The Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy has a large and vigorous research school, with about 100 research fellows, postdoctoral scientists and visiting scientists, and more than 140 research students studying for the postgraduate degrees. The growth in our research activities over the past twenty years has been almost exponential, with a current research income of more than £10 million per year. Although our research has always been closely linked with industrial needs and supported in large part by industry as well as government, recent trends have seen the development of larger-scale working relationships with major research sponsors. Similarly, our wide range of international contacts which bring visiting researchers to Cambridge has been extended through formal collaboration agreements with institutions from around the world.