REF Success for ACS

REF Success for ACS

Department is the highest ranked for research power and impact

The department was the highest ranked American Studies department in the country for research power and research impact in the Research Excellence Framework (REF2014), a national assessment of British universities' research. 94% of our research activity was recognized as work of international standing, with 73% as world-leading or internationally excellent. 100% of our research was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of its impact, with 63% of our research impact judged as 4* world-leading. Click here for an example of our research impact.

What is the Research Excellence Framework (REF)?

To distribute funds selectively on the basis of quality, the four UK higher education funding bodies – the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Scottish Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department for Education, Northern Ireland – assess universities’ research through a periodic exercise.

On the basis of the results of REF, the four UK higher education funding bodies will allocate around £2bn of research funding per year, from 2015-16 onwards.

Latest results and REF rankings

Nottingham is ranked eighth in the UK on a measure of ‘research power’, which takes into account both the quality of research and the number of research-active staff who made REF returns.

In the Faculty of Arts at Nottingham, more than 97% of research is of international quality according to REF, with 72% graded as ‘world-leading’ or internationally excellent’. Five of the 11 units submitted were in the top ten by research power.

For more #REF2014 details and statistics, see the UoN page:http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/excellence/refresults.aspx