High-impact research ranks among best in UK
18 December 2014
The sustained excellence of our world-leading interdisciplinary health research - involving contributions from the academic schools of Dentistry, Healthcare Sciences, Medicine, Optometry and Vision Sciences, and Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences - has resulted in Cardiff being ranked among the very best in the UK.
Our success has been built on ground-breaking discoveries that deliver benefits for human health and welfare.
The UK-wide assessment of the quality of University research, called the Research Excellence Framework (REF), scored Cardiff at 3.42 out of 4 in this area against a UK average of just over 3. This placed us fourth in the country.
The impact of our work has been immense ranging from the introduction of new therapies and diagnostics, leading change in practice guidelines and standards, through to advancing and informing public body policy initiatives.
It is no surprise that 90% of our submissions to the REF that exemplified our societal benefit were given the highest four-star rating.
Our research environment, another of the REF rankings, was assessed to be 100% at the highest four-star rating, indicative of an environment that is "conducive to producing research of world-leading quality". We were ranked first in the UK on this criterion.
This same environment also supports undergraduate and post-graduate training, supplying many of the UK's top professionals in these disciplines.
Professor Mark Gumbleton, the lead for Cardiff's submission to the AlliedHealth REF assessment unit, said: "REF 2014 has confirmed the world-leading expertise and culture we have in Cardiff to deliver far-reaching and significant benefits for society through our research excellence.
"Each of the health schools has its own distinct academic discipline but the common focus is engagement with real-world problems to transform human health and welfare.
"REF 2014 has recognised the success of our interdisciplinary approach to research, an approach supported by excellent staff, world-class facilities and the very brightest research students."