 million (2022/23 – £790.5 million). Key sources of income included £401.8 million from tuition fees and education contracts (2022/23 – £397.5 million), £109.1 million from funding body grants (2022/23 – £111.5 million), £185.8 million from research grants and contracts (2022/23 – £198.6 million) and £32.6 million from endowment and investment income (2022/23 – £24.2 million). In heraldic terminology, the official coat of arms is blazoned as follows: Azure, an open book proper, edged gold, inscribed with the words Disce Doce between in fess two sheaves of eight arrows interlaced saltireways and banded argent, in chief an open crown or, and in base a rose also argent barbed and seeded proper. The current university's logo, consists of a redrawn version of the coat of arms and the name of the institution, is introduced in 2005, the centenary year of the university. However, the logo should not supersede and be confused with the coat of arms, which remains the official heraldic symbol of the university. Previously, the University's fonts were TUOS Stephenson (serif) and TUOS Blake (sans-serif). Both TUOS Stephenson and TUOS Blake are modified versions of a typeface designed by Sheffield company Stephenson & Blake Co. The university brand (encompassing the visual identity) is led by its motto Rerum cognoscere causas and centred on the theme of "discovery". The theme has been applied across print, screen and other areas such as signage, vehicle livery and merchandising. Ceremony Academic dress As at most universities, Sheffield graduands wear academic dress appropriate to the degree they are to be received when graduating. Bachelors wear a black Oxford BA [b1] gown (see Groves classification system). The hood is in green, half-lined with white fur, and edged with two inches of silk of the colour distinctive of the degree or the faculty. Masters wear a black Oxford MA [m1] gown with a hood of green silk which is lined throughout with the faculty colour. The PhD and the MPhil hoods are lined in green. In 1993, the postgraduate diplomate hood is entered in the Calendar of the University of Sheffield. It is a blend of Bachelors' and Masters' hoods, They were: Metallurgy—steel grey; Education—pearl; Architecture—old gold; Law—olive green. The old colour of the Faculty of Social Sciences was pale green. University mace The university mace is an ornament of governance of the University of Sheffield. It is silver-gilt and carries the coats of arms of both the university and the city of Sheffield, and the White Rose of York. A figure of Minerva holding a wreath and palm branch on a heraldic crown adorns the top of the mace. Used for the first time in 1909, the mace is carried in academic procession as the symbol of authority, which precedes the presiding officer. ==Academics==

Reputation and rankings performance over the past ten years In 2007, the University had been described by The Sunday Times as one of the powerhouses of British higher education. The university is a member of the Russell Group, the European University Association, the Worldwide Universities Network and the White Rose University Consortium. In 2026, it was ranked 12th in the UK and 108th in the world by Times Higher Education World University Rankings scoring 49.7 on a scale of 100 for its teaching and 49.1 for its research environment. As per QS ranking, the University was ranked 28th in Europe and 92nd globally.. Sheffield was ranked 10th in the UK and 64th in the world's top universities ranking by Time magazine and Statista.Sheffield has been voted University of the Year, Best Students' Union and Best for Student Life at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2024, and named runner-up for University of the Year 2025 by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025. It has also come to the top position in the Russell Group based on 2024 National Student Survey (NSS). Sheffield has been awarded Queen's Anniversary Prizes for five times. In 2011 it was named 'University of the Year' in the Times Higher Education awards. It was also named as one of the top 50 most international universities in 2018 around the world and its reputation of outstanding teaching has been underlined in the most recent league table which put Sheffield joint 9th in the UK and 11th across Europe. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) Sheffield was ranked 11th for research power in the UK, moving up from 13th in REF2014, with 92% of the research submitted by the academic staff having been rigorously judged as world leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*). The university was one of only ten in the country to include more than 1500 staffs for the submissions in a wide range of subject areas. A number of areas of research at the University of Sheffield are in the top 10 nationally in terms of the assessment of their research and impact as world-leading or internationally excellent. Some highlights include: Physics and Astronomy – which achieved 100 per cent and came top for research and impact; Biological Sciences – which came in the top five with 98 per cent; Architecture, Built Environment and Planning – which came in the top three with 95 per cent and Engineering – which achieved 96 per cent and came in the top 10. In the ARWU rankings of 2022, the university achieved 8th place in Geography and Urban Planning, 38th in Civil Engineering, and 46th in Ecology. UK Subject Ranking (top 10) World Subject Ranking (top 100) Admissions In the academic year, the student body consisted of students, composed of undergraduates and postgraduate students. In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 71:5:24 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 51:49. 