Coal research, particularly in the area of coal utilization, has flourished in the University of Newcastle for last several decades. There have been significant developments in the area of furnace modeling and heat transfer - modeling of radiative heat transfer in pulverized coal fired boilers and aerodynamic modeling of swirl burners, blast furnace raceways, coal combustion-kinetics of devolatilisation, combustion and gasification, mineral and ash reactions - thermal behaviour of different minerals, ash formation and their implications on ash deposition and thermal performance. There have been some investigations into in situ gasification, NOx formation and cofiring with biomass as well. Coal characterization - for organic and inorganic matter and ash has been a strong activity in the past few years. This paper presents a comprehensive review of these activities summarizing the key achievements in each area. The paper also describes possible directions and drivers for future coal research in the current environment. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.