We are a world-class international university built on teaching excellence, leading-edge research, innovation, collaboration, and engagement.
We are recognised globally for our academic strengths and the impact we deliver through leading research. We encourage a culture of research ambition to tackle some of the greatest societal challenges of our time.
It is our purpose and responsibility to take on major global challenges and turn research to reality; every day, we find answers to help build a better society. Staying apace with rapid societal, economic, and technological change, our aim is to shape a better world for all.
Our strategic research areas are based on our record of excellence and ambition for the future:
A Healthy Living for All
Our researchers are dedicated to deepening our understanding of diseases and developing solutions and treatments for them. Our expertise in conducting clinical trials and our world leading facilities in cancer and precision medicine research are a testament to the breakthroughs that Queen’s research has facilitated over the decades. We are also leading the way in developing strategies and initiatives which mitigate against the worst effects of illness, and which act as preventative agents to illnesses developing in the first place.
How we are delivering:
Researchers from Queen’s have transformed the lives of thousands of people with Cystic Fibrosis by leading on the clinical development of treatments. We’re supporting cancer care for patients and families through the development of a new model for follow up care termed ‘The Recovery Package’ and we are developing internationally-recognised expertise in the genetics and treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
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A Transformative and Sustainable Economy
The economy of the next 100 years will be a necessarily different one to the economy we experience today. The ongoing climate crisis, our fossil fuel dependency, raw material shortages and the possibility of supply chain disruptions call for innovative, responsible, and sustainable solutions. We will continue to focus our efforts on established and emerging areas such as intelligent manufacturing and service delivery, advanced and sustainable materials, solutions to future transport requirements, and understanding and harnessing high energy and ultra-fast processes.
How we are delivering:
Our researchers, in collaboration with Northern Ireland bus building company Wrightbus, have developed best in-class low and zero emissions technologies, playing a key role in decarbonizing UK and international public transport.
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We have led an international team of scientists to improve the technique for assessing the age of historical objects with a new international carbon dating standard. Radiocarbon dating is vital to fields such as archaeology and geoscience to date everything from the oldest modern human bones to historic climate patterns.
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Secure Connect Intelligence – AI and the Data Revolution
Researchers at Queen’s are on a mission to make the changing global digital space both safer and faster. Our world leading teams in cyberspace resilience and networks and connectivity are breaking new ground in the digital sphere, as our teams in geographical information science are doing in the physical.
Novel computer systems and changing computing paradigms require agile and cutting edge research which can be translated quickly and effectively into real world practice. Using data fusing enabling technologies will assist in socio economic development but will also act as a positive driver for the health of populations in the future, and for their safety and security.
How we are delivering:
Queen’s Researchers have designed a resilient and agile wireless communications system which can be used when telecommunications networks are severely damaged by natural disasters.
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Our Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) is the UK’s Innovation and Knowledge Centre for cyber security which drives forward major research breakthroughs in the field of secure information technologies.
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Human Environment Relations
Understanding the relationship between humans and our environment has never been more important. The choices we face have never been so stark. Our climate is changing. The effects of this are being felt now as a day-to-day reality. There is an obligation on those involved in academic research to turn towards the challenges presented.
Whether this relates to our natural environment, creating safe and secure agri-food systems, assessing the way in which our built environment interacts with the natural world, or in the way we build and maintain truly liveable communities and societies, Queen’s researchers are at the forefront of innovative, future focused solutions that aim to make our footprint lighter, both on earth and beyond.
How we are delivering:
We are leading an intensive research programme to develop, validate and implement innovative techniques to detect and monitor a broad spectrum of feed-related contaminants to provide a supply chain-wide quality assurance scheme, known as Food Fortress.
Researchers from Queen’s University Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC) have also worked with Oxford Instruments’ Andor Technology to develop the Balor sCMOS imaging sensor and synchronisation platform, a device which captures the highest resolution solar images in the world, enabling scientists to study the sun’s atmosphere in unprecedented detail.
Inclusive and Cohesive Communities
As a university based in Belfast, we are proud of our longstanding and world leading track record in research relating to peace, identity, conflict, and social sustainability. Our lived experience of conflict as a society, its causes, and its consequences, have driven a determination to deliver research excellence which impacts on the lives and livelihoods of communities across the world.
Whether that relates to governance, accountability, and international relations, listening to and responding to the child’s perspective, understanding the need for creativity and cultural understanding, or valuing heritage in building inclusive and cohesive communities.
How we are delivering:
Academics at Queen’s have produced a significant body of research in transitional justice, the interdisciplinary field addressing how societies deal with legacies of violence and human rights abuses.
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Developed by a Queen’s academic and designed to highlight the importance of children’s participation in developing policies that affect their lives, The Lundy Model has been adopted by national and international organisations and governments to inform their understanding of children’s rights.
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