The University of Glasgow and The University of Edinburgh are two of the six Ancient Universities of the United Kingdom. A Papal Bull founded the University of Glasgow in 1451 and the University of Edinburgh was established in 1582 by Royal Charter.

Scotland has a rich history in Science, Mathematics and Engineering. One of its most famous sons is the mathematical physicist and engineer, Kelvin, who was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for over 50 years.

Another scientific giant, James Clark Maxwell, was born in Edinburgh, and studied at the University of Edinburgh.

The UK Association of Computational Mechanics (UKacm) was formed in 1992 to both promote research in computational mechanics within the UK, and to establish formal links with similar organisations in Europe and worldwide. As such it is the UK adhering organisation to ECCOMAS and to IACM. Professor O. C. Zienkiewicz was instrumental in setting up the association and was its honorary president.