Our success in the REF will have a transformative impact upon UWL. It demonstrates that the quality of our research is increasingly world-leading and shows that the work we do is helping to transform lives across the globe.

This has only been possible because we had a clear strategy to transform research at UWL and thanks to the hard work, initiative and intellectual curiosity of colleagues across the University.

More than 80 colleagues contributed to our REF submission, but our success is only possible with the support of every colleague. So, please join VCE at 4pm on Tuesday 17 May in the Gallery, St Mary’s Road (the area by the SU Café), to celebrate our achievements.

Below you can find a summary of UWL’s REF results and our plans to build on this success in the future.

Achieving success in the REF – the results

In three areas, 100% of our impact cases studies in the areas were rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*). These were:

• Social Work and Social Policy
• Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
• Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management

Further results:

• 76.1% (almost 80%) of our research publications were rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)
• 61.4% of our overall submissions was rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)
• We saw an increase of 36.3% of our overall submission being rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)

We are now a top 100 research university

• UWL is now ranked 99th in the sector for the overall quality of our research
• We are ranked 93rd when considering research that is world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)
• We are in the top 50% of HEI’s for the quality of our output that is rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)
• We are the 2nd modern London university for the quality of our output rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)

We’ve made massive improvements

• We have delivered the biggest percentage increase of the overall submission being rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)
• We have delivered the biggest percentage increase of the output submission being rated as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*)

What we submitted to REF 2021

Our submission for REF 2021 included research from the following areas:

• Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy
• Computer Science and Informatics
• Engineering
• Social Work and Social Policy
• Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism
• Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
• Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management

In the coming months we will be sharing content that highlights the ground-breaking work that is happening in all these areas. In the meantime, you can read a summary of our submission on the research page of the UWL website.

Laying the foundations for more success in the future

Our success in REF 2021 lays a solid foundation for our Research and Scholarship Strategy 2021-25 that aims to ensure our research has global significance whilst impacting positively on our local communities. We have a seven-point plan to enhance reach, capacity, relevance and diversity of our research.

1. To strategise our research portfolio and impact plans to address relevant local and national research priorities, secure more industry-based research collaborations and networks and increase our IP base through KE.
2. To promote and monitor equality and diversity in all aspects of our research activities and re-enforce impact oversight for all research projects.
3. To continue to identify and invest in selective inter-disciplinary research, create a talent pipeline, recruit high performing staff, and develop clear career research pathways supported by expert training and sabbatical systems.
4. To build capacity and infrastructure by concentrating on inter-institutional partnerships and the construction of specialist space, and increase our doctoral capacity to 400 students.
5. To use our institutional ‘anchor’ status to strengthen links between our research and knowledge exchange activities to support local businesses, the NHS, various stakeholders and community groups and help drive regional and (move next line up) national priorities.
6. Develop our open research environment by building capacity with our Open Press (move next line up) publishing, and open data, wherever possible; and through supporting gold publishing in strategic research areas.
7. Maintain parity between research, scholarship and knowledge transfer.

You can also find out more about why REF is important to UWL by reading this Q&A with Matt Snowdon, Dean of Academic Partnerships (UK) and Director of Research & Enterprise Operations.