Research being carried out at the University of Worcester has been judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent in a new national framework.
The outcomes of the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF 2021) have been published today, eight years after the last assessment of university research.
REF 2014 revealed the University of Worcester to be the most improved University in the UK on the measure of research power. In this new assessment, Worcester has improved further with almost half the research submitted judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent.
The University’s work in dementia studies and mental health research, including bi-polar disorder, were among those deemed to be world-leading, reflecting the University’s commitment to and investment in these fields over the last 10 years. Work on violence prevention and on inclusion of marginalised groups was also highly rated, while there was also success in traditional academic areas such as History, where 82% of the work submitted was identified as world leading or internationally excellent. This included significant research into the identities of African people who had been enslaved.
The University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor David Green CBE DL, praised the work of staff whose research is having significant impacts around the globe.
“The wonderful staff at the University of Worcester are deeply committed to making a positive difference in our region and the wider world,” he said.
“The outstanding quality, very significant impact and broad range of the research being carried out by colleagues is reflected in these results. This includes our inspirational Migrations project which used the power of illustration to champion inclusion whilst challenging negative perceptions of refugees. The highly successful work of our Association of Dementia Studies in changing policy and practice around dementia care is based around high quality research as is the University’s world leading position in disability sport which is having a major impact on changing practice in Japan and China as well as in the UK, Europe and beyond. In Business, the University’s cyber security work has also been found to be of particular practical worth.”
“The major increases in the quality, quantity and range of the research work carried out at the University are a tribute to all the individual researchers involved and to our high calibre research office.”
The University submitted almost 50% more staff to REF2021 than REF2014, signalling the significant increase in work being carried out at Worcester.
“These results today confirm that the University is now having an even more positive, broad-ranging impact for the good.” Professor Green added.
The REF is a periodic assessment of the quality of research undertaken in universities in the UK which informs the allocation of research funding to universities by the UK funding bodies on behalf of government. REF 2021 assessed research from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2020. The REF outcomes show how universities have performed in three areas research outputs, research impact and research environment on a subject-by-subject basis.