Royal visit celebrates new frontiers

The University of Surrey’s Chancellor, HRH The Duke of Kent, and HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh visit the Medical School and Surrey Space Centre

Royal visit celebrates new frontiers

HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh and the University of Surrey’s Chancellor, HRH The Duke of Kent, visit the Medical School and Surrey Space Centre

Surrey's research and teaching strengths across medicine and engineering in the spotlight

HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh and the University of Surrey’s Chancellor, HRH The Duke of Kent, visited campus on Wednesday 28 January  2026 to celebrate the University’s innovation, research and hands on learning. 

During their visit, they met students and staff from across campus, gaining insight into Surrey’s multidisciplinary approach to education.  

Surrey's research and teaching strengths across medicine and engineering in the spotlight

HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh and the University of Surrey’s Chancellor, HRH The Duke of Kent, visited campus on Wednesday 28 January  2026 to celebrate the University’s innovation, research and hands on learning. 

During their visit, they met students and staff from across campus, gaining insight into Surrey’s multidisciplinary approach to education.  

Medical School

Medical students at the first and only medical school in Surrey met The Duchess of Edinburgh to demonstrate the collaborative training that will shape their careers in the NHS.

The Duchess returned to the University of Surrey's Kate Granger Building six years after she opened it as the home of its School of Health Sciences.

Her Royal Highness met some of the University's first cohort of UK government-funded medical students who began their studies in September 2025. 

The Duchess also met medical, nursing, midwifery and paramedic students learning together in the collaborative training wards before joining a virtual reality anatomy teaching session. 

Surrey Space Centre

HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh was joined at the Surrey Space Centre by the University’s Chancellor, The Duke of Kent. During their labs visits they saw a student-designed satellite deploy pod which will push a payload from a rocket into space.  

At the Space Centre, The Duchess visited the satellite clean room toured by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1998.

In the clean room, Her Royal Highness helped to fit a panel engraved with Their Royal Highnesses’ Royal Cyphers to Jovian-1, a satellite which Surrey students helped develop. 

Widening Participation

Local schoolchildren, from the University’s widening participation programme, were guests on campus to demonstrate hands-on STEM outreach projects, with The Duke joining in. 

Students representing Ash Manor School, which is a Surrey STARS partner school, built battery powered model cars within the Engineering Design Centre, under the stewardship of Myles Jenkinson and Jaime Chatfield, before racing their constructions.  

Surrey STARS is a sustained initiative that invites eligible students, from across local partner secondary schools, to participate across a progressive programme of on-campus and in-school activity. Eligible students are then invited to register for Surrey Scholars, an extracurricular programme, to attend weekend subject workshops and residential summer schools at the University of Surrey.

Engineering Design Centre

Students from the University’s Engineering Design Centre also had the opportunity to show His Royal Highness a range of projects, including rocket designs and Formula E racing cars. 

Professor Stephen Jarvis, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey, said: “Training medical students alongside nursing, midwifery and paramedic students reflects how the NHS operates in practice. Our students graduate already equipped to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams, rather than having to learn this solely once they enter the workplace.

"The Duchess saw this first-hand in our training wards, where students from different disciplines learn together in realistic clinical settings. 

“Her Royal Highness also saw our engineering students working on satellites they have designed and built themselves – hardware that will ultimately be launched into orbit. That combination of world-class research and practical, employer-ready skills lies at the heart of what we do.

"For our students, whether still studying or already well into their careers, having two members of the Royal Family witness this work first-hand is an experience they will long remember. It was a truly memorable day for our entire community.” 

Prof Stephen Jarvis with HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh

Prof Stephen Jarvis with HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh

Royal Connections

The visit marked a return to sites with strong royal connections. Queen Elizabeth II visited the University’s Guildford campus three times during her 70-year reign.

The first came in 1992, when she inaugurated the University’s Centre for Satellite Engineering Research.

Patrick Degg, Vice-President, Global at the University of Surrey, said: “We thank both The Duchess of Edinburgh and The Duke of Kent for their continued support for Surrey. The Duke has served as our Chancellor since June 1976.

"To have him return in this 50th year of his Chancellorship alongside The Duchess, and for them both to see the breadth of the research and teaching Surrey delivers has been a moment of collective pride.  

“A programme that took in our pioneering space engineering, our new medical school and other aspects of our multidisciplinary research and teaching, spoke to the transformation The Duke has witnessed and championed throughout his tenure.

"His presence continues to inspire our community and affirm the values at the heart of this institution.” 

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Feature compiled by Oli Burley, Communications Officer at the University of Surrey

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