Case Study: University of Nottingham achieves more flexible teaching and research with Microsoft Azure

University of Nottingham empowers remote research and learning with Azure and Teams

The University of Nottingham partnered with Microsoft Azure to strengthen research and teaching over a 2–3 year period, but it faced a major challenge when the Covid-19 pandemic forced students, academics, and staff into remote working, teaching, and learning. To support this shift, the university used Microsoft Teams, Azure, and Windows Virtual Desktop to keep the campus connected and maintain learning continuity.

Microsoft Azure helped the University of Nottingham implement cloud-based collaboration and scalable computing tools that improved remote teaching and research. Microsoft Teams usage grew from 9,500 regular users to more than 33,000 in just a few weeks, and researchers were able to spin up 64-core virtual machines on Azure to handle heavier workloads and then scale them back down as needed, significantly increasing flexibility and productivity.

University of Nottingham

Simon Harrison

Associate Professor & Product Design and Manufacture Course Director