Swinburne has placed in the top 250 universities globally for physical sciences, in new subject rankings released by Times Higher Education.
Swinburne has improved its ranking in the area of physical sciences in the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject, placing in the top 201-250.
Physical sciences includes the broad areas of astronomy, physics, chemistry and earth sciences.
This notable ranking recognises some of Swinburne’s recent achievements in this area, including:
- Swinburne’s key role in lifting Australia’s space industry through the most significant space industry research concentration in Australia – the Cooperative Research Centre for Smart Satellite Technologies and Analytics (SmartSat CRC)
- A project to build the southern hemisphere’s first dark matter detector as part of the new Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory
- Leading the research team investigating a 96 million-year-old pterosaur, hailed as Australia’s most complete winged reptile discovery
- Swinburne researcher Professor Margaret Reid becoming the first female physicist to be awarded the Moyal Medal which recognises outstanding contributions to the field of physics
- World-first astronomy discoveries such as determining the precise location of a fast radio burst and using artificial intelligence (AI) to capture fast radio bursts in real time-time
Swinburne’s Dean of Science, Professor Virginia Kilborn, says Swinburne’s strong science offerings and commitment to world-class research outcomes is reflected in this latest ranking.
“This improvement shows our focus on world-class research and research facilities is working. It also recognises the exceptional work our teachers, academics and researchers contribute to the field and the high quality of our science degrees.”
Other subject areas included in this latest round of the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by subject are:
- Psychology: 301-400
- Clinical, pre-clinical and health: 401-500
Times Higher Education ranking success
The Times Higher Education rankings analyse world-class universities across core missions: academic capacity, research, knowledge transfer and international reach.
Subject rankings released by Times Higher Education in November showed Swinburne’s business and economics subjects continued to climb, moving into the top 301-400. In October, Swinburne’s STEM achievements were recognised, with engineering and technology, and computer science both rising in the rankings to sit at 176-200 and 251-300 respectively.
In September, Swinburne placed in the top 400 of the world’s best universities in the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, positioning Swinburne in the top three per cent of universities worldwide.
