REF21 Impact - Research

The strength of our research and its real-world application is demonstrated through UEA’s high scoring impact case studies in the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

UEA are proud of our REF2021 impact results:

16th for Impact (Times Higher Education Rankings for REF2021) - up from 32nd in REF2014
Of UEA’s 73 impact case studies (ICS), 57.9% scored the highest possible ranking (4*, outstanding) - the national average is 50%
94% of UEA’s ICS scored either 4*(outstanding) or 3* (very considerable), across all four disciplinary panels.

Disciplinary panels

REF Panel A (Medicine, Health and Life Sciences)

UEA returned ICS to six Units of Assessment (UoAs), four of which scored 100% 3/4*.
UEA ranked 1st place for UoA6, Agricultural, Food and Veterinary Sciences with impact scoring 100% 4* (THE).

REF Panel B (Physical sciences, engineering and mathematics)

UEA returned ICS to four UoAs, three of which scored 100% 3/4*.
UEA ranked joint 3rd place for UoA8, Chemistry, and joint 3rd for UoA7, Environmental Sciences, and 11th for UoA10 (Mathematical Sciences), and joint 12th for UoA11 (Computational Sciences) (THE).

REF Panel C (Social Sciences)

UEA returned ICS to seven UoAs, five of which scored 100% 3/4*.
UEA ranked joint 1st place, scoring 100% 4*, for UoA19 (Politics and International Studies), UoA20 (Social Work and Social Policy), and UoA22 (Anthropology and Development Studies) (THE).

REF Panel D (Arts and Humanities)

UEA returned ICS to six UoAs, five of which scored 100% 3/4*.
UEA ranked joint 4th for UoA25 (Area Studies), joint 5th for UoA30 (Philosophy), joint 6th for UoA28 (History), and 8th for UoA34 (Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management) (THE).

UEA’s REF21 ICS can be browsed on the REF21 database.