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. It was inaugurated in 1989 by Professor Roger W.H. Sargent, the founding Director of the Centre from 1989 to his retirement in 1992. Since then, Sargent Centre has continued the legacy of Professor Sargent and remains a Centre of Excellence.

Sargent Centre History

Our academics come from multi-disciplinary backgrounds, including: chemical engineering, mathematics, physics and chemistry and are international leaders in their fields. We consistently attract major grants as well as high calibre PhD students and Research Associates from around the world. 

The Centre’s cutting-edge research has been recognized by many awards, including the Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award in 2007 (the UK’s highest award for innovation in engineering). This prestigious award was presented to the Centre’s spin-out company Process Systems Enterprise Limited (PSE). The award was in recognition of PSE’s highly innovative modelling software gPROMS which to date remains “the leading modelling product within the chemical industry.” gPROMS is a mathematical modelling systems developed to help make chemical plants safer and more efficient. Previous winners of this esteemed award include IBM, Rolls Royce and BP. Sargent Centre's other accomplishments include: the Queens Prize for Higher Education and three spinout companies.