The University of Nottingham is a world leading university and is consistently ranked in the top ten in the UK for subjects including Economics, Law, and Pharmacy.

The university is one of 12 "elite" institutions that accommodates the top achieving students in England and a 2014 survey suggested it is the most targeted university by the UK's top employers.

The University of Nottingham is also home to a Synthetic Biology Research Centre and receives funding for this from The Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The centre will use synthetic biology to provide ground breaking sustainable routes to important chemicals and fuels. These routes will be delivered by using bacteria such as Geobascillus cupriavidus and other Clostridia which have been developed over the past century to digest materials and to convert gases, such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) into more desirable and useful molecules, reducing the reliance on petrochemicals.