UoA 3 Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy
This Unit of Assessment comprises a critical mass of researchers from five schools across the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences.
Examples of our research include the development of new cancer therapeutics, the development of international standards for the manufacture of anti-bacterial wipes, and the shaping of strategies to reduce violent crime.
91% of our outputs were assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent and our research environment was awarded the highest possible score (4.0). With an overall GPA score of 3.39, our interdisciplinary research secured an overall quality ranking of 16th (out of 90) which, alongside the volume of the Unit’s research, delivers a ranking of 4th (out of 90) for Research Power (an indicator of the scale and quality of our submission).
We foster an inclusive, diverse and collaborative research community. Reflective of this, we submitted 100% of our eligible staff to this Unit of Assessment.
Our results
| Quality level | 4 star % | 3 star % | 2 star % | 1 star % | Unclassified % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 48.0 | 43.0 | 9.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Outputs | 46.4 | 45.0 | 8.0 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
| Impact | 22.2 | 61.1 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Environment | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Our research environment
Our mission is the creation of new biomedical and health knowledge recognised to be internationally excellent, which realises societal benefit by advancing individual and population health in Wales, the United Kingdom and worldwide.
Since REF 2014, our research has come together around 3 interlinked interdisciplinary research strands; biological systems, diagnostics and therapies (BDST), rehabilitation, advanced materials and devices (RAMD), and people-centred care and health systems (PCHS). These are enhanced by extensive cross-unit of assessment collaboration (for example with Clinical Medicine, Psychology, Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Biological Sciences, and Engineering).
Since REF 2014 we have secured £142 million in research awards and invested £15 million in new facilities and technologies.
Our research centres enable co-creation of research addressing patient and public needs. They include:
- the Centre for Trials Research a UK-registered Clinical Research Collaboration Unit, established in 2015 with core funding from Health and Care Research Wales and Cancer Research UK
- our new £12 million Medicines Discovery Institute which brought substantial industrial and new technical drug discovery expertise as well as knowledge taking drug candidates from concept to clinical trial
- our Versus Arthritis Biomechanics and Bioengineering Centre of Excellence advances treatment and rehabilitation of patients with arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions, through collaboration between biomedical, healthcare and pharmaceutical scientists, engineers and clinicians.
We have a strong focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, along with targeted career support, from postgraduate research students through to senior academics. We increased staff diversity (50% female staff in REF 2021 compared to 33% in REF2014) and transitioned 23 early career researchers to independence (65% female).
Discover our research
UoA 3 includes the research expertise of 5 schools, all of which enjoy an inclusive and vibrant research culture with the work being carried out having a positive impact on the health of the population.
