The north-east of England has gained a “northern research powerhouse” to rival anything outside London, according to the vice-chancellor of the University of Northumbria after his institution rocketed up national research rankings.
Andrew Wathey took over at the Newcastle university in 2008 when it was 81st for research output, and has now seen it vault into 28th place in the UK, according to results of the research excellence framework (Ref) published this month.
The two-year-long exercise, which reviewed and rated the output of 76,000 academics across the UK, is vital for dividing up £2bn a year in government research grants, and could mean millions more for high-flyers such as Northumbria.
Wathey said his institution’s performance in the Ref was “a great testament to what colleagues have achieved” and offered big rewards for the region as a whole. “There are important consequences for the north-east here. This in effect gives Newcastle a second research-intensive university. And if you add Durham, it makes the biggest concentration of researchers in any city area outside London,” Wathey said.
