Rankings and Reputation
Science and Technology at Lancaster has a global reputation for delivering world-class education and research. Our disciplines are consistently ranked amongst the best in the UK.
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023
- Lancaster University ranked 12th overall
- 5th for Physics and Astronomy
- 9th for Geography and Environmental Science
- 11th for Biological Sciences
- 14th for Mathematics
Guardian University Guide 2023
- Biology - ranked 14th overall
- Biomedicine - ranked 4th overall and joint 1st for careers after 6 months
- Chemistry - ranked joint 13th overall
- Chemical Engineering - ranked 6th overall and joint 10th for course satisfaction
- Computer Science and Information Systems - ranked 13th overall and joint 8th for careers after 6 months
- Maths - ranked 16th overall
- Mechanical Engineering - ranked 15th overall
- Physics - ranked 5th overall, 2nd for course satisfaction and joint 9th for careers after 6 months
Complete University Guide 2023
- 11th overall in the UK
- 10th in the UK for Physics
- 11th for Mathematics
- 13th for Geography and Environmental Sciences
- 11th for Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Research Excellence Framework 2021
- Over 90% of our research is world-leading and internationally excellent
- Lancaster’s Mathematics and Statistics department was ranked first out of 157 UK universities for research impact, with 100% of research being rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
- Lancaster Environment Centre was ranked fifth in the UK overall, fifth for research outputs, sixth for research impact and fourth for research environment, when ranked according to research power.
- 95% of the Engineering department’s research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
- In the Physics department, 98% of research outputs were rated world-leading or internationally excellent. Physics was ranked 14th in the UK for its research outputs and for the quality of its research environment.
- The School of Computing and Communications was ranked 13th in the UK for research environment, 14th for research power, with 94% of research being rated world-leading or internationally excellent
- 85% of research in Chemistry was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, while 88% of the department’s research environment was rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
- In Psychology, 87% of research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, while 67% of research impact was rated outstanding.
Did you know?
- We are home to one of the world’s largest centres for environmental research
- We share our facilities with the Environment Agency
- We are home to one of the government’s top environmental research laboratories, run by the Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
- Home to Hazelrigg Weather Station, the UK Meteorological Office’s Climatological Station Number 7236, making daily weather observations since 1966
- Our chemistry laboratories have amongst the best analytical facilities in the world for environmental organic chemistry research
- Home to the noble gas laboratory, the only lab in the UK with magnetic sector instrumentation focused specifically on environmental applications of noble gases
- We have a long term relationship with Jari forestry who own large sections of the Amazon rainforest, giving us access to the tropical forests of South America
- Some of our renowned physicists are researchers at CERN, Geneva, probing the fundamental structure of the universe
- We are members of the Athena SWAN Charter, a scheme which recognises and celebrates good employment practice for women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in higher education and research
- Our Psychology Department is home to one of the largest human developmental centres in the UK