Research strategy and policy

Research

Our research culture is ambitious, inclusive and supportive. Our focus is on the continuous enhancement of the quality, scope and capacity of our research activities, in particular the development and evidence based achievements of our research staff and students.

Research and innovation strategy 2021–2028

Vision

We will guide the University towards becoming an intensive research institution by delivering excellence in research and knowledge exchange. The work we engage in will bring about societal, economic, cultural and academic impact in collaboration with national and global communities, and public and private organisations.

We will

  1. Be the top modern university for research activity, beginning the journey of transforming from a research active to a research intensive institution.

  2. Be the top modern university for knowledge exchange activity, establishing our position as a leading partner and collaborator, offering skills, knowledge and expertise.

  3. Achieve research intensity that demonstrates originality, significance and rigour. Our research will have a demonstrably positive impact on society, the economy, the cultural climate, the environment, and the University’s academic standing.

  4. Achieve knowledge exchange activity that exceeds the aspirations and needs of external partners and beneficiaries.

  5. Exploit the intellectual property derived from the University’s research and knowledge exchange achievements.

  6. Contribute to the improvement of current curriculum and student opportunities through the integration of research, knowledge exchange and teaching developments.

  7. Inspire organisations to grow their business - locally, nationally and internationally - through a skilled, proactive and engaged workforce.

Please note: We are currently in the process of updating our documents to meet government accessibility legislation. If you require a copy of any of the documents listed on this page, please contact us. 

If you require a copy of the full strategy please email Marketing Communications.

Open research

We are committed to increasing the visibility, use, impact and benefits of publicly funded research conducted by the university’s community by supporting the fundamental principles of Open Access in providing free and unrestricted access to its research outputs and their underpinning data. We hope to promote discovery, citation, sharing and collaboration of our research by embracing Open Research with the development of its institutional repositories: CLoK and UCLanData.

Responsible use of research metrics

Responsible use of research metrics is a policy area that has been rapidly rising up the Higher Education agenda in recent years with increasing pressure from policy-makers and funders for institutions to develop responsible metric statements.

We believe in fair and responsible use of metric indicators in the assessment of research and performance, recognising that application and usage can be complex and problematic, and not uniformly applicable across all disciplines. Quantitative evaluation should support (and not replace) qualitative, expert assessment.