Research Excellence

Research Excellence  
Research Excellence

The University has an outstanding track record in pioneering discoveries which have changed thinking and practice in medicine, science and humanities over five centuries, including work that has contributed to five Nobel Prizes.

These latest Research Assessment Exercise results show the progress we have made in recent years in growing our research strength further, with almost 90% of our research judged of international quality, and 55% classed as world leading or internationally excellent. We are judged the UK’s top research university for Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies and equal top for Health Services Research. Five units of assessment had 100% of their research activity judged to be of international quality. In addition to Divinity and Religious Studies, and Health Services Research, these are Computing Science, Economics (University of Aberdeen Business School) and Mathematics.

Over recent years the University has invested substantially in bringing many leading academics to northeast Scotland from many of the world’s most prestigious institutions through the Sixth Century Chairs recruitment campaign.

To give our research teams world-class facilities we have already spent over £170million on capital developments and are spending a further £230million to transform our two campuses. Our total research income has more than trebled over the last ten years, and funding from competitively-won research grants has grown 35 percent over the last four years.

Our Colleges and research centres and institutes have a broad-based research platform, focusing on global issues including health, social organisation, environmental sustainability and energy including renewable. Our researchers investigate the challenges to modern life from technological and scientific advances to modern culture and thought, and apply expertise derived from addressing local regional and national issues to develop multidisciplinary teams to tackle global issues.

Examples of our research strengths of special relevance to today’s world include:

  • The new National Subsea Research Institute based at the University is a partnership involving the Northern Research Partnership (Aberdeen, Dundee and Robert Gordon universities), in collaboration with Subsea UK to provide a focus for R&D and training as part of the UK’s future energy strategy.
  • The merger of the former Rowett Research Institute with the University in 2008 has created an international centre of excellence in the new Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health.
  • In 1980, Aberdeen physicists and clinicians were first in the world to scan a patient using MRI. Today we are contributing our expertise at the forefront of imaging technology to the SINAPSE partnership of top Scottish research universities through the Scottish Funding Council’s research pooling initiative.

For more information on individual research strengths see our College websites: