NCMH contributes to Cardiff University REF success

Posted December 18th 2014

Ninety percent of Cardiff University’s portfolio of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience research, which includes the work of the National Centre for Mental Health, has been deemed ‘outstanding’ for its impact in terms of its reach and significance in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment.

Cardiff University’s research into these areas is now ranked as second only to Oxford in the UK.

REF examines the research output of UK universities, and is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) that was last carried out in 2008. The assessment looks at research outputs from 2008-2014, and takes into account the significance, rigour and originality of the work, and it’s impact both nationally and internationally. The results of REF play an important part in determining research funding.

While NCMH is funded by NISCHR, Welsh Government, it is hosted by Cardiff University at its flagship Hadyn Ellis Building, and works closely with several of the university’s research projects. NCMH research was considered as part of the REF process, along with that of colleagues and collaborators at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (MRC CNGG) and the Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI).

“We are extremely pleased to see Cardiff University attaining such impressive results, and very proud to have played a small part in this achievement” said NCMH Director Professor Ian Jones. “Successes like this are only possible through collaborative working, and we are honoured to work alongside some of Cardiff University, and indeed the world’s, most talented researchers.”