Kent Law School is ranked 7th in the UK for the breadth and quality of its research in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014.
The REF, a national exercise which assesses the quality of academic research in UK higher education institutions, ranked the School 7th for its ‘research power’.
Research power* recognises both the overall quality of research and the number of researchers whose work was peer reviewed.
Kent Law School submitted 45 academics (almost 90% of eligible staff) for review.
More than a third of the School’s research is given the highest 4* rating.
The dynamic research culture and community within the School has been fully endorsed with 100% of its research environment recognised as being conducive to producing research of ‘world-leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’ quality.
Head of School Professor Didi Herman said: ‘These are excellent results which reflect both our international reputation for producing world-leading research and our passion and commitment to producing research that makes a difference in society.
‘We submitted almost all our eligible staff for review and are very proud of the depth and breadth of the exceptional research in which our staff are engaged.
‘Since the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) in 2008, which the REF has replaced, our academics have won more than £3 million in funding for their research and have published more than 230 journal articles, 188 book chapters and 30 books.
‘We use our research to advise governments, law-makers, legal practitioners, international bodies, non-governmental organisations and activists.’
Across the country, the work of 52,061 academic staff was submitted to 36 expert sub-panels, with 191,150 research outputs assessed, and 6,975 impact case studies reviewed. The results help determine each institution’s share of UK government funding for research. They also provide accountability for public investment in research and produce evidence of the benefits of this investment.
The REF 2014 was undertaken by the four higher education funding bodies for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
*Research power is calculated by multiplying the total percentage of research rated 4* and 3* by the number of full-time staff submitted