Newcastle University

Research Evaluation Framework 2014 and Research Assessment Exercise 2008

The Research Evaluation Framework 2014 will assess the quality of research undertaken in higher education institutions in the UK.  The process, for English universities, is managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).  The School of Geography, Politics and Sociology will submit to three Units of Assessment (UoA), through which expert panels will assess the excellence of our research.  The UoAs are:

• UoA17 (Geography, Environmental Studies and Archaeology)
• UoA21 (Politics and International Studies)
• UoA23 (Sociology).

In the predecessor to the REF2014, the Research Assessment Exercise 2008, the quality of research conducted in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology was assessed as follows:

• Geography (UoA 32) - 90% of Geography research at Newcastle was recognised internationally in terms of its originality, significance and rigour. World-leading research output is present within in all of our four research clusters: Environmental Change and Management (ECAM), New Economic Geographies (NEG), Society, Space and Practice (SSP) and Territory Culture and Politics (TCP). Particular strengths were identified with the ECAM and TCP clusters. In terms of research power we are ranked 19th in the country for Geography with 55% of our research judged to be internationally excellent or world leading.

• Politics (UoA 39) - Politics at Newcastle University maintained and enhanced its reputation for international excellence in Politics. Politics submitted a high percentage of its staff and achieved high scores across the research outputs, research environment and esteem categories. The RAE Committee notes that ‘Research outputs were predominantly of internationally recognised quality’ and that that the ‘Esteem indicators were predominantly of internationally excellent quality’.

• Sociology (UoA 41) - Newcastle Sociology ranked 17th out of 39 sociology units in the UK. In terms of grade point average, Newcastle Sociology was above the national average, and 85% of Sociology research at Newcastle is recognised internationally in terms of its originality, significance and rigor. World-leading research output is present within all of 3 research clusters (Social Change, Identities and Health and Life Sciences). The section also scored well on ‘research environment’ and research structure, including having research income ‘significantly above the median for the UoA, and displaying strong evidence of internationally recognised esteem. In terms of research power, 50% of our research is judged to be internationally excellent or world leading.