Results and submissions
Introduction to the REF results
157 UK higher education institutions (HEIs) made submissions in 34 subject-based
units of assessment
(UOAs). The submissions were assessed by
panels of experts,
who produced an overall quality profile for each submission. Each overall quality profile
shows the proportion of research activity judged by the panels to have met each of the four starred quality levels in steps of 1%.
Unit of assessment 5: Biological Sciences
Summary information
| Number of submissions | 42 |
|---|---|
| Category A FTE staff submitted | 2,866.69 |
| Headcount of Category A staff submitted | 3,001 |
| Headcount of early career researchers | 463 |
| Number of outputs submitted | 7,108 |
| Number of outputs attributed to former staff | 300 |
| Number of case studies submitted | 210 |
Research outputs
| Number of outputs attributed | Category A submitted staff | Former staff | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | ECR | |||||
|
Headcount
H/C
|
%
Percentage
|
Headcount
H/C
|
%
Percentage
|
Headcount
H/C
|
%
Percentage
|
|
| 1 | 1,257 | 42 | 205 | 44 | 84 | 50 |
| 2 | 620 | 21 | 116 | 25 | 53 | 31 |
| 3 | 483 | 16 | 63 | 14 | 23 | 14 |
| 4 | 323 | 11 | 35 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 314 | 10 | 44 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
Research doctoral degrees awarded
| 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,298.37 | 1,308.96 | 1,262.10 | 1,336.58 | 1,332.19 | 1,385.80 | 1,381.30 | 9,305.30 |
Research income (£M)
| 2013-14 | 2014-15 | Average annual income | Total 2013-14 to 2019-20 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 to 2019-20 | 2013-14 to 2019-20 | |||
| 478.58 | 554.42 | 578.95 | 561.11 | 3,927.76 |
Research income-in-kind (£M)
| 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.33 | 9.61 | 13.77 | 11.77 | 12.45 | 10.81 | 7.61 |
Average quality profiles for all submissions in the UOA (FTE weighted)
The rounding methodology described in Annex B of the 'Guidance on submissions' (REF 2019/01), has been used to produce the outcomes shown in the averages table. The average profiles are weighted by staff FTE to take into account the relative size of submissions in the overall outcome. They are produced by weighting the proportion of activity at each starred level for each submission by the FTE of Category A submitted staff. Submissions with 3 or fewer staff (headcounts) are excluded from the calculation of the average sub-profiles.
| Percentage of submissions meeting the standard for: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
4 star
4*
|
3 star
3*
|
2 star
2*
|
1 star
1*
|
Unclassified
U/c
|
|
| Overall | 48% | 41% | 10% | 1% | 0% |
| Outputs | 45.1% | 41.7% | 12.3% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| Impact | 50.0% | 42.6% | 7.0% | 0.4% | 0.0% |
| Environment | 58.2% | 34.9% | 5.8% | 1.1% | 0.0% |
Average overall quality profile
Distribution of submission size and results for the UOA
Distribution of category A staff FTE
Distribution of quality profiles
Quartile information at UOA level
| Profile type | Quality profile |
Minimum
Min
|
Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile |
Maximum
Max
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 4 star | 0.00 | 28.00 | 39.00 | 53.00 | 78.00 |
| Overall | 4 star and 3 star | 25.00 | 80.00 | 88.00 | 94.00 | 99.00 |
| Overall | 4 star, 3 star and 2 star | 80.00 | 99.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Outputs | 4 star | 0.00 | 29.80 | 41.60 | 51.90 | 70.40 |
| Outputs | 4 star and 3 star | 18.40 | 76.40 | 85.90 | 91.80 | 98.80 |
| Outputs | 4 star, 3 star and 2 star | 86.80 | 98.70 | 99.25 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Impact | 4 star | 0.00 | 20.00 | 35.70 | 61.10 | 90.00 |
| Impact | 4 star and 3 star | 0.00 | 80.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Impact | 4 star, 3 star and 2 star | 50.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Environment | 4 star | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.50 | 62.50 | 100.00 |
| Environment | 4 star and 3 star | 0.00 | 75.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| Environment | 4 star, 3 star and 2 star | 25.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |