DMU's reputation for research confirmed in REF 2014 results

De Montfort University Leicester (DMU)’s growing reputation for research which benefits society has been confirmed with the publication of REF 2014 results.

Almost 60% of DMU’s research activities were judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent in the REF, the UK-wide initiative to assess the quality of research in UK universities.

DMU – which was earlier this year named the most-improved university in the UK according to the influential The Sunday Times league table – has also seen an overall rise in research quality of 15 per cent compared to the last exercise in 2008.

The majority of case studies demonstrating the impact which our academics’ work has on real-life issues were rated either 4* (world-leading) or 3* (internationally excellent). This is further evidence that DMU is a university committed to the public good.

Some of the highest-rated research demonstrated impact in important areas such as:

• Identifying ways in which local councils can help tackle youth unemployment in the UK
• Global food security – how government can learn lessons from our wartime past
• An intelligent heating system which saved energy and money for customers across the UK
• Developing a new generation of composers by helping schoolchildren around the world make electro-acoustic music
• Preserving important elements of Britain's cinematic heritage, in particular films from the silent era

Professor Andy Collop, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at DMU, said: “I am pleased that the world-class quality of our research has been recognised in today’s REF results.

“DMU has an excellent academic community which works to address a myriad of real-world issues that affect society today. This is demonstrated by our strong performance in terms of the impact our research has.”

The REF 2014 results, which are used to allocate research funds to universities, assess research on three main criteria: quality of research outputs, the vitality of the research environment and the impact of the research being carried out.