The majority of research in UoA 31, Town and Country Planning is officially classified as world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour, having been placed in the highest categories of 4*and 3* in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.
| Quality Level | 4* | 3* | 2* | 1* | Unclassified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of research activity | 25 | 40 | 25 | 10 | 0 |
Planning research at Newcastle includes:
Our international research excellence during the RAE period has been characterised by the major contribution made to the intellectual development of Planning as a discipline. This is underpinned by a large and growing body of funded research, with research awards in 2001-07 totalling over £6.6m, and with 54% from Research Councils and 17% from the EU. CRE hosts one of the largest interdisciplinary research programmes ever mounted by the UK research councils – the £25m Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) Programme.
Research collaborations across a range of issues between CRE and APL are reflected in joint publication and international academic interchange. APL 's merger of three disciplines into a single School has facilitated interdisciplinary work, with urban design and landscape in particular provide important contact points with the Architecture and the Built Environment UoA.
Our research excellence is both reflected in and supported by our large number of postgraduate research students, with 51 PhDs awarded in 2001-07. Our postgraduate research is also strongly international in character, and has included the award of 22 Research Council studentships.
The standing of our senior staff is reflected in their roles as academic leaders and policy advisers. Positions held by our staff include:
Our staff hold the editorships of four refereed journals:
In additional, staff are on the editorial boards of sixteen other international journals.
The award of the Gold Medal of the Royal Town Planning Institute to Healey in 2007 and of the OBE to Lowe in 2003 are particularly notable indications of our contribution to research.