Research Narrative 2008

University of Lincoln Profile

Overall Performance

The University of Lincoln performed well in the RAE 2008, returning 35% of its academic staff in the following 14 Units of Assessment:

12 Allied Health Professions and Studies
16 Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science
23 Computer Science and Informatics
30 Architecture and Built Environment
36 Business and Management Studies
38 Law
39 Politics and International Studies
40 Social Work and Social Policy & Administration
44 Psychology
45 Education
62 History
63 Art and Design
65 Drama, Dance and Performing Arts
66 Communication, Cultural and Media Studies.

The quality profiles of individual Units of Assessment at the University of Lincoln provided by the external RAE peer panels established by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) are set out below, where U is unclassified, 1* is nationally recognised, 2* internationally recognised, 3* internationally excellent and 4* world-leading:

Unit of Assessment	FTE	4*	3*	2*	1*	U
Allied Health Professions and Studies	9.00	0	10	15	40	35
Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science	8.45	5	5	45	40	5
Computer Science and Informatics	9.00	15	35	35	15	0
Architecture and Built Environment	17.60	5	30	30	30	5
Business and Management Studies	21.40	0	20	40	30	10
Law	3.00	0	10	40	50	0
Politics and International Studies	8.20	5	15	30	45	5
Social Work and Social Policy & Administration	12.50	5	30	55	10	0
Psychology	5.80	5	20	45	30	0
Education	3.40	5	30	40	10	15
History	8.50	0	40	50	5	5
Art and Design	20.70	5	10	45	25	15
Drama, Dance and Performing Arts	8.00	5	15	25	50	5
Communication, Cultural and Media Studies	10.00	15	55	25	0	5

As will be seen, 10/14 of the submissions had elements of world-leading research (4*) and the vast majority had 50% or more outputs classified as internationally rated (2*-4*) in our overall research profile. Particular highlights included Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Computer Science and Informatics, Education, History, Psychology, and Social Work and Social Policy & Administration.

League Tables

Aside from some excellent national Unit of Assessment positions, the University overall is now placed in the top one hundred UK universities in the RAE league tables (92 in The Independent, 93 in The Guardian and 97 in The Times).

Since most league tables initially used Grade Point Averages to rank submissions, based on the simple averaging of scores in the profiles, they have not taken fully into account the proportion of academic staff submitted – which at Lincoln (35%) was one of the highest for a new university.

As a result of concern about small, highly selective submissions from some institutions giving an inflated view of national position, a few research-intensive universities have constructed their own league tables, including the volume of staff submitted. On such tables the University of Lincoln figures in a higher position – for example, 76 in the Lancaster University table.

Funding

The tables which take volume of staff submitted to the RAE into account, give a more realistic picture of our underlying position, particularly when they take into account size of institution. This more positive picture is more strongly reflected in the RAE 2008 funding allocation of £1.5 billion/pa across the sector.

The formula for distributing mainstream QR (quality-related) funding, which amounts to £1.1 billion of this sum, has now been released by the Government. The weightings given to 2*, 3* and 4* profiles are 1, 3 and 7 respectively, with no funding for 1* or unclassified outputs. Additional weighting is also given to the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as compared to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

As a result of the application of this framework, HEFCE announced in March 2009 that the total sum allocated to the University of Lincoln is more than £1.9 million a year. Of this sum, £1.6 million a year is mainstream QR money, with the remainder based on the other aspect of the formula that takes account of postgraduate research students and charity and business research income.

This makes the University of Lincoln one of the most rapidly rising universities in the country because it received no mainstream QR funding from HEFCE last time, with an allocation of only some £240k a year for capacity building in Art and Design and £26k a year on the formula for residual allocations from the RAE 2001. This means that RAE income at the University of Lincoln has grown by 628% since 2001, compared to a 7.8% average for the sector.

The Future

The University of Lincoln has now developed an RAE investment strategy for the future. This has been aligned with the implementation of the University Research Strategy, as the University of Lincoln prepares for the coming of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), which will replace the RAE.

The REF is currently being piloted across a range of institutions, with wide consultation in the sector. It is expected to be fully implemented by 2013 – driving QR funding allocations from 2014. While a significant peer review element will almost certainly be retained, the REF is likely to place greater emphasis on quantitative indicators such as external research funding, PhD completion rates and bibliometrics, including citation rates of publications. It is also likely to place greater emphasis on the important criteria of the impact on research users.

