Research Excellence

Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021)

Preparations are in progress for the 2021 REF. Download the institutional Code of Practice for the upcoming Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

The University of Bedfordshire is home to world-leading research with direct societal, economic and cultural impact. This is recognised in the UK-wide 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), and includes major areas of research such as advancing medical knowledge of serious and chronic disease, substance misuse, language assessment, and robotics technology that supports independent living. The REF recognises the University’s research success in both quality and quantity:

We have more than doubled our proportion of world-leading research
Nearly half of our research is considered world leading or internationally excellent
Three times as many University researchers were submitted compared to the previous assessment in 2008
We have world leading research in 9 units of assessment - up from just 5 in 2008
The number of staff judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent in research outputs has quadrupled

All of our research is internationally excellent in impact, and the majority is world-leading

All of our research is internationally excellent in impact, and the majority is world-leading

Over 80% of our research is internationally recognised

This is our largest research area. A large team of 39 researchers submitted their research, working on a range of areas, and 90% of their work is at internationally recognised level

All of our research has impact that is internationally recognised
Over half of our publications are world-leading or internationally excellent

All of our research has internationally recognised impact
More than two thirds of our research is internationally recognised and a quarter of this work is internationally excellent

We are a leading University in this research area (top quartile). All of our work has impact that is recognised as internationally excellent, 60% of which is world leading
More than three quarters of our research is internationally excellent or world-leading significantly higher than the sector in general (69% sector mean average, 64.5% median average)

More than half of our research publications are rated as internationally excellent or world-leading

All of our research has world-leading impact, and is rated as internationally recognised or better
More than two thirds of our research outputs in this area are world-leading or internationally excellent

60% of our research is rated as internationally recognised or better.

Full details of our success - Official REF profile

Research Excellence