Specialist facilities
UTS is home to some of Australia’s most cutting-edge research and teaching facilities.
Specialist facilities at UTS support our student-centred Model of Learning and our high-impact research, while giving industry partners access to state-of-the-art facilities and UTS research expertise.
Many of our specialist facilities have been designed for collaborative, cross-disciplinary teaching and research. They have been strategically located to bring together specialist UTS researchers from different disciplines, as well as external partners, to create a greater impact through innovation and sharing of knowledge.
These are just some of the specialist facilities found on our campus.
UTS Tech Lab
Located in a growing industrial and technology hub in Botany, just outside Sydney’s CBD, the 9000 square metre UTS Tech Lab is designed to facilitate new, integrated ways of researching and developing innovative technologies. It houses a range of interconnected multidisciplinary engineering and IT labs, as well as collaborative workspaces, meeting rooms and seminar spaces, arranged to foster cross-pollination of knowledge and innovation. It is a space where expert researchers from across the spectrum of engineering and information technology can collaborate with industry partners on multidisciplinary research with real and sustained impact.
Science Super Lab (Vicki Sara Building)
The UTS Science Super Lab was the first of its kind in Australia when it opened in 2014. Located within our Vicki Sara ‘Science’ Building (Building 7) it features modern equipment and technology, and can accommodate up to 220 students from 12 different classes, with experiments from different disciplines running at once. The design of the Super Lab aims to facilitate the ‘buzz’ and collaborative opportunities of a multidisciplinary environment while ensuring students feel part of an intimate class group.
Animal Logic Academy
Established in 2017, the UTS Animal Logic Academy (UTS ALA) is an award-winning, custom-built VFX studio and teaching facility located in the Haymarket precinct of the UTS campus, in Sydney’s creative heartland. The academy is a unique collaboration that responds directly to the challenges of the animation and visualisation industries. With a professionally equipped studio space engineered to the highest industry standards, UTS ALA programs focus on research and postgraduate education for animation, visual effects and computer-generated imagery (CGI) in a studio environment.
Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER)
The Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER) is a unique body donation facility dedicated to the forensic study of human remains from the time of death to the time of discovery. Opening in 2016 as the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, AFTER is a multidisciplinary collaboration between academic, police and forensic agencies, whose members are regularly involved in death investigations. It is located on 12 acres of natural Australian bushland on the outskirts of Sydney.
Data Arena
The UTS Data Arena is a powerful immersive facility that can help researchers, business and government simplify complex information. This 360-degree interactive data visualisation facility allows users to observe, explore, refine, improve, discover and learn as they surround themselves in data. Using open-source software to transform numbers into interactive 3D geometry, the Data Arena provides a powerful way to identify patterns, associations and anomalies in big data.
ProtoSpace
ProtoSpace is a unique additive and advanced manufacturing facility offering industry partners, academics and UTS students access to cutting-edge 3D technologies, software and technical expertise. The 900 square metre facility is focused on innovation, research and development, and accommodates Australia’s largest collection of additive manufacturing technologies. The lab supports all aspects of the additive and advanced manufacturing process, from component design, manufacturing investigations and prototyping all the way through to final product research and development.
Human Performance Research Centre laboratories
Located within our facilities at the Rugby Australia Building in Sydney’s premier sporting precinct, Moore Park, the Human Performance Research Centre provides a space for focused research in sport and exercise science, across skill acquisition, exercise physiology, biomechanics, strength and conditioning, and injury management and prevention. The collaborative, transdisciplinary research centre brings together cutting-edge facilities and leading researchers who collaborate to develop authentic, impactful real-world applications for health, sport and exercise.
Biomanufacturing Immersion Facility
Newly opened in 2019, the UTS Biomanufacturing Immersion Facility is a training, teaching, research and development facility for biotech. BIF (as it’s informally known) has the potential to enable new biotech discoveries, such as cost-effective drugs and innovative sustainable foods and nutraceuticals. With state-of-the-art biomanufacturing equipment from GE Healthcare Life Sciences, BIF gives the fast-changing biotech and pharmaceutical sector the opportunity to train and upskill employees locally, while providing UTS researchers with access to world-class facilities for impact-driven research.
Hive Super Lab
Housed in a basement level of our new UTS Central building, the Hive Super Lab opened in March 2020. Designed to a PC2-standard, the lab is even larger and more technologically advanced than our existing cutting-edge Super Lab in the Vicki Sara Building. The space accommodates up to 270 students, with specialist high-tech audio-visual facilities allowing seven classes to run simultaneously. It's a practical, collaborative space, enabling students and researchers from different science disciplines to work side by side.
