Research at the English Department at King's has been recognised in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, with 90 per cent overall rating for either ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) research and 100 per cent at 4* and 3* for research environment. The results also confirmed the Department as 3rd in the UK for research outputs.

The REF is carried out approximately every six-seven years to assess the quality of research across UK universities, show the quality and output of research on a domestic and global stage and show the impact research has on the academic environment and our society – highlighting its real-world benefits.

The department submitted a unit of 62 staff, at 58.5 FTE, under Unit of Assessment 27 (English Language and Literature). 138 outputs (many of which were double weighted) and 5 Impact case studies were ultimately selected for submission but these form only a small percentage of the much bigger oeuvre of research produced over the last 7 years.

Out of 92 submissions in English Language and Literature, the department was ranked 11^th in the country for GPA, 7^th in the country for power and 3^rd in the country for outputs.

View the full results of the REF2021 UoA27 (English language and Literature).

You can read more about King’s English research here.