Celebrating our REF achievements

12 May 2022

A message from Keith Brown, Vice-President and Dean, and Gerard Hodgkinson, Vice-Dean for Research

We have received the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) submission and they are very good indeed. Congratulations and a very warm thank you to everyone who participated in this hugely important exercise. Our Faculty of Humanities should be proud of these results, which will significantly shape our reputation. We should also recognise and applaud the commitment and hard work of academic and PS colleagues in putting the submission together.

The REF2021 results highlight many things we already know. We are a diverse, innovative and internationally excellent community of researchers. Our research environment underlines what a great place The University of Manchester is to undertake research, while the quality of our highly ranked outputs and impact cases demonstrate that our research is making a positive change across a wide variety of fields, spanning the full range of the humanities and social sciences.

We are delighted that six of our 20 Units of Assessment came in the top five nationally (by grade point average) and 14 are in the top 10.[1] The breadth and depth of our achievements in the REF is something for us all to celebrate, as the Faculty continues to go from strength to strength.

It is important to recall that the REF2021 submission was made in the most difficult of circumstances, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We should be especially pleased with our achievements given the hurdles we faced in making REF2021 happen.

There are many takeaways from the REF2021 results, and much analysis will follow in the coming weeks and months. Above all, we have irrefutably demonstrated that the Faculty of Humanities is a powerful centre of world-leading and internationally excellent research.

Well done everyone!

Keith and Gerard