Law at Essex ranked third for research power

The research power of Essex Law School is highlighted by its performance in the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF2021).

Essex is now one of the largest Law schools in the country and was ranked 3rd for research power according to Times Higher Education.

REF2021 confirms Essex Law School as a powerhouse of original, internationally significant and world leading research across a broad variety of legal fields, consolidating the position of Essex as a leading law school both in terms of research volume and research quality.

• Read more about Essex's performance in REF2021

Head of School Dr Karen Brennan said: "This is a fantastic achievement for the school and is the result of the collective effort of our incredible colleagues. We've been growing significantly so it is really encouraging to see the strengths of our research-active academics being highlighted by REF2021.

"I'm particularly pleased that more than one-third of our REF submission comes from early-career academics, which shows our commitment to inclusivity and nurturing of young talent."

REF2021 is the system for assessing the quality and impact of research at UK universities and highlights the University of Essex’s impressive growth and increasing impact. Times Higher Education's research power measure looks at REF2021 assessment of research outputs, research impact and research environment alongside the number of staff submitted by each institution for each unit of assessment.

Essex was ranked 19th in UK for law research in terms of grade point average, up seven positions compared to the last assessment In 2014, 15th for research impact, and 18th for research environment.

REF2021 also revealed:

• 86% of law research output, impact and environment is rated world-leading or internationally excellent
• 92.9% of law research impact is world-leading or internationally excellent
• 100% of our law research environment is world-leading or internationally excellent

Research impact and insights

The School of Law is committed to making an impact through its research. Find out more on our research showcase pages:

• Impact: Viewing the risks of Artificial Intelligence through a human rights lens
• Impact: Securing a better future for refugees
• Impact: Realising the right to health
• Impact: Fighting for access to justice
• Impact: Establishing guidelines for investigations during armed conflict
• Impact: Hopes for peace and justice in Colombia
• Impact: Report on the police use of facial recognition technology identifies significant concerns
• Insight: Defending rights in conflict
• Insight: Big data, big threat?