Imperial College is a technological university having a strong international reputation in teaching and research across the main areas of science and technology. The College has around 1750 full-time members of academic and research staff involved in research.

In the latest Higher Education Funding Council Research Assessment Exercise, covering all universities, the Department was accredited with the maximum score of 5* for its international research excellence. Research carried out by the Group at Imperial College since 1990 has established the Group as an internationally recognised multi-disciplinary research centre dealing with coalbed methane and enhanced coalbed methane technology, environmental modelling and risk assessment. A number of projects funded by the UK Research Councils, UK Department of Trade and Industry, the European Commission and industry led to the development of a unique CMB simulator (METSIM) which has recently been extended as an ECBM/CO₂ Storage simulator (METSIM2) through the EC Energie Programme funded project ICBM, co-ordinated by IMPERIAL. Examples of related research projects:

(1) "Numerical simulation of methane flow in coal seams", (2) "An experimental and theoretical investigation into coalbed methane well performance prediction and stimulation modelling"; (3) "Coalbed methane well stimulation-modelling and performance prediction"; (4) "An investigation into horizontal borehole technology for improved coalbed methane recovery"; (5) “Methane production simulation from abandoned mines (METSIM)”; (6) “An investigation into the effects of matrix swelling on coal permeability for ECBM and CO₂ sequestration assessment"; (7) “Development of advanced reservoir characterisation and simulation tools for improved Coalbed Methane Recovery (ICBM)”; (8) “Assessment of hazardous gas emissions to the surface over former mined areas (MINGAS)”, (9) “An experimental investigation into permeability enhancement in coalbed methane reservoirs”, (10) “Modelling the uncertainty and risks associated with the design and life cycle of CO₂ sequestration in coalbed methane reservoirs (ECBM-RISK), (11) ”ECBM Software Code development/comparison project (Geo-Seq)”, (12) “CO₂, from capture to storage (CASTOR)”, (13) “CO₂ Life Cycle and Impact Assessment in Capture and Geological Storage (CO₂LCA).