REF 2021: Impact scores

Medicine-focused institutions top our table for impact based on the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

The institution whose research makes the highest quality contribution to the economy or society, according to panel assessments, is the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It secures first place in this table, up one position on last time.

Second place goes to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, up from sixth in 2014, ahead of Imperial College London, which holds on to third place and this time shares it with the Institute of Cancer Research, last time’s top-performing institution.

The table looks very different once institutional scale is considered, with the University of Oxford on top for research power, one place up from 2014.

It is followed by UCL, last time’s best performer on this metric. Trailing this pair – in identical ranking to 2014 – are the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh and Manchester, plus King’s College London and the University of Nottingham.

Impact accounts for 25 per cent of overall scores in the 2021 REF, up from 20 per cent in 2014, when it was assessed for the first time.

Click here for full impact table

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