City’s research is impacting the wider world

City has a proud tradition of producing research that inspires students and that has a lasting impact worldwide. As recognised by the Research Excellence Framework, City continues to conduct world-leading and internationally excellent research.

Established in 2014, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) invites Higher Education organisations to submit research projects for assessment by experts in 34 subject panels. Membership of the panels is drawn from across the UK Higher Education sector, world-leading experts from abroad as well as research users from business, industry and community organisations.

Submissions for the latest research assessment, REF 2021, have recently been made and the results will be published in April 2022.

REF measures each university against three distinct elements:

• The quality of the outputs including publications, performances and exhibitions.
• The impact they have beyond academia and how they improve the lives of people.
• The environment that supports research.

To spotlight City’s research impact, a series of video case studies were created, increasing accessibility to the research and showcasing the impact it has on the lives of people across the world.

Projects in the series include research by Mireia Jofre-Bonet, Professor of Economics at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, who worked with the government of Sierra Leone to establish a national health service in the wake of the Ebola crisis.

Thanks to Professor Jofre-Bonet’s work, Sierra-Leone was able to build a stronger fit-for-purpose healthcare system, void of any expensive pay-as-you-go services.

As part of disability@work, Nick Bacon, Professor of Resource Management at Bayes Business School, has helped shape government policies around the rights of disabled workers in the UK. His work has established apprenticeships for disabled people and influenced a disability-inclusive government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research from City’s School of Health Sciences, looked at the benefits of midwifery units and how they can encourage greater provision and quality. The research, which is comprises a series of studies investigating the strengths of different birth settings, is helping to give expectant mothers additional choices about where they give birth.

Dr Carmen Draghici, Reader in Law at The City Law School, has conducted research into the safety and protection of journalists in international law. Her work has been championed by the International Federation of Journalists, who asked Dr Draghici to produce a draft convention on the safety and independence of journalists and other media professionals.

The Centre for Compressor Technology at City’s School of Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science conducted research contributing to the transformation of screw machine technology. The efforts of the Centre, has allowed companies to save energy and money while reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions around the world.

For more information on the impact of City’s research, you can visit our REF pages on City’s website. We look forward to sharing the outcome of the REF 2021 with you next year.