The Australian National University (ANU) leads the nation in research excellence, boosting its reputation for world-class research in the latest Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) results.
The ERA results found 95 per cent of broad-field research and 91 per cent of specific discipline research at ANU rated above or well above world standard.
The results show a continued improvement for ANU research quality and underline the University’s position as one of the great research universities of the world.
ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young AO said the 95 per cent rating was a significant improvement on the 84 per cent rating in the previous ERA in 2012, and was a magnificent tribute to the hard work of ANU researchers.
“This is a tremendous result which confirms the position of the ANU as a world-class university with a focus on the highest-quality research,” Professor Young said.
“ANU was established as a resource for all of Australia, and our strong team of researchers is committed to finding real and practical solutions to the problems facing the nation and the world.”
The results were driven by higher ratings for 17 research fields which all improved their rankings to reach the top rating of 5, representing research to be well above world standard.
In total, ANU received the highest rating in 38 specific research disciplines, and in a further 11 broad fields of research across the full range of University research.
Overall research areas rated well above world standard are:
Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Information and Computing Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, Studies in Human Society (including Political Science, Policy and Administration and Criminology), Law and Legal Studies, Language Communication and Culture, History and Archaeology, and Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Specific fields to receive the top ranking include Astronomy, Psychology, Economic Theory, Business and Management, Criminology, Physics (Classical, Condensed Matter, Quantum and Optical), Geochemistry and Atmospheric Sciences, Genetics, Microbiology, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Plant Biology and Zoology, Immunology, Neurosciences, Public Health, Ophthalmology and Optometry.
The rankings top an outstanding year for ANU researchers. In October, Distinguished Professor Graham Farquhar won the 2015 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science for his work on water-efficient crops and for helping the world understand the impacts of Climate Change.
In September, ANU was ranked in world’s top 20 universities and number one in Australia by the QS World University Rankings.
ANU is also one of 10 members of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), which is a group of the world’s top research universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and the University of California, Berkeley.
Originally published at the ANU media room