Three Northern Ireland based Higher Education Institutions, Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and Stranmillis University College, have produced world-leading and internationally excellent research according to the latest examination of their outputs through the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF).
The REF provides a robust and thorough assessment of the quality of universities’ research in all disciplines, providing accountability for public investment in research and demonstrating the benefits of that investment.
In total, 157 UK universities participated, submitting over 76,000 academic staff. Submissions included research outputs, examples of the wider benefits of research and evidence about the research environment. This material was assessed by a series of expert panels comprising UK and international researchers, external users of research and experts in interdisciplinary research.
One of the key findings of the REF 2021 was that, when benchmarked against international standards, 38% of the research submitted to REF by the Northern Ireland HEIs was assessed as “world-leading” (4*), an improvement on the 30% of research assessed to be of this quality in the previous REF 2014 exercise. REF 2021 assessed a further 49% of Northern Ireland HEIs; research as ‘Internationally excellent’ (3*), again an improvement on the 46% achieved in this respect in the REF 2014.
REF 2021 also captures the real life benefits and impacts of the research undertaken by the local institutions to our society and economy, with the case studies submitted under REF demonstrating a diverse range of impacts, from the development of new technologies which will help to drive our economy, to key medical advances.