Geography in Bristol ranked 1st for research

The results of the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021, published in May 2022), highlight the outstanding quality and impact of Bristol's research across all subjects and disciplines, and particularly in the field of Geographical Sciences. Independent analysis by Times Higher Education ranked Bristol first in the UK in the 'Geography and environmental studies' unit of assessment. Overall, 94% of our research was rated as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ and of that 54% graded in the highest 4* category. This compares with to an average of 34% 4* in the subject. Although direct comparisons are difficult to make due to changes in the way each exercise was carried out, the School was also first for its world-leading research in the previous REF of 2014.

All five Schools in the University of Bristol's Faculty of Science were ranked in the UK top five for the quality of their research" in order to highlight quality and collaboration across the Faculty.

The REF is the UK's system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. It is a process of expert review, carried out by expert panels for each of the 34 subject-based units of assessment, including geography. The School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, remains the only UK geography department to be top rated in every RAE/REF exercise.

Find out more about the impact of our research on major global challenges on our case studies page.

Further information about REF and all the results can be viewed at https://results2021.ref.ac.uk/.