The Institute of Engineering Science, RAS (Ural Branch) was founded in February 1986 as the Ural subsidiary of the Blagonravov Institute of Engineering Science, USSR Academy of Sciences, to become an independent institution of the Ural Branch of the RAS in February 1988.

The institute was initiated by such famous scientists as N. A. Vatolin, S. V. Vonsovsky, N. N. Krasovsky, G. L. Khimich, N. A. Semikhatov, K. V. Frolov, and V. M. Makarov, the first director of the institute.

From 1994 to 2015 the institute was headed by Eduard S. Gorkunov, RAS Fellow, a famous scientist in the field of techniques and devices for nondestructive testing of materials and engineering products, technical diagnostics of structures and structural components, including those in operation.

In 2016 Prof. Gorkunov became the institute’s research supervisor. He was President of the Russian Society for Nondestructive Testing and Technical Diagnostics, Full Member of Academia NDT International, Honorary Member of the Bulgarian NDT Society, deputy editor-in-chief of the Russian Journal of Nondestructive Testing (Defektoskopiya), member of the editorial boards of some other journals, e.g. the Bulgarian journal of Nauchni Izvestia na NTSM.

From 2015 to 2021 the institute was directed by Sergey V. Smirnov appointed through elections at the institute’s general meeting.

Prof. Smirnov is a leading expert in studying plasticity and fracture of metal materials under extreme force actions. He has authored over 180 research publications, including 2 monographs, 5 author’s certificates and patents.

Since 16 July 2021 the institute has been directed by Vladimir P. Shveikin appointed through elections at the institute’s general meeting.

The institute’s research staff members have long been collaborating with academic and research institutes in Ukraine and Belarus, doing active joint research with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; they are members of international academic societies, as well as of editorial boards and councils of international journals; they make presentations at international conferences and congresses and undergo foreign training.

The institute has 4 joint chairs functioning together with higher educational institutions and 2 joint educational and research laboratories:

• branch of the Chair of Information Technologies and Computer-Aided Design at UrFU;

• branch of the Chair of Metal Forming at UrFU;

• branch of the Chair of Theoretical Mechanics at UrFu;

• branch of the Chair of Caterpillar Machines at KSU, Kurgan;

• based on UrFU and attached to the Laboratory of Technical Diagnostics, there are joint educational and research laboratories, e.g. of Technical Diagnostics and Magnetomechanics.

In 2009 a research and educational center named Mechanics, Physics, and Diagnostics of Deformable Materials and Structures (UrFu-IES) was established from the integration of science with higher and postgraduate professional education, which is aimed at providing staff for research institutions, as well as at developing and improving the education system through the application of new knowledge, technologies, scientific and engineering achievements.

In 2013 a research and educational center for informational and computational nanosystems, briefly named Nanocomputer, was initiated (agreement among IES UB RAS, IMM UB RAS, UrFU, and NPO Avtomatiki).