Today (16 May 2022) David Maguire, Interim Vice-Chancellor sent a message to all staff. You can read the message below:

Dear colleague,

The results of the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF 2021) have given us great cause for celebration. They really were a super set of results for the University. The uplift in our performance can make us all feel extremely proud of Sussex. The Times Higher Education has ranked the University of Sussex 27th of all UK institutions for both ‘Research Power' and 'Market Share' - up from 34th in 2014. The results also show a rise from 28 per cent to 40 per cent in the amount of research graded as ‘world-leading’.

Our PVC for Research Professor Keith Jones and the Research Quality & Impact team have been crunching all the numbers to produce detailed tables that explain how we have performed in each unit of assessment. It is good news across many areas of the board. You can find out more here, and watch a recording of last week’s Research With Impact webinar on the REF with Keith and Deputy PVC for Research Professor Seb Oliver.
 
To the world outside, it is the impact of research that matters the most. Universities pride themselves on making discoveries, developing new methodologies, and coming up with insights that perhaps others have not had. We are particularly proud that our research is making a difference beyond academia, with 93 per cent of our research delivering impact in the two highest categories of ‘outstanding’ or ‘very considerable’. While we don’t yet know how individual submissions were graded, we do know that those entered for Education and for Sociology achieved 100 percent in this measurement. Our researchers in these subject areas have brought tangible benefits to society, such as improving education outcomes and practice for migrants, and disrupting the online activity of extremist and terrorism networks.
 
This is not a time to rest on our laurels, however. All higher education institutions that took part in the REF exercise are now calibrating their strategy for the next five years and beyond. We, too, must look at our results to see where we can improve, and where priorities should now lie, before the assessment cycle begins again.
 
We are now waiting to hear how the UK funding bodies will divide their £2bn for university research, but we are optimistic that we will receive an increased share of this to invest in our recognised strengths – as well as in those areas that that show real potential.
 
Keith will be back on your screens on Tuesday (17 May) as he is taking part in another webinar, this time about improvements we are making to our physical campus. For our Investing in a Better Sussex webinar, he will be joined by Director of Estates Robert Hutton, Director for the Student Experience Jayne Aldridge, and Director of Library Services Jane Harvell, to talk about how we are creating better study, work and living spaces.
 
I hope you are feeling as optimistic about the future and as proud of Sussex as I am. Although I have only been here since last summer, and have just a few months left as your Interim Vice-Chancellor before Sasha Roseneil arrives as your new VC, I sense that Sussex is rediscovering its feet, if not its wings. It is wonderful for this to be happening in our 60^th anniversary year.
 
Again, my congratulations to all of you.
 
Have a great week.
David Maguire
Interim Vice-Chancellor