Queens Research Profile

Queen's has emerged as a major player in international research, the results of an independent assessment of quality published recently reveal. Former Vice-Chancellor George Bain said: "These results mean that Northern Ireland now has a broadly-based, research-led university of international quality. In the space of less than a decade, Queen's has transformed its research profile and regained its place at the cutting edge of academic endeavour in the UK."

The latest figures reveal that research in 33 units of assessment at Queen's is of national and international quality. Sixteen units were rated in the top category - grade five and five-star. In addition, a further three areas within units of assessment were singled out as centres of international excellence - including the Cancer Studies group within Clinical Laboratory Sciences.

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Scores at a glance. Top Performers. Full Results. Rating Scale. Faculty Highlights. School News.

Main Story. Further Reaction. RAE Background. RAE National. 1996 Results. Prof. Crawford (Pro-vice chancellor for Research & Development) inThe Guardian

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Queen's-at-a-glance

1. Queen's academic restructuring exercise has led to a transformation in international-quality research at the University, with significant gains since 1996, and dramatic change over the past decade.
   
   

   	2001	1996	1992
   Number of units with international research quality (graded 4 or above)	33	20	8
   Percentage of academic staff in units with international research quality (graded 4 or above)	89%	50%	21%

   
   
2. Thirty-three units of assessment out of 40 (83 per cent) have research of international quality. This compares with 20 units in 1996 (42 per cent) and eight in 1992 (16 per cent).
   
   
3. Sixteen departments rated in top category 5/5* (40 per cent) compared with seven in 1996 (15 per cent) and two in 1992 (4 per cent).
   
   
4. Further three research areas within units of assessment rated 5/5*.
   
   
5. These results mean that Queen's rises 11 places in the UK universities research rankings using the current Times Higher Education Supplement methodology.
   
   
6. Almost 90 per cent of academic staff are in units with international research excellence.
   
   
7. Improvements recorded in 22 units of assessment from 1996, with seven units up by two grades.

All five Queen's Faculties have seen significant upward shifts in research quality.


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Queen's "Famous Fives"

Unit of Assessment	2001 RAE	1996 RAE
	Grade	Grade
Anthropology	5	4
Archaeology	5	5
Celtic Studies	5	4
Civil Engineering	5	4
Community-based Clinical Subjects	5	3a
Electrical and Electronic Engineering	5	5
English Language and Literature	5	3a
History	5	4
Institute of European Studies	5	4
Institute of Irish Studies	5	5
Law	5	3a
Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering	5*	5*
Music	5	5
Physics	5	5
Politics and International Studies	5	4
Sociology and Social Policy	5	4
Sub-Units of Assessment
Cancer Studies group	5	-
Areas flagged as internationally excellent
Ophthalmology	5	-
Knowledge, Space and Culture	5*	-

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Results

Units of Assessment are those determined by the RAE

Unit of Assessment		1996 RAE		2001 RAE
		Grade	% staff returned	Grade	% staff returned
1	Clinical Laboratory Sciences	3b	71.6	4	60.9
2	Community-based Clinical Subjects	3a	39.6	5	25.0
3	Hospital-based Clinical Subjects	3b	66.0	3a	65.9
4	Clinical Dentistry	2	79.0	3a	78.9
9	Pharmacy	3b	54.1	4	87.5
13	Psychology	3a	68.7	4	95.0
14	Biological Sciences	3a	66.6	4	90.6
15	Agriculture	5	57.5	4	66.6
16	Food Science and Technology	4	66.6	4	73.6
18	Chemistry	3b	100	4	100
19	Physics	5	93.4	5	96.4
22	Pure Mathematics	3a	28.5	3a	75.0
25	Computer Science	4	80.7	4	96.6
27	Chemical Engineering	3a	100	4	100
28	Civil Engineering	4	100	5	89.1
29	Electrical and Electronic Engineering	5	100	5	100
30	Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering	5*	83.3	5*	80.0
33	Built Environment	2	83.6	2	91.8
34	Town and Country Planning	3b	88.8	3b	100
35	Geography	3a	74.0	4	95.0
36	Law	3a	94.2	5	88.4
37	Anthropology	4	84.6	5	92.8
39	Politics and International Studies	4	88.0	5	95.6
41	Social Work	3a	80.0	4	93.8
42	Sociology and Social Policy	4	100	5	100
43	Business and Management Studies	3a	70.2	4	87.3
48A	Institute of European Studies	4	90.0	5	100
48B	Institute of Irish Studies	5	94.7	5	100
49	Celtic Studies	4	100	5	100
50	English Language and Literature	3a	82.6	5	100
51	French	4	90.0	4	100
52	German, Dutch and Scandinavian Languages	3a	100	4	100
55	Iberian and Latin American Languages	4	100	4	100
57	Classics, Ancient History, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies	3a	100	4	100
58	Archaeology	5	90.9	5	100
59A	History	4	90.0	5	88.8
62	Philosophy	3a	34.7	3a	59.3
66	Drama, Dance and Performing Arts	-	-	3b	100
67	Music	5	85.7	5	88.8
68	Education	4	76.2	4	85.7

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Rating Scale

The ratings applied to the RAE submissions are as follows:

Grade:	Description
5*	International excellence in more than half of research activity submitted; national excellence in remainder.
5	International excellence in up to half (11-50%) of research activity submitted; national excellence in virtually all (>90%) of remainder.
4	National excellence in virtually all (>90%) of research activity submitted; some evidence of international excellence (c. 10%).
3a	National excellence in more than two-thirds of research activity submitted; possibly evidence of international excellence.
3b	National excellence in more than half of research activity submitted.
2	National excellence in up to half (11-50%) of research activity submitted
1	National excellence in none, or virtually none (<10%), of research activity submitted.

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1996 Research Assessment Exercise

Unit of Assessment		Grade	% staff returned
1	Clinical Laboratory Sciences	3b	71.6
2	Community-based Clinical Subjects	3a	39.6
3	Hospital-based Clinical Subjects	3b	66.0
4	Clinical Dentistry	2	79.0
6	Anatomy	2	44.4
7	Physiology	3a	77.7
9	Pharmacy	3b	54.1
13	Psychology	3a	68.7
14	Biological Sciences	3a	66.6
15	Agriculture	5	57.5
16	Food Science and Technology	4	66.6
18	Chemistry	3b	100
19	Physics	5	93.4
20	Geology	3b	72.2
22	Pure Mathematics	3a	28.5
25	Computer Science	4	80.7
27	Chemical Engineering	3a	100
28	Civil Engineering	4	100
29	Electrical and Electronic Engineering	5	100
30	Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering	5*	83.3
33	Built Environment	2	83.6
34	Town and Country Planning	3b	88.8
35	Geography	3a	74.0
36	Law	3a	94.2
37	Anthropology	4	84.6
39	Politics and International Studies	4	88.0
40	Social Policy and Admin. (Criminology)	3b	100
41	Social Work	3a	80.0
42	Sociology and Social Policy	4	100
43	Business and Management Studies	3a	70.2
46	Semitic Studies	3b	100
48A	Institute of European Studies	4	90.0
48B	Institute of Irish Studies	5	94.7
49	Celtic Studies	4	100
50	English Language and Literature	3a	82.6
51	French	4	90.0
52	German, Dutch and Scandinavian Languages	3a	100
55	Iberian and Latin American Languages	4	100
57	Classics, Ancient History, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies	3a	100
58	Archaeology	5	90.9
59A	History	4	90.0
59B	Economic and Social History	4	80.0
62	Philosophy	3a	34.7
66	Drama, Dance and Performing Arts	-	-
67	Music	5	85.7
68	Education	4	76.2

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