2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF)
Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:55:00 GMT
Today we have received the outcome of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF).
I am pleased to tell you that in the context of our long term research strategy we have achieved three notable successes.
First in line with our strategy to increase the quantity of our research we submitted 143% more staff to the REF than to the RAE in 2008.
Second, in line with our plans to grow the quantity of top rated research, we increased the percentage of our outputs rated world leading (4*) by 150%.
Third, as a result of growing both the quantity and quality of our research we have moved into the top half of the UK “research power” league to 68th of the 154 HEIs who submitted for assessment. In 2008 we were 97th.
We submitted 262 staff (234FTE) to the 2014 REF compared with 103 in 2008. This places us 65th in the UK for the overall number of research active staff submitted and with more than Aston, Bangor, Bradford, Coventry, Cranfield and Sheffield Hallam.
The overall percentage of world leading research submitted by Huddersfield (4*) has increased from 6% to 15% in 2014. This is a higher percentage than scored by Brunel, Hertfordshire, Hull, Oxford Brookes and Salford. The percentage of world class and internationally excellent research (4* and 3*) has grown from 33% to 58%.
The University is now in the top half of the UK research power league table. Research power is the number of researchers submitted to the REF multiplied by their combined “grade point average” (the average score of all research submitted on a scale of 0-4). It demonstrates the broad strength of research at an institution. Here the University has made a significant increase in its performance, rising from 97th in 2008 to 68th in the UK in 2014 and 54th in England. With 262 staff submitted for assessment in 2014 the University now has a greater research power ranking than Bradford, Coventry, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, the London Business School, Westminster and the University of the Arts.
I am delighted at our excellent score for research power. Our aim has been to strengthen research activity right across the institution, and this result demonstrates real progress. More staff have entered more UoAs, and gained higher scores in the assessment than in 2008. These results show that our strategy is working, and most importantly how our students and industry partners benefit from the research undertaken by our academic staff. Had we stayed where we were in 2008, and not made these big steps forward, the University would have been 139th in this year’s league table.
Our aim over the next stage of our strategy is to build on the progress we have made and to further increase the quality, quantity and impact of the research we produce.
Professor Bob Cryan
Vice-Chancellor
