University lands £2.5m boost for health and life science teaching

The University of Derby has been awarded £2.5 million to invest in a range of innovative health and life science teaching equipment.

It has been awarded the cash by the Office for Students to help the university enhance its teaching capabilities for health and life science programmes.

It will fund cutting-edge equipment, including a, designed to be a multidisciplinary platform, serving the community while offering student learning experiences and supporting applied research.

Professor Kathryn Mitchell CBE DL, vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Derby, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that the university has been successful in securing this funding, which will provide a real boost for our allied health and life science programmes, increasing the range, quality and capacity of teaching provision within these areas.

“As a ‘university for industry’, the funding will further strengthen partnerships with local employers and SMEs, and reflects our commitment to delivering high-impact, employer-responsive education.”

As well as the community mobile Health and Education Bus, the money will fund anatomical teaching tools – such as real human-based 3D digital anatomy tables, as well as advanced diagnostic equipment such as ultrasound, near-infrared spectroscopy, and portable Electroencephalography (EEG) machines, which measure electric signals in the brain.

It will also fund a range of equipment for major incident and emergency medical simulation, Sports Therapy, Physiotherapy, Human Performance and Forensics.

It will also mean enhanced resources for allied health and bariatric training – providing improved teaching quality and strengthening engagement with industry partners through resource sharing, and collaborative activities such as live student projects and scenario teaching.

Professor Mitchell said: “These new, innovative resources will support priority sectors identified by Skills England, the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, and the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Local Skills Improvement Plan, while aligning with the university’s strategic goals in education, innovation, civic engagement and sustainability.”

The funding comes from the Office for Students’ Capital Grant fund for 2025/2026, which has allocated £88.5 million of capital funding to support investment in new buildings, facilities and equipment for universities and colleges across England.

Funding through the competitive bidding process has been provided to 60 universities and colleges.

This successful award is the University of Derby’s second in succession from this Office for Students fund.

In 2022, Derby was awarded the maximum £5.8 million funding for the development of a Bioscience SuperLab, which opened in September this year.

The large, fully-equipped, open lab space has been designed to facilitate both teaching and research simultaneously.

The facility offers real-world, sector-relevant practical experiences in areas like haematology, immunology, histopathology, microbiology, molecular biology, genetics, cell and tissue culture and microscopy.