Research at Exeter focuses on some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today, from climate change to conflicts in the Middle East. The future of research lies in breaking down some of the traditional barriers between academic disciplines so that the big problems of the 21st century can be considered from human as well as physical perspectives.
Professor Roger Kain CBE, FBA, Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Research and Knowledge Transfer
We are a research-led university with a growing reputation for research excellence. Our research activities have played a central role in securing our success. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, all our subjects were assessed as including world-leading (4*) research and nearly 90 per cent of our research was rated as being internationally recognised. Sixteen of our 31 subjects are ranked in their respective top 10, with 26 in their respective top 20.*
The University had one of the biggest rises in the country in our annual government grant for teaching and research. Our total funding package for 2009/10 was £62.6 million; a rise of nearly nine per cent, against a national average rise of four per cent. The most significant element is in research funding, which increased by 26 per cent; the third largest increase amongst leading UK universities.
We also fair very well in receipt of Research Council funding: in 2009 we achieved an historic number of postgraduate awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) when we were awarded a five year Block Grant Partnership allocation of 119 postgraduate awards worth over £4.2 million. Moreover, we are in the top 10 for awards from the Economic and Social Research Council.
Our continued success and ambition is enabling us to strengthen our position further. An £80 million investment programme in science, medicine and engineering is boosting research and teaching in beacon areas. As well as attracting world class professors, this funding is also being used to buy new equipment and provide numerous studentships and bursaries for postgraduate research students.
Exeter’s research success is not confined to campuses in the Cathedral city: the Cornwall Campus provides the opportunity to study alongside world-class researchers in an unrivalled environment. Since opening in 2004, the Campus has attracted leading academics, including seven independently funded Research Fellows, five of whom are Royal Society and two are NERC Fellows. Nearly £50 million has been invested in the Campus so far, which generates £20 million a year for the Cornish economy. It offers specialist research equipment, including the Camborne School of Mines’ world-class analytical mineralogical suite; the Centre for Conservation and Ecology, home to one of the UK’s leading groups of conservation and ecology researchers; and a new pioneering Environment and Sustainability Institute, which will generate world-class research into the causes and consequences of environmental change.
At the heart of our research is a desire to answer questions to real-world problems. As a result we work closely with external partners such as the Exeter-based Met Office with whom we share three jointly-funded professorships. This shared expertise means that the University of Exeter is a major player in climate change research, uniquely well-placed to contribute to improved predictions of climate change and its impacts.
RAE 2008:*Subjects rated in their respective top 20
- Accounting and Finance
- Arab and Islamic Studies
- Archaeology
- Business and Management
- Classics and Ancient History
- Drama
- Economics
- Education
- Engineering
- English
- French
- Geography
- German
- Health Services Research (Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry)
- History
- Hospital Based Clinical Subjects (Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry)
- Italian
- Hispanic and Latin American languages
- Mathematics (Applied and Pure)
- Physics
- Politics and International Relations
- Psychology
- Russian
- Sociology
- Sport and Health Sciences
- Theology and Religion
*subject areas which feature in their respective top 20 when compared to other UK Universities based on the percentage of 4* (world leading) and/or percentage of 4* and 3* (internationally excellent) subjects.