57.8% of international students enrolled at the institution are from China, the second highest proportion out of all mainstream universities in the UK. Libraries , viewed from Leavygreave Road The University of Sheffield has currently four libraries: Western Bank Library, the Information Commons, Health Sciences Library (Royal Hallamshire Hospital and Northern General Hospital), and The Diamond, holding a total of 1.5 million printed books. Western Bank Library was the university's main library until the opening of the Information Commons in 2007. The Grade II* listed library has 730 study spaces and contains 1.2 million texts for most subjects, as well as archives and special collections. The Information Commons (IC) is a 24/7 learning centre combining both library and IT services, which was the first of its kind in the UK. It was opened at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in 1978, and a year later a branch at the Northern General Hospital was opened. The Royal Hallamshire Hospital library has collections cover medicine, dentistry, nursing and midwifery, and the Northern General Hospital library contains material for medicine and nursing. It replaces the 1992 St George's Library on St George's Campus as the main engineering library and study space. The University of Sheffield Library is a member of Research Libraries UK. , viewed from St George's Terrace Former libraries include Edgar Allen Library closed by the late 1950s and St George's Library closed on 14 June 2015. Edgar Allen Library was the first university library. In 1905 when the university was established, the library was housed in a lecture room due to lack of funds to construct a purpose-built library. William Edgar Allen, a member of the University Council, provided £10,000 to build a proper library named Edgar Allen Library, locating beside the main university building (Firth Court). Edgar Allen Library had 100 seats in its reading room, shelves for 20,000 books, and a stack space for 60,000 more books. Sir Charles Harding Firth, the first lecturer in Modern History in Firth College, donated part of his personal collection to the library. Sheffield Town Trustee also helped the university to transform the General Lecture Theatre into a reading room housing the Firth Collection (rare book collection of approximately 20,000 volumes) in 1931. As the university rapidly expanded in the 1950s, it became necessary to replace Edgar Allen Library with a modern post-war era library. The library, later known as the Western Bank Library, was opened on 12 May 1959. became the Registrar and Secretary's Office. St George's Library (now 38 Mappin Street) was refurbished as an exam venue. Museums and collections The Alfred Denny Museum is a zoology museum operated by the university. Established in 1905, the museum was located in Firth Court, spanning three floors, and was named after the first professor of biology at Sheffield in 1950. It has specimens from all major phyla, and two letters written from Charles Darwin to Henry Denny, father of Alfred Denny. Many of the specimens have been collected since the 1900s, but much of the information about the collection was lost during the Second World War. The museum, now reduced in size, has been moved to Alfred Denny Building after the war. The museum is not open to the public at all time but usually on the first Saturday of each month. The Turner Museum of Glass houses the university's collections of 19th and 20th century glass. It contains items mainly from major European and American glassworkers and examples from ancient Egypt and Rome. It is in the Hadfield Building. It was founded by W. E. S. Turner of the university in 1943. One of the exhibits is the wedding dress of Helen Nairn (Turner's wife) which is made of glass fibre. This has been selected as one of the items in the BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects. The Traditional Heritage Museum (THM) was opened to the public in 1985 as part of the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition. It was created (and curated) by Prof John Widdowson in 1964 and was entirely run by volunteers and students. The THM housed collections including a replica kitchen from the 1920s, reconstructed workshops and retail shops, such as Pollard's tea and coffee. The university decided to close the Museum in 2011 because the building could not afford continued public access. In 2013, the collections from the Traditional Heritage Museum were relocated and are accessible again to the public. The majority of the items was transferred to not-for-profit organisation Green Estate (operators of the Sheffield Manor Lodge). Other major recipients include Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust, Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust and Ken Hawley Trust. The Western Bank Library has an Exhibition Gallery. It is located on the mezzanine level of the library, enabling special collections from the university library and the National Fairground Archive to be displayed in controlled conditions. In 2010, the gallery was restored and refurbished by a grant from the Wolfson Foundation. The library usually schedules three temporary exhibitions per year, and most of the exhibitions are free to visit during library opening hours. donated his lantern glass slide collection to the university library The Henry Clifton Sorby Collection contains glass lantern slides of marine organisms prepared and donated by Henry Clifton Sorby in the 1900s. Sorby was president of Firth College after the death of Mark Firth, vice-president of the University College of Sheffield, and a member of the Council of the University of Sheffield. His broad interests included marine biology, and he had developed a technique for preparing and mounting invertebrate marine animals onto slides. The specimens were cleared and stained so that enabling projection onto a screen for viewing. The glass lantern slides