Research Assessments

The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is a periodic measurement of research quality in universities and other higher education institutions in the UK against international standards of excellence. The RAE outcomes are used by the UK Funding Councils to distribute their block grant for research, and offer a objective picture of research quality across the UK.

The 2008 RAE results for Lancaster University build on the result of the 2001 RAE, highlighting Lancaster's reputation for research excellence at a national and international level. 92% of research was found to be of international quality, ranking joint 15th out of 147 institutions in the UK for the amount of our research which is judged to be of world leading importance. At the level of particular disciplines, 13 of Lancaster’s departments were found to be in the top 20 in the UK for their individual subjects, including:

  • Physics ranked 1st in the UK.
  • Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts places Art and Design, which at Lancaster includes Music, Theatre, Film and New Media, in the UK’s top 3.
  • Biomedicine, part of Lancaster’s newly established School of Health and Medicine, is ranked in the top 3 in the UK (in the Allied Health Professions and Studies UoA).
  • Lancaster University Management School ranked joint 5th in the UK.
  • Sociology ranked 5th in the UK.
  • Computing found to have 100% of its research of international quality.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Trevor McMillan said that the results were a tribute to Lancaster’s talented academics and research teams, with all staff submitted to the RAE contributing to the now-recognised international research culture at Lancaster.

"Lancaster can go forward with strong confidence that its reputation for research excellence, which is remarkable given the university’s relatively small size, has been sustained. This external recognition for research excellence is made more significant when considering Lancaster’s strong teaching record, its popularity amongst students, and the major impact that the university is making in its knowledge transfer activities which benefit the regional economy."

Download the Lancaster University 2008 RAE results.

Visit the official RAE 2008 web pages