Research report from Professor John Holloway
In December the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) were announced and Professor Tim Elliot presented these on results day to an open meeting of the Faculty. Although a summary of the results has already been circulated within the Faculty, it is opportune to thank again all those involved with preparing the REF submission for their hard work and to all of us for the world-leading research undertaken by our staff whose excellence was recognised in the REF.
In summary, while there are many ways of looking at the REF data, and different league tables use different methodologies, the Faculty and the University performed well. Medicine returned 143 full-time equivalent staff to UoA1 (Clinical Medicine) and 11 full-time equivalent staff to UoA2 (Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care). We returned the fifth highest proportion of eligible staff in UoA1, fourth if you discount the research-only Institute for Cancer Research, and we returned 100% of eligible staff in UoA2. This is something to be proud of and it means that we can all take credit for our REF success as a result.
In UoA1, our return was larger than the University of Manchester, KCL, Leeds and Bristol; and was bigger than Cardiff and Leicester combined. As a result, when measured on research intensity (when number of staff submitted is taken into account as well as quality), the Times Higher league-table of intensity-weighted GPA scores the Faculty in 12th position for UoA1, 10th among medical schools (i.e. omitting the research-only Institute for Cancer Research and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); and second for UoA2.
Things get even better: we are eighth for intensity-weighted research power with only the top five, Glasgow and Newcastle, ahead.
The major difference between the RAE in 2008 and REF2014 was the evaluation of research impact. We can be proud of the fact that we achieved our aim and that 61% of our impact was judged to be 4*. Further details on the outcome of the REF can be found here .
At the REF open meeting Professor Elliot announced he was stepping down as Associate Dean Research after many years of undertaking this role for both the old School of Medicine and, since 2011, the Faculty of Medicine. Many thanks are due to Tim for the huge amount of effort that was required to prepare the Faculty’s REF submission and leading Medicine’s research strategy for the last ten years.
On the 1st March I succeeded Tim as Associate Dean Research for the Faculty and I look forward to working with you all over the coming years, to enable you to undertake the world-class research Southampton is known for.
