Science & Research

Collaborate with world leading talent and be at the forefront of research and innovation excellence.

The UK welcomes science and research talent from across the world, bringing together diverse minds to create a world-leading R&D system that unleashes innovation, supports net zero ambitions, and drives economic growth across the UK and the world.

We are investing in scientists and researchers, as well as the facilities they use across the UK, making the UK among the best places in the world for innovators, scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs to live and work.

“For my career the move to the UK marks a watershed event… there’s a huge amount of emphasis on interdisciplinary research… it suits my development very much.”

“Where the UK is concerned it’s obviously a vibrant research community, a research culture. With the global talent [visa], the best students and the best minds are in UK, so I believe this is the place where I can grow”

Universities

World-leading research and education

From Aberystwyth in Wales to Aberdeen in Scotland, more world leaders have been educated in the UK than anywhere else. With four of the world’s top universities based here, the UK attracts some of the brightest minds from across the world.

The UK also has a world-leading research base. With less than one per cent of the world’s population, the UK accounts for 6.3% of the world’s academic publications, and 13.4% of the world’s most highly-cited academic publications.  Since 2007, the UK has had a higher field-weighted citation impact than any other country in the G7.

Join us at the forefront of global discoveries at our world leading higher education and research institutions.

Leading research and education universities in the UK

Global Rank of UK Universities Overall score Citations Academic reputation
2 University of Cambridge 99.2 92.3 100
4 University of Oxford 98.9 90.6 100
6= Imperial College London 97.8 94 98.3
8 UCL 92.4 74.3 99.5
15 The University of Edinburgh 86.1 58.7 98.1
28 The University of Manchester 82.2 49.1 95.4
37 King's College London 79.3 61.1 89.5
56 The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) 76.9 80.2 67.7
61= University of Bristol 72.4 64.7 74.9
64 The University of Warwick 68.6 49 71.3
Global Rank of UK Universities Overall score Citations Academic reputation
2 University of Oxford 99.5 96 100
=3 University of Cambridge 98.7 92.1 100
7 Imperial College London 97.3 88.1 98.4
=8 UCL 95.4 78 99.4
16 The University of Edinburgh 89.9 69.5 98
=27 The University of Manchester 84 58.1 95.2
35 King's College London 84 53.9 88.9
49 The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) 75.8 87.8 72.4
61 The University of Warwick 71.2 61.4 73.1
62 University of Bristol 71 50.7 74.7
Global Rank of UK Universities Overall score Citations per paper Academic reputation
1 University of Oxford 98.6 93.9 100
3 University of Cambridge 97.3 86.7 99.9
11 The University of Edinburgh 89.1 89.6 92.8
12 UCL 89.1 90.2 90.6
16 The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) 87.1 92.8 87.2
30 King's College London 83.4 86 86.4
42 University of St Andrews 80.7 85.9 83.5
44 SOAS University of London 80 94.2 86.2
=45 Durham University 79.8 87.4 83.9
=45 The University of Manchester 79.8 88.4 80
Global Rank of UK Universities Overall score Citations per paper Academic reputation
3 University of Cambridge 93.4 92.2 94.8
6 University of Oxford 92.5 96.3 92.1
8 Imperial College London 92.5 89.6 98.3
=43 The University of Manchester 80.5 88.2 81.4
48 UCL 80.1 89.4 79.1
=75 The University of Edinburgh 77.8 87.4 78.4
102 The University of Southampton 75.3 84.4 75.2
=111 The University of Sheffield 74.2 86.5 73.4
=111 University of Bristol 74.2 86.2 72.1
=129 University of Leeds 73.4 87 70.7
Global Rank of UK Universities Overall score Citations per paper Academic reputation
2 University of Oxford 94.7 92.4 97.8
4 University of Cambridge 93.5 90.8 98.2
10 UCL 90.2 90.6 90.2
12 Imperial College London 89.6 92.2 91.5
23 King's College London 85.7 88.6 88.2
24 The University of Edinburgh 85.6 89.9 86.8
=42 The University of Manchester 80.9 88.6 82
44 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 80.8 91.7 80.1
=49 University of Glasgow 80.3 90 79.2
64 University of Bristol 78.8 89.8 76.3
Global Rank of UK Universities Overall score Citations per paper Academic reputation
2 The London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) 94.5 92.7 100
=3 University of Oxford 93.7 91.6 93.2
5 University of Cambridge 92.9 90.1 92.6
23 London Business School 83.2 81.5 88.7
28 UCL 81.5 89.9 81.4
42 The University of Warwick 79.4 87 82.6
45 The University of Manchester 78.9 89 78.3
=52 King's College London 77.9 87.6 77.4
59 The University of Edinburgh 77.5 87.3 78
=60 Imperial College London 77.3 93.3 72.8
Global Rank of UK Universities Overall score Citations per paper Academic reputation
4 University of Cambridge 96.7 95.6 97.7
5 University of Oxford 95.4 96.2 96.7
9 Imperial College London 91.7 92.4 94.3
=43 The University of Edinburgh 82.4 93.3 79.5
=57 UCL 81 91 76.7
59 The University of Manchester 80.8 90.9 78.1
=60 University of Bristol 80.7 92.4 77.7
=88 The University of Warwick 78.1 92 74.8
97 Durham University 77.7 94 74.2
=127 University of Southampton 75.5 87.8 71.4
Top UK universities, QS World University Rankings (most recent available data)
Innovation

World-leading innovation across the UK

In the past five years, the UK has consistently ranked in the top 5 countries globally for strength of innovation.

The UK ranks 4th on the 2021 Global Innovation Index, with the strength of the UK’s R&D system internationally recognised. As well as our world-leading universities, the UK is home to leading-edge research institutes and infrastructure.

The UK Government has committed £400 million to upgrade scientific infrastructure across the UK, and ensure our best scientists and researchers have access to world class labs. In June 2023, the UK government announced a further £72m of funding supporting four new infrastructure projects.

Boosting innovation is essential for future prosperity and key to being a force for good on global challenges around climate, biodiversity, prosperity and security.

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Institutions

From agri-robotics in Lincoln, to compound semiconductors in South Wales, there are centres of excellence across the UK, with wide