The School of Biological and Chemical Sciences has shown itself to be one of the UK’s elite research departments in the UK with our latest ranking in the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
The REF, published today, provides a robust and thorough assessment of the quality of universities’ research in all disciplines and the results provide benchmarks and public information about the research performance of universities. The results cement QMUL’s reputation as one of the top research-led universities in the UK and a key part of the science and engineering landscape.
The results of the UK-wide REF reveal that 87% of the School’s Chemistry research is rated as either 4-star (world-leading) or 3-star (internationally excellent) in terms of originality, significance, and rigour and for Biology this figure was 82%.
In Biology we rose over 10 places, for this area of assessment, compared to our ranking in the 2008 national Research Assessment Exercise. The REF results indicate that 80% of our Biology research is awarded either a 4-star or 3-star for impact, meaning that our work makes a demonstrable contribution to either society or the economy. In Chemistry all of our submissions were regarded as internationally excellent for impact.
Professor Matthew Evans, Head of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, said:
“I am delighted with the REF results, which confirm that our School is home to cutting-edge, internationally important research programmes. I would like to thank all our academics for their contributions and I am pleased that these results recognise the quality, breadth and impact of their work.”
More than 150 higher education institutions in the UK submitted over 52,000 members of staff to the REF, across 36 subject areas. Nearly 7,000 research impact case studies were submitted. You can view a selection of our research case studies online. The results will be used by the UK’s higher education funding bodies to allocate around £2 billion each year to university research.
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