Our Vision

Goal 2 of our Strategic Plan 2009/10- 2017/18 outlines our ambition to transform research and innovation at Salford and achieve national standing for research performance that places us in the first quartile of UK Universities by 2017.

Our Research and Innovation Strategy is currently being reviewed in order to consider how we can pursue this objective in light of external changes to the research funding landscape and the internal reconfiguration of our academic structures and Professional Services. Our revised strategy will articulate a vision for research at Salford that is purposeful and applied so that it impacts distinctively on the knowledge economy. Research at Salford must also bring a range of benefits to learning and teaching, inform our community engagement activities, and incorporate lively national and international partnerships.

Our research will continue to be organised through four strategic interdisciplinary themes:

• Built environment
• Energy
• Health and wellbeing
• Media, digital technology and the creative economy

We also have a number of peaks of excellence that lie outside these major themes. A fifth theme entitled ‘Memory, Text and Place’ is also being developed to support research in the arts and humanities.

In the context of current economic conditions and the move by Government towards more selectivity in research, it is essential that our income is diversified. Our Research and Innovation Strategy will ensure that our income is maximised through commercialisation and close working relationships with industries, businesses and organisations in both the public and private sectors. Our revised strategy will also establish the capacity, capabilities, disciplines and ways of working that will deliver outputs and impact that are of international significance, ensuring strong REF outcomes that build on the successes of RAE 2008. We will also make informed, targeted choices about investment in order to grow our research, developing centres of innovation where staff will interface with other organisations and industries.