Our research profi le

“My research explores the transformative impact of how children around the world are taught to read. A key strength has been making a connection between the science behind how we read and actual strategies, policies, and classroom practices, made possible by the enthusiasm of teachers and other professionals working within literacy, and their openness to new perspectives. Learning to read is genuinely life changing, and I’m proud that this work is making a diff erence to the lives of so many.”

Professor Kathy Rastle, Department of Psychology, recipient of an ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize for Outstanding International Impact 2020 for her research on improving children’s reading.

Research and teaching excellence

Our university community cares about tackling global and community challenges that face our people and planet. To make a real diff erence, we focus our expertise around the areas of immersive and digital technologies, climate change, cyber security and quantum sciences. Our work is relevant to all sectors of the arts, humanities and sciences. Both teaching and research make a diff erence, because we support our students, staff and communities to build lasting partnerships with education, government and industry.

Independently verifi ed for quality

Our position as one of the UK’s leading research intensive institutions is confi rmed by the results of the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF), 2021. The scoring system measures research quality in four categories, with the top score of 4* indicating quality that is world-leading and of the highest standards in terms of originality, signifi cance and rigour.

(THE, REF, Overall ranking of institutions, 2022)