Our staff and postgraduate students are driven to solve real world problems and make fundamental discoveries related to developing and understanding new and existing materials. At the IAC our time is split between a broad portfolio of fundamental research (funded by the UK Research Councils, NHS, EU and charitable organisations), industrial research and short term contract analysis. All academic staff within the Centre are actively involved in research and are highly skilled in leading edge surface science technologies and regularly apply their expertise to solving commercial problems. Academics also perform a range of teaching duties and supervision of postgraduate research.

The Centre maintains several laboratories which house a complementary array of analytical equipment for conducting surface, materials and solution analysis. This includes specially equipped laboratories to safely handle radioactive materials, which forms a major part of our research. We are also able to draw upon the world class laboratory facilities of the new Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information, a sister research centre with which the IAC is closely associated.