The faculty has a number of specialised institutes and centres that coordinate research in fields that cross the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines. The centres and institutes are:
- Centre for Materials Research
- The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck
- Quantum Science & Technology Institute
- Institute of Origins
- UCL Hazard Centre
- Institute of Earth & Planetary Sciences
- Thomas Young Centre
- Institute for Materials Discovery
- Centre for Space Exochemistry Data
- Institute for the Physics of Living Systems