Professor John Mitchell

Professor John Mitchell

Professor of Communications Systems Engineering

Head of the UCL Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Co-Director, Centre for Engineering Education.

I received my first degree a BEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the Department of Electronic Engineering, University College London in 1996 and my PhD in 2000. My PhD was conducted in the Telecommunications Research Group led by Prof. Sir J J O'Reilly examining "Modelling of the performance of Optical Networks.". This project was supported by EPSRC and Marconi Research Centre, Great Baddow.

In 2000, I was appointed Lecturer within the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, UCL, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2006 and Professor in 2015. I have been director of the IGDP Communications for Industry programme and from 2010-2012 was the Postgraduate Tutor (Taught) for the department. From 2012 to 2016 I was seconded to the faculty office to be director of the Integrated Engineering Programme.    Between 2015 and 2022 is was Vice-Dean, Education in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences and led on the development of Teaching and Learning Spaces in the new UCL EAST campus in Stratford.

In 2024 I was appointed as Head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

My research is based around access technologies, both wired and wireless and particulary the integration of wireless services with optical access. I have also been involved in projects concerning wireless sensor networks. However, most recently the majority of my research interests have been related to Engineering Education Research, in particular in curriculum development, active learning techniques including problem based learning. I have given a number of keynotes on the leadership of educational change in research intensive universities.

In 2024 I was awarded the Leonardo Da Vinci Medal of the European Society for Engineering Education and a National Teaching Fellowship from AdvanceHE. I am a Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Immediate Past President of the Engineering Professors’ Council, Vice-President Publications of the IEEE Education Society and was until recently a Member of the Board of Directors of the European Society for Engineering Education and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Education.