The results for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework have just been released and show the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research as one of the UK’s most successful Schools in the subject area of Social Work and Social Policy.
The panel for this subject area gave the School a rating of 100% at 4* for the quality of the research environment. Additionally, 93% of the ‘Research Impact’ we submitted was also rated at 4*; this is the highest level where research is deemed to be of a ‘quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour’. Overall, the School was rated 1st in the UK for its research power (measured in terms of the number of staff producing 3* or 4* work).
Chris Shilling, Director of Postgraduate Studies (Research), said “This is a fantastic achievement and an improvement on the last assessment in 2008. It reflects what we already know, that our academics are amongst the best in their fields and continue to produce excellent research that has an impact beyond academia. “
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a peer assessment of the quality of UK universities’ research in all disciplines. The full results are available on the REF2014 website