With an atmosphere of anticipation, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) has finally revealed its results of 2021. Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has been confirmed as one of the best research-intensive universities in the UK and ranked 7th for REF 2021 Research Outputs. 92% of Queen Mary’s research was assessed as world-leading (the highest 4-star) or internationally excellent (3-star).
Undertaken by the UK government, REF is an authoritative assessment system for the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, which is organized every seven years. Its result is an important basis for the government to allocate about 2 billion pounds of research funding each year. Due to its authority, REF is also an indispensable reference for many enterprises, investment institutions and universities to carry out school-enterprise cooperation and investment. The assessment system includes three parts: Research Outputs (60%), Research Impact (25%), and Research Environment (15%). A total of 157 UK universities and 34 disciplines were included in REF 2021.
SEMS (School of Engineering and Materials Science), as one of the backbones of QMUL, improved remarkably regarding its performance in engineering evaluation, with the total score ranking 7th in the UK (there were 89 schools participating in the evaluation). In terms of Research Outputs, including research data, number of patents, published papers and books, etc., it ranked second in the UK. The other two categories also saw significant increases in scores, exceeding the previous levels. The results have fully demonstrated SEMS’ world-leading capabilities and first-class research quality and the profound impact in the field of engineering education. Just last year, a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a UK think-tank, in collaboration with the Sutton Trust, ranked engineering teaching of SEMS first in the UK for promoting social diversity. This once again reflected the strength and the solid foundation of SEMS in terms of teaching, scientific research, scholarandprofessional recruitment and other aspects.
In addition to excellent performance in engineering disciplines, the Drama Department of QMUL was rated first forREF 2021 Research Impact and many subjects were ranked within the top ten in the UK. Given the strong performance, President Colin Bailey remarked: “This is a great recognition of QMUL’s research and education quality, and high praise of QMUL’s commitment to promote social justice, inclusiveness and diversity”.
QMUL was the first university to have received the Platinum Watermark for Public Engagement, highlighting its significant global impact of its research and education. The accreditation was awarded by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) which praised and supported the universities that place a high value on social public engagement in higher education.
Colin Bailey demonstrated: “We are honoured to be the first university to receive this accreditation. We have many public projects, such as one project working with NHS Trust tocombatCOVID-19; the Legal project of Commercial Law Research Centre; the Deep History Detectives Project, exploring the UK History; the ACACIA project, designed for children suffering from asthma; the Mile End, a community service project in London; the Barts Community Smiles, a volunteer service, and other series of social public engagement projects. We always believed that greater collaboration with society and greater involvement in social projects, research and knowledge sharing are important components to ensure that our research and teaching have a positive impact on society.”
Text citation: The official website of QMUL
Editor: Wu Sijia
Translator: Liu Yang
Review: Fan Xiaoli