Conclusion

The University of Lincoln has achieved international recognition in the RAE 2008 – the first external audit to be conducted of research in UK universities since 2001. This has confirmed the academic achievements and ambitions of the University as a research-based institution.

The results of the RAE 2008 and other recent external assessments give the University a strong platform on which to develop further as a university of quality and distinction.

Faculty Research Profiles

Faculty of Business and Law

The Faculty, which contains the Lincoln Business School and the Lincoln Law School was submitted in two Units of Assessment in the 2008 RAE:

Unit 36 Business and Management Studies

Unit 38 Law.

Both submissions were rated as having elements which were internationally excellent.

Business and Management Studies

The large submission in this Unit of Assessment owes much to the Lincoln Business School's Centre for Management and Business Research. This is the location of two research units – the Community Operational Research Unit (CORU), which with its focus on community empowerment and active citizenship is a very distinctive feature of the School, and the Enterprise Research Unit (ERDU), which carries out research and development work concentrating on small and medium enterprises and on entrepreneurship – and plays a key role in generating initiatives aimed at supporting companies during the recession. The Lincoln Business School has obtained recognition from the Economic and Social Research Council for its doctoral programme. Most research outputs in this Unit of Assessment were internationally rated.

Law

The Lincoln Law School is the home of the Centre for Dispute Resolution, Compensation and Risk, which is centrally linked to the Law submission in the RAE. This group aims to examine the financial and societal implications of access to civil justice at both a strategic and an operational level and how access to justice is viewed by society. Research in this area was nationally and internationally recognised – with some regarded as internationally excellent.

Personal Profiles

Zoraida Mendiwelso-Bendek is a member of CORU, where she leads community engagement and empowerment action research focused on civil and civic engagement and community empowerment. This was funded by the Home Office/Civil Renewal Unit and the Community and Local Government/Community Empowerment Division. It contributed in 2006 to the National Learning Framework for Adults for Active Learning for Active Citizenship used in the implementation of the Government White Paper on Safer and Prosperous Communities. CORU's research promotes principles of social justice, cooperation, equality and diversity in civil society, with emphasis given to active learning for active citizenship in the statutory, voluntary and community sector. The Learning Framework is recognised by the 2008 Government White Paper, Communities in Control as an essential element in the implementation of the Take Part Pathfinders, to be delivered by the Take Part National Network. The Economic and Social Research Council awarded £1 million funding to this research. A new Cluster for Community Empowerment is planned, as part of a new Third Sector Research Centre.

Professor John Peysner is the Director of the Centre for Dispute Resolution, Compensation and Risk and is one of the leading UK academics involved with policy and technical issues on the financing of civil litigation, litigation court cost regimes and the substantial increases in the transactional costs of resolving claims. As Director of the Centre for Dispute Resolution, Compensation and Risk, John oversees a range of projects including work for the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission on the development of a contingency legal aid fund and a collaborative project with City University on third-party damage claims in the light of the EU anti-cartel programme – as well as cross-disciplinary work on media responses to an alleged compensation culture in the UK.

Faculty of Health, Life and Social Sciences

The Faculty made five submissions into RAE 2008:

Unit 12 Allied Health Professions and Studies
Unit 16 Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science
Unit 39 Politics and International Studies
Unit 40 Social Work and Social Policy and Administration
Unit 44 Psychology.

All of these obtained national/international recognition – including some with world-leading elements.

Allied Health Professions and Studies

The Research Centres which were submitted in the RAE were the Mental Health Research Centre and the Workforce Innovation Research Centre. Many of the staff have previously held senior posts as national and regional leads within mental health and social care workforce development and at chief executive and executive director level in the NHS working with a number of regional, national and international partners. The research submitted supports policy priorities from local stakeholders, UK government departments, the European Union and international partnerships. The majority of the research outputs were assessed being of a quality that is recognised nationally or internationally.

Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science

This Unit of Assessment was based on the Centre for Animal Welfare and Para-Veterinary Sciences, which examines the behaviour, welfare and management of wild and captive animals. It has two major research groups – the Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Group and the Reproduction and Biodiversity Science Group, which work innovatively across the biological sciences and traditional sciences. The former group spans the Departments of Biological Science, Psychology and Computing, researching the capacity and limitations of animal cognition at the forefront of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine and the assessment of captive animal welfare. The latter group's research at the molecular, cellular, individual and population level has advanced our understanding of how biodiversity is generated and why it should be conserved. Strengths of the group include the application of genetics to livestock development and breed conservation, pure and applied aspects of avian incubation, the biology of cryopreservation and the evolution of reproductive strategies. Supported by new investment into the Rural Science Centre and Equine Unit, over half of the research outputs were recognised internationally – with some classified as world-leading.