are now held in the Department Animal and Plant Sciences. The Sheffield Herbarium is also operated by the Department Animal and Plant Sciences, with a collection of preserved plant specimens collected in the late 19th century and early to mid 20th century. The collection is mainly from the British Isles and Europe focusing on tracheophytes, bryophytes, charophytes and fungi. Many of the micro-fungi specimens are from the collection of mycologist and Sheffield alumnus John Webster. The National Fairground and Circus Archive (NFCA) is a living archive that collects material from the fairground, circus and the allied entertainment industries. NFCA was in 1994 developed out of the PhD research by Vanessa Toulmin, who was later director of the archive from its inception until 2016. With its own Reading Room situated in Western Bank Library, the archive holds 150,000 photographs, 4,000 books and journals, together with over 20,000 items of printed and video ephemera. Major collections include the Shufflebottom Family Collection, the John Bramwell Taylor Collection, the Malcolm Airey Collection and the John Turner Collection. Launched in 2019, the institutes focus on clean energy generation, sustainable food, health improvement and quality of life. The Energy Institute is one of the largest energy research centres in Europe. The Neuroscience Institute works on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. This includes the exploration of artificial intelligence applications in healthcare for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and improving prognosis. The Healthy Lifespan Institute researches multimorbidity and slowing down the ageing process. The Institute for Sustainable Food studies food security and environmental sustainability. Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre is a network of centres and a partnership between the university and over a hundred industrial companies on the Advanced Manufacturing Park. In 2025, another 100-acre Runway Park project has been undertaken on the land of former Sheffield City Airport. This will be shaped around four distinct zones: research, innovation, manufacturing and leisure, and be designed to suit occupiers with custom builds, from small-scale co-working to large-scale manufacturing. For many years the university has been engaged in theological publishing through Sheffield Academic Press and JSOT Press. The university is also a partner organisation in Higher Futures, a collaborative association of institutions set up under the government's Lifelong Learning Networks initiative, to co-ordinate vocational and work-based education. The university has over 180 specialised research centres or institutes. The National Epitaxy Facility at Sheffield is leading the semiconductor research & development in collaboration with The University of Cambridge and University College London. At the £12.5 million UK Centre for Heterogeneous Integrated MicroElectronic and Semiconductor Systems (CHIMES²), Sheffield brings together researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Queen’s University Belfast, Strathclyde, Edinburgh, Newcastle, King’s College London, Manchester, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to design the next generation of advanced electronic systems and support UK Semiconductor Strategy. The University of Sheffield has around 250 student exchange partners in nearly 40 countries world-wide including exchange programs with University of Washington, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Texas at Austin, National University of Singapore, University of Tokyo, University of Munich and University of Melbourne. ==Student life==

Students' Union The University of Sheffield Students' Union was founded in 1906, and has over 300 student societies and 60 sports teams. The Students' Union has been voted best in the UK for ten consecutive years, from 2009 to 2018, by The Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey. Sheffield University Football Club has been established for many decades and has previously competed in the FA Amateur Cup and FA Vase. The Union building contains society and union workplaces and coffee shops, restaurants, shops, and the student run cinema Film Unit. Facilities include two bars (Bar One – which has a book-able function room with its own bar, The Raynor Lounge – and The Interval); a three-room club venue (Foundry); There is also a student radio station called Forge Radio, a TV station called Forge TV, and a newspaper called Forge Press, which are run under the umbrella of Forge Media since 2008. In November 2009 a development project began to redevelop the Students' Union building, funded by £5 million by the HEFCE, which was completed and re-opened in September 2010. Works centred on improving circulation around the building by aligning previously disjointed floors, improving internal access between the Union building and neighbouring University House, and constructing a new entrance and lobby that incorporates the university's traditional colours of black and gold. During the 2012–13 academic year the Students' Union underwent further redevelopment with a £20 million refurbishment of University House, resulting in the 1963 building being fully integrated with the Students' Union in a single building. Student accommodation The university halls of residence comprises two separate sites: Ranmoor/Endcliffe and City. Ranmoor/Endcliffe is situated in the western suburb of Sheffield, which is close to Broomhill and Ecclesall Road. The Endcliffe Village was opened in 2008 and the Ranmoor Village in 2009. Ranmoor House, opened in the autumn term of 1968, was once the largest hall of residence at the university, housing around 800 students. As part of the university's Student Residences Strategy, Ranmoor House was demolished in March 2008, a year before the new Ranmoor Village was scheduled to open. The Endcliffe and Ranmoor villages have been together referred to as Ranmoor/Endcliffe since 2016. The Endcliffe Village was renamed "South accommodation (near Endcliffe)", and the Ranmoor Village "North accommodation (near Ranmoor)". The varsity is divided into winter and summer competitions. Over 1,000 students from both universities compete in over 30 varsity sports in more than 70 events. The university's sports colours are black and gold. Sheffield won the Varsity competition in 2013, beating Hallam for the first time in ten years. Since finding victory in 2013, the University has had consistent success against Sheffield Hallam, with the University winning for 11 consecutive years. ==Notable alumni==

Many notable people in a number of disciplines have attended Sheffield. A number of politicians are alumni of the university, including President of Dominica Nicholas Liverpool, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Nurettin Canikli, Home Secretary David Blunkett, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Seychelles Jean-Paul Adam, Downing Street Chief of Staff Nick Timothy. At least ten Members of the UK Parliament and two Members of the European Parliament have studied at Sheffield. Notable public servants who have studied at the university includes Secretary General of the Higher Commission for Industrial Security of Saudi Arabia Khalid S. Al-Ageel, Chief Economist at the Bank of England Andy Haldane, head of London Metropolitan Police Bernard Hogan-Howe, Chief of the Defence Staff Stuart Peach, Children's Commissioner for England Maggie Atkinson. and housing expert Tony Crook CBE. Sheffield has educated a number of judges and lawyers. The university has the highest number of alumni appointed to the bench of the Court of Appeal after Oxford and Cambridge. In November 2013, the court had a bench consisting of judges all graduated at Sheffield; the sitting judges were Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal Maurice Kay, Anne Rafferty and Julia Macur. The Sheffield School of Law has also produced lawyers around the world. This includes Deputy Minister of Justice of Afghanistan Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai, Chief Justice of Bangladesh Md. Muzammel Hossain, Supreme Court Justice of Sierra Leone Henry M. Joko-Smart, and Chief Justice of Malaysia Arifin Zakaria. Writers who attended the university include two-times Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel, Lee Child, Dean of Christ Church of Oxford Martyn Percy, General Secretary of Action of Churches Together in Scotland Stephen Smyth, and Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies. Many pioneers were students at the university, including first British astronaut Helen Sharman, Polar explorer Roy Koerner, and the first female pilot to fly solo from London to Australia Amy Johnson. Bryony Page and Nick Beighton have won medals at the Olympics and Paralympics respectively. Notable alumni in sports also include Herbert Chapman, Zara Dampney, Catherine Faux, Tim Robinson and David Wetherill. Warburg Medal winning scientist Hans Kornberg have been studied at Sheffield, along with Olive Scott and Donald Bailey, inventor of the Bailey bridge. Sheffield's Department of Chemistry has also educated two winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. File:Official portrait of Lord Blunkett crop 2, 2025.jpg|Lord Blunkett File:Lee Child, Bouchercon 2010.jpg|Lee Child File:Official portrait of Lord Hogan-Howe crop 2, 2022.jpg|Bernard Hogan-Howe File:Amy Johnson 1930-06-14.jpg|Amy Johnson File:25th Laureus World Sports Awards - Red Carpet - Jessica Ennis-Hill - 240422 175644 (cropped).jpg|Jessica Ennis-Hill File:Andy Haldane - Festival Economia 2013.JPG|Andy Haldane File:Dr. Helen Sharman (cropped).jpg|Helen Sharman File:Team GB 2024 Bryony Page 120618.jpg|Bryony Page File:2025_01_25_Sundance_Film_Festival-41_Full_(cropped).jpg|Tim Key Nobel prizes The university's Faculty of Science is associated with six Nobel laureates, two for the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology: • 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Hans Adolf Krebs, "for the discovery of the citric acid cycle in cellular respiration" And four to its Department of Chemistry: • 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (joint award), George Porter, "for their work on extremely fast chemical reactions" (see Flash photolysis) • 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (joint award), Richard J. Roberts, "for the discovery that genes in eukaryotes are not contiguous strings but contain introns, and that the splicing of messenger RNA to delete those introns can occur in different ways, yielding different proteins from the same DNA sequence" • 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (joint award), Sir Harry Kroto, "for their discovery of fullerenes" • 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (joint award), Sir James Fraser Stoddart, "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines" File:Howard Walter Florey 1945.jpg| File:Hans_Adolf_Krebs.jpg| File:George Porter Nobel.jpg| File:Roberts,_Richard_John_(1943).jpg| File:Harold_Kroto_1c389_8471.sweden.jpg| File:Nobel Laureates Fraser Stoddart 2016 (31117136180).jpg| Two Nobel laureates associated with the university are not officially counted. They are: Sir John Vane (research worker) and Wole Soyinka (visiting professor). ==In popular culture==

A fictionalized version of the University of Sheffield is the setting of the award-winning comic book series, Giant Days. Comedy Love in the Time of Britpop is set at the university in the 1990s Cool Britannia era. The university's Western Bank Library is featured in Barry Libin's novel Mystery of the Milton Manuscript. ==See also==