RAE reaction
Latest views from UCLan research staff
UCLan’s internationally recognised and world-leading research staff continue to celebrate their RAE successes.
UCLan was assessed in 17 subject areas and all were rated as having research of international excellence (3*). No fewer than 11 of UCLan's assessed areas were assessed as containing research which is world-leading (4*).
As a consequence UCLan has jumped over 20 places in the overall national research league tables.
The 2008 result represents a significant step-change since RAE 2001. Professor Patrick McGhee, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), explained: “Nationally, there has been a 9 percent decrease in the number of academic staff submitted to RAE 2008 but here at UCLan we have increased staff submissions by 35 percent.
“This is an outstanding outcome for UCLan, a credit to all involved in research, and in the development and production of our RAE submission.”
Further reaction to the results can be found below:
Dawn Archer, Reader in Corpus Linguistics and Head of English Language/Linguistics
We are delighted by our success in the RAE 2008, especially given this is the first time we have submitted to Unit 58 (Linguistics). Comprising a group of six research-active staff, our submission rightly emphasised UCLan strengths in the areas of sign languages and deaf studies, speech prosody, corpus linguistics and discourse/pragmatics.
The Linguistics team at UCLan is a relatively young group who, taken together, contribute to Linguistics as a subject in the widest sense; that is to say, to core areas of research, emerging areas of study (e.g. the interface between prosody and pragmatics, the typology of sign languages), and to knowledge transfer. The pioneering work of the International Centre for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies (iSLanDS) is especially important, as it brings to the developing world an enhanced awareness of Deaf culture together with teaching materials for local sign languages.
New staff members are helping to ensure our research profile, here at UCLan, continues to go from strength-to-strength, following the submission to the RAE. The future is therefore looking very promising indeed.
Wendy Webster, Professor of Contemporary British History
Seventeen staff from UCLan entered a total of 66 publications in the 2008 History submission, including 18 books — all in the area of modern social and cultural history. This body of work demonstrates the vibrant research culture established over more than 30 years.
While staff have reason to be proud of their achievement, they have no intention of resting on their laurels. Since the RAE submission a year ago, historians have published eight books and journal articles and given a wide range of conference papers.
Gordon Bromage, Professor of Astronomy, Head of Centre for Astrophysics
Our Centre for Astrophysics has been proud to be at the forefront of world-class research at UCLan for over a decade: in just the last year we have made some startling discoveries about the workings of the sun, stars and galaxies, and won over £1M new income to support our research staff and students. These very pleasing RAE results give further welcome recognition at the highest level for some of our world-leading astronomy work here in Central Lancashire. No less than 85 percent of the astronomy and physics research here has now been judged to be of clearly international standing.
David Hamblin, Professor of Operations Management, Dean of Academic Enhancement and Assurance
The area of Business and Management Studies has for the past five years been an intensive area of research investment in our own staff and new recruits at all levels from professorial to new researcher. The RAE outcomes are a stunning demonstration of the success of that strategy, with research which is not only of the highest quality, but also key relevance to the economy. We are delighted that our finest research is demonstrably world-leading and of international significance. By intensive effort from no-submission under the previous RAE to the top-quartile of modern university business schools in this week's outcome we have truly demonstrated a superb team effort to make the Lancashire Business School a regionally leading school not only in research but also in teaching (LBS topped the national Business subject league table for modern university business schools in the Guardian earlier this year). This gives us an outstanding platform for further development.
Nicky Stanley, Professor of Social Work; Andy Bilson, Professor of Social Work
The recent RAE results acknowledge the high quality of research undertaken in UCLan’s School of Social Work and in the International School for Communities, Rights and Inclusion. Seventeen members of staff submitted research publications to the social work and social policy panel and eighty percent of the work submitted was classified as achieving international standards with 10 percent described as ‘world leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour’. The RAE covers the period 2001-2007; since then, staff have built on this achievement by extending their research into a range of relevant and challenging issues in the fields of children and young people, social inclusion and mental health. Recent research awards have totalled over £1 million with major studies being undertaken in the UK and internationally.
Dr Vicki Cummings, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology
Archaeology is a new subject area at UCLan, and we are therefore delighted to have been able to submit to the RAE for the first time. We only launched our archaeology degree in 2004 with a small number of staff, but from the beginning we have placed an emphasis on research as well as teaching. We are already looking to the future and to building on our success here, and we have many national and international projects currently underway which should ensure we continue to perform well in the next research assessment. We are thrilled to have achieved such a successful result with our first submission.
Ewa Mazierska, Professor of Contemporary Cinema
Culture, Communication and the Media did very well in the 2008 RAE submission, with 15 percent of the 11 staff declared of 'world' standard and 20 percent of 'international' standard. This is a particularly good result as we were newcomers to this process. This assessment demonstrates that media is a strong subject area at UCLan and we intend to build upon this robust position.
John Archer, Professor of Psychology
Psychology entered 36 staff in its 2008 RAE submission, and even with this large number obtained a quality profile indicating that 70 percent of research in psychology at UCLan is of international standard; none of the 134 publications entered were judged as sub-national level, and 7 were judged as "world-leading". In the Research Fortnight RAE 2008 Power Tables, which take into account both quality and numbers of full-time equivalent staff returned, we were 33 out of the 76 psychology departments who submitted, second only to Plymouth among the new universities, and above established old universities such as Warwick, Newcastle and Stirling. A substantial number of universities offering Psychology degrees did not submit to this rigorous peer-assessment of their research. In the North West, we were in a group with the established universities, Manchester (23rd), Lancaster (24th), and Liverpool (30th), 36 places in front of any other new university from the North West.
Mick Cavadino, Professor of Law
The Lancashire Law School (LLS) submitted 19 of its staff to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (more than ever before), entering 76 research publications including 10 books. A significant proportion were rated ‘internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour’, and the overall result made us the top-ranking post-1992 law department in the North of England. Since the submission, several of our staff have continued to publish work of high quality and gain enhanced national and international recognition for their work, promising an even better future for research in the LLS.
Bernard Gibbon, Head of School of Nursing and Caring Sciences
The research activity of nursing and midwifery staff is primarily focussed on applied research that brings about real benefits to patients and their carers. Working in collaboration with our partners in the NHS locally and nationally we have secured over £1M of research income in the past 12 months alone that supports our research staff and students. The RAE 2008 RAE results recognise the world leading significance of our work here at the University of Central Lancashire with no less than 50 percent of the nursing and midwifery research being judged to be of international standing. UCLan is now ranked amongst the top 12 universities in the UK for nursing and midwifery research.
19 December 2008
