Research
In the latest Times Higher Education Supplement – World University Rankings 2008, Sussex ranked in the top 20 in the UK, the top 50 in Europe and the top 150 in the world. Within those rankings, Sussex is ranked 5th in the UK in terms of the impact of its research. We have counted three Nobel Prize winners, 13 Fellows of the Royal Society, six Fellows of the British Academy and a winner of the prestigious Crafoord Prize on our faculty.
In the 2008 assessment of the standards of research in UK universities, the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), over 90 per cent of Sussex research activity was rated as world-leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognised, confirming Sussex is among the leading 30 research universities in the UK. One in six of the research outputs produced by staff research was rated as world-leading, with 82 per cent achieving work that is internationally recognised or better.
Over the last year, many research areas have seen increased research income, particularly from national research councils and other high-profile funding agencies. Approximately one fifth of our overall income comes from our research activity. Growing the portfolio of active research grants, in particular those that attract fully economically costed overheads, is one of our priorities.
At Sussex we recognise the importance of supporting research through collaboration. We have important academic partnerships with, among others, American Express and with Rolls-Royce at the Thermo-Fluid Mechanics Research Centre based on campus. In 2008 we announced a new strategic partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which will enable us to work together on important research across plant sciences, as well as giving us access to the wealth of historic archive art and scientific materials at Kew.
We have also been able to announce a major collaborative partnership with a consortium of five other university physics departments through the creation of the South East Physics Network (SEPNet), funded by £12.5 million of government grants to support vital UK science research, teaching and development.
Development of the flow of junior research talent is also being significantly strengthened at Sussex. Overall, applications to postgraduate research study at Sussex have again grown by over 10 per cent for 2008 entry. We launched a new junior research associate scheme in 2008, attracting hundreds of applicants from undergraduate students keen to develop skills in preparation for research at Sussex. We are also advancing well with plans to create a doctoral school for 2009 to support our community of research students.
In parallel with all of this work, we have created a forward-looking framework from which research endeavour within the University will flourish. We have a new research strategy, a University Research Committee and an underpinning structure to support excellence and develop research capacity. The future development is covered in more detail on the research strategy web page.
Professor Bob Allison
Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research