About our Research Excellence
Research that makes a difference
At Westminster we pride ourselves on our record of excellence in research that makes a difference – to academia, to the professions, to business, to industry. We have a rich and diverse profile of activity across a broad range of subjects and as highly as we value pure academic research, we are equally committed to ensuring that our knowledge delivers real-world benefits, through knowledge transfer and applied research.
Research excellence and esteem...
The RAE2008 confirmed Westminster’s position as a leading modern University with an outstanding record of achievement in research.
- Almost 80% of our submitted research across 20 subject areas was judged to be of international quality
- We achieved world leading and internationally excellent and status for most of our work in Media and Communication; Art and Design; and Architecture and the Built Environment.
- In Law; Life and Health Sciences; Computing; Business and Management; Town and Country Planning; Environmental Studies, the majority of our submissions were found to be of internationally recognised quality.
- The standing of our leading researchers is evidenced through many markers of esteem, for example membership of the prestigious RAE subject panels where, in RAE2008, we were represented in Psychology,
- Architecture and Asian Studies.
Building the next generation of researchers…
Our research degree programme attests to our commitment to developing the next generation of researchers. Following our RAE2008 success we launched a £1m investment in research studentships, starting in October 2009.
Further information or to apply for a studentship is available in Studying at Westminster.
We embrace new models of the PhD in practice-based subjects - the first exhibition in over a decade of completed PhDs in the audio-visual medium in was held recently in our spectacular P3 venue at our Marylebone site.
Research that makes a difference …
The UK’s emergency services and transport infrastructure could all benefit from the work of University research into new uses for global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), with an ESRC grant to our electronics researchers.
Our leading reputation in knowledge transfer secured a £10.6m grant for a regional consortium, WestFocus. Linking with six UK academic institutions, the project is establishing seven knowledge and business development networks and provides fantastic opportunities for our expertise to be disseminated to London's growing industry sectors.
Working with others ...
The University collaborates with
scores of businesses from telecommunications to logistics, complementary medicine to construction, and from established global players such as Panasonic, Johnson & Johnson, Roche Vitamins to new businesses. Our research and consultancy income for the 2003-2004 financial year was just under £5.4m, a contribution of 6.5% of the University's turnover.
We welcome research partnerships. In Europe, we work with Danish, French, German, Hungarian, Spanish and British universities and research institutes on subjects ranging from Francophone Africa to labour market issues, transport, medicine and parallel computing. We also collaborate with MIT in tissue engineering.
If you’d like to find out more about our research work...
We have proven strengths in Communication and Media Studies, Art and Design, Architecture and the Built Environment, as well as Law, Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, Computer Science and Informatics and Business and Management. We also have centres of excellence in Asian Studies, English Literature, French, Psychology, Politics and International Relations. For detailed information about work in all our areas of activity, please follow the links below, or visit the research pages of the individual Schools.