*According to Times Higher Education

The results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) were announced today (Thursday 12 May 2022), and Warwick Law School is delighted to announce that it has been ranked equal 8^th overall in the UK (out of 69 Law Schools submitted), acknowledging our dedication to producing high calibre innovative research. This places us equal 6^th amongst the Russell Group universities that were assessed in the research ranking exercise.

We also ranked 8^th for outputs with 89% of the research publications that we submitted being defined as world leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour. We ranked equal 10^th for research environment, which is assessed by the panel in terms of its ‘vitality and sustainability’, including the broader approach within the School to enabling impact from its research and contributing to the wider discipline base.

Andrew Sanders, Head of Warwick Law School, commented: “Warwick Law School has a well-deserved reputation for legal research and research-led teaching. After a tremendous result in the previous REF (in 2014), I am thrilled with the latest rankings.”

“This was a collective effort, and everyone in the School contributed to this remarkable outcome: research-focussed academics, teaching-focussed academics, and professional services staff all contributed in their different ways. I already felt honoured and privileged to lead this distinguished School that puts social justice at the forefront of so much of its work, and for this to be recognised in this way is the icing on the cake.”

The REF is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in the country’s higher education institutions, previously carried out in 2014. Expert panels made up of senior academics, international members, and research users review submissions from universities for each of the 34 subject-based units of assessment. Submissions are assessed on the quality of outputs, such as publications, performances, and exhibitions, the impact achieved by research beyond academia, and the environment that supports research. Find out more.

Vanessa Munro, Director of Research at Warwick Law School told us: “I am really delighted with the outcomes of the 2021 REF. Within and beyond our Centres and Clusters, colleagues are committed to producing innovative law-in-context research, and the assessors have clearly recognised the world-leading quality and reach of that work.”

“I am particularly pleased that the panel rated our wider research environment so positively, including in respect of our support for future research leaders and mechanisms to maximise the impacts of our work. I am proud that our submission represented the rich diversity of our scholarship within the School. The process has been thoroughly collaborative from the start to the end of the REF cycle, and I am very grateful to all WLS colleagues not only for their excellent research and mentoring, and support, but for the energy, care and time they have given to the process.”

We look forward to more high-quality research being conducted in the Law School and nurtured in our excellent research environment.

Find out more about research at Warwick Law School.