Politics and International Studies

This was the University's first RAE submission in Politics and International Studies. The highly inclusive submission included a balanced mix of established and newly active researchers in a range of fields of politics. As a new submission it is notable that the University of Lincoln was amongst the highest ranked post-92 University for research in this area and one of only three to receive world-leading recognition for part of the submission. Half of the research outputs were rated at an international standard. The submission was based on the Policy Studies Research Centre, alongside that of Social Policy and Administration and Social Work.

Social Work and Social Policy & Administration

This Unit of Assessment achieved a very positive result in the RAE 2008, with almost all of the research internationally rated – some of which was seen as world leading. Its work is centred on the Policy Studies Research Centre, which undertakes research at local, regional, national and international levels. Research strengths include health and social care, housing and urban regeneration, poverty, crime and social exclusion, crime prevention, professional regulation and social policy. The work of the group has influenced policy and practice at all levels, including that of national government. Its research has been funded by local authorities, charitable foundations, central government, national, regional and local voluntary organisations, health authorities and Research Councils – and has strong links to other leading academic institutions nationally and internationally.

Psychology

In the 2008 RAE, Psychology at the University of Lincoln performed particularly strongly as the most research improved Unit in its field among post-1992 universities – now being placed in the top 5 of this sector. The majority of the research outputs were of an international standard, with some recognised as world leading. Research areas contributing to the RAE were developmental psychology, psychology of the lifespan, forensic psychology and health psychology. In addition, the School of Psychology contributed significantly to the University's RAE submission in Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science, with outputs and expertise in the area of comparative cognition, drawing on work conducted in the Research Centre for Comparative Cognition.

Indicative personal profiles

Professor Niro Siriwardena is a general practitioner and Foundation Professor of Primary Healthcare at the University, who initially trained and worked in London before coming to Lincolnshire. Niro has a particular interest in quality improvement. His main research interests and publications are improving patient outcomes through complex interventions in primary and pre-hospital care, based on multi-professional learning, evidence-based practice and innovation diffusion. He has won a range of funding, including from the Department of Health and is Editor of the international journal Quality in Primary Care.

Professor Harriet Gross joined the University of Lincoln from Loughborough University. Her principal research interests relate to the psychology of transition and change. Harriet has undertaken studies of young people coming to terms with chronic disease, the career of the joy-rider and behaviour change in older people. A long-term focus of her research has been on psychosocial aspects of pregnancy and women's health, including pregnancy and employment and women's experiences of pregnancy. One area of special interest is how women account for their experiences during pregnancy and how this fits with their identity. She is co-author of the recent book, Sanctioning Pregnancy.

Faculty of Media, Humanities and Technology

The Faculty returned four Units of Assessment in RAE 2008:

Unit 23 Computer Science and Informatics
Unit 62 History
Unit 65 Drama, Dance and Performing Arts and
Unit 66 Communication, Cultural and Media Studies

All achieved a strong rating with a high proportion of internationally rated research – especially in Units 23 and 66 where half or more of the outputs were classified as internationally excellent or world-leading.

The Faculty of Media, Humanities and Technology is connected to:

Unit 45 Education

This was formerly based in the Faculty, but is now situated in the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD). In this Unit most of the research outputs were internationally rated.

Computer Science and Informatics

A majority of the research outputs in this Unit of Assessment were classified as internationally recognised or internationally excellent, with some world leading. Research activity is mainly organised within two Centres – the Centre for Vision and Robotics Research and the Lincoln Social Computing Research Centre. The Centres collaborate actively with other subject areas, particularly in the Faculty of Health, Life and Social Sciences. The research in these Centres has been externally funded by national and international bodies ranging from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the US Homeland Security Department to the National Health Service and private companies.

History

Almost all the research outputs in this Unit of Assessment were of international quality, with a significant proportion being internationally excellent. The research strategy has followed clear pathways, in part related to the Centre for Regional and Local History, which has strong links with organisations in Lincolnshire with interests in history. It has recently hosted a number of high profile national/international conferences. Other key areas of research are in political cultures and the cultural histories of politics, with special emphasis on British women's political movements. There is also an emerging area of research in heritage and museums.

Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

In this Unit of Assessment some internationally excellent and world-class work was noted in a broad range of nationally and internationally rated outputs. These included a mix of scholarly work and non-text items including digital and visual formats, practice as research and performance/exhibition events. Research activities are carried out in association with the Centre for Innovation in Performing Arts, which includes specialisms in contemporary British and German drama, theatre and consciousness and Indian and South Asian theatre. The newly opened Lincoln Performing Arts Centre is an important facility for continuing research in this area.

Communication, Cultural and Media Studies

Work of international excellence and world-leading quality was achieved across more than two-thirds of the outputs submitted in this Unit of Assessment. Research takes place within two research Centres – the Centre for the Study of Media Policy, Regulation and Ethics and the Centre for European Cultural Studies. These have a distinctive emphasis on the public knowledge dimensions of media and cultural studies, in some cases with distinct policy impact. This is reflected in the £0.3 million Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project on ‘Televising History: 1995-2010' and research work in such areas as media policy, history and ethics.

Education

Three-quarters of the research submitted in the Education Unit of Assessment was internationally rated, with some world-leading elements. The Unit is based on the work of staff in the Centre for Educational Research and Development (CERD), which plays a key part in connecting research and teaching within the University. CERD runs a doctoral programme recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council and is currently leading a group of prestigious universities in a £0.3 million project supported by the funding councils of England, Scotland and Wales on the relationship between learning landscapes and estates in higher education.

Indicative personal profiles

Dr Tom Duckett studied at Warwick University, Heriot-Watt University and Manchester University, as well as Karlsruhe and Bremen Universities in Germany and has spent several years working in the UK software industry. From 1999 to 2006 he worked at ebro University in Sweden , where he held positions as Guest Researcher, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor. At ebro University he was also leader of the Learning Systems Laboratory, one of four research laboratories within the Centre for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems. He is currently Director of the Centre for Vision and Robotics Research at the University, which specialises in two complementary areas – the analysis and understanding of image, video and other sensor data, and sensing and control for autonomous robotic systems. He has over 80 scientific publications, including 20 journal articles, with research interests including autonomous robotics, computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, navigation systems, mobile robot olfaction and multi-sensor fusion.

Professor Krista Cowman conducts her mainstream research on women's history, especially suffrage and women and politics. She is currently working on connections between history and feminist politics and was awarded a European Science Foundation grant to run an exploratory workshop. This is looking at how knowledge of the history of first wave feminism shaped second wave feminist movements in Europe. A further research interest lies in the cultural history of the First World War, and in particular British perceptions of French culture on the Western Front. She also has British Academy funding to read a collection of soldiers' letters from the Western Front at the Imperial War Museum. Beyond details of combat and life in the trenches, these letters also reveal how soldiers felt about living in France and their interactions with French civilians.

Professor Ann Gray is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University. Her main research focus is on how television represents the past, for which she has received a substantial Arts and Humanities Research Council grant for the four year project ‘Televising History'. This is investigating the production contexts of history programming, the different genres and textual strategies of the programmes and the role of historians in this process. The project employs a Research Fellow and two doctoral students who are working on the uses of television history in schools and the regional output of ITV. Ann is Co-Director of the Centre for European Cultural Studies and recently secured a joint British Academy grant, with Dr Jirina Smejkalova, for a project on Re-thinking Cultural Studies in the New Europe, which has established a European network of cultural researchers bringing different intellectual histories and perspectives to cultural studies. Ann has recently co-published with Routledge a two volume edited collection of the CCCS Selected Working Papers Volumes 1 and 2. She is Editor of the European Journal of Cultural Studies .

Professor Richard Keeble is Professor of Journalism at the University. Richard studied Modern History at Oxford University and completed his PhD at City University, London. He has written or edited 13 books. He is currently co-editing a collection of essays on Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution and writing a history of war reporting. His other research interests include journalism ethics (on which he has just published the second edition of Ethics for Journalists ), the practice of newspaper journalism (his Newspapers Handbook is now in its fourth edition and has been published in Chinese, Romanian and Ukrainian) and the journalism of George Orwell (a subject included in his recent co-edited book The Journalistic Imagination ). He is joint Editor of the journal Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics and Director of the Institute of Communication Ethics. Richard is also Co-Director of the Centre for Study of Media Policy, Regulation and Ethics. He has lectured in many countries including Malta, India, Slovenia, Montenegro, Hungary, Holland, the USA, Spain, Israel, Egypt and Ireland.

Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design

The Faculty submitted to the RAE in the following Units of Assessment:

Unit 30 Architecture and Built Environment
Unit 63 Art and Design.

Both of these submissions included a high proportion of academic staff and the majority of research outputs were internationally rated – with some classified as world-leading.

Architecture and Built Environment

This Unit of Assessment is linked to the Centre for Sustainable Architectural and Environment, including research groups centred on cultural contexts in architecture, designing dynamic space, liveable cities and sustainable architectural technology. The research interests of members of these groups span from architectural design to conservation. The Centre has significant professional links including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and a number of prestigious national and international collaborations. Two-thirds of the research outputs were identified as internationally rated in this Unit of Assessment, with world-leading elements.

Art and Design

In this Unit of Assessment, 60% of the research submitted was internationally rated, including a substantial amount that was seen as internationally excellent or world leading. This submission was based on two Centres – the Centre for Art Media, including researchers in art media and related areas such as aesthetic signatures, art history, drawing and the still and moving image, and the Centre for Critical Design Practice, involving research in language as a visual form and innovative design practice.

Research in Art and Design is rapidly evolving, with new areas being developed – such as fashion and textiles, writing and performance and designed objects. Partnerships exist with a range of countries which have led to several prestigious international exhibitions. External funding for research has been obtained from bodies such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Indicative personal profiles

Dr Behzad Sodagar is Reader in Architecture and Co-Director of the Centre for Sustainable Architecture and Environments. Recently he has completed and initiated externally funded projects involving research into sustainable planning and development. They include work on the design and construction of a sustainable community hall at Hill Holt Wood, the development of a methodology and design tool for carbon footprinting of buildings with Simons Design and eco refurbishment of church buildings in association with Lincolnshire Community Foundation. Behzad is one of the founders of Construction Emissions Community of Practice which won the Special Project Award category at the Royal Institute of British Architects East Midlands Awards 2008. Its work is closely related to his research as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project with the Simons Group Ltd. A Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Hill Holt Wood won a national award for the best application of social or management science in 2009. Funding bodies include the Department of Trade and Industry, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council.

John Plowman is Reader in Art who is the Director of the Drawing and Art Media Group. In his studio practice his interest is in the temporal aspect of art production, in which he is investigating the possibility of the site of exhibition also being the site of production – with a particular focus on who bears witness to this activity of production, artist, audience or both. In 2008 he exhibited at the Black and White Gallery in New York and Handel Street projects in London. He is also involved in the Beacon visual art project in which the research is carried out through his curatorial practice. This focuses on a critical engagement with, and a questioning of, the urban nature of art discourse. He has just finished working on a project funded by the Henry Moore Foundation and is currently in receipt of funding for a project at the Venice Biennale.

Clare Charnley is Co-Director and Research Fellow in the Art Media Group. Recently she made a collaborative performance with Hong Kong artist Wen Yau at the 2007 DoDao Festival in Macao. Videos from her five year Speech project were brought together as a solo exhibition, The Gift of Tongues, at Leeds Metropolitan University Gallery and later at Hobusepea Gallerii, Tallinn , Estonia. This exhibition, supported by the British Council, included work with the Estonian Art Academy. Amongst several other prestigious commitments, she was invited to present her work at the 2008 Artist to Artist conference, organised by Visiting Arts at the Royal College of Art and will do so again in 2009. Clare was an invited member of Artrole's cultural delegation to Kurdistan/Iraq and has developed strong artistic connections with Brazil.

Timothy Donaldson is a Research Fellow in graphic design and Director of the Language as Visual Form research group. His research practice is concerned with the ancient and ubiquitous art of ‘sending messages with words and pictures'. The deep, interconnected involvement of typographic communication in our modern lives leads to questions about the teaching and understanding of the history and development of the alphabet and its impact on modern typographic communication, the cognitive aspects of current orthography, the status of writing in secular and artistic life, and its role and prospects for the future. His continuing engagement with pre-fabricated, experimental letters in the form of conjectural and commercial typeface design is widely documented, as are lectures, performances and installations examining the scale and nature of the act of writing at numerous international design events. His illustrated book Shapes for Sounds, a widely available published book on the past, present and future of the Latin alphabet, has won critical international acclaim.

RAE 2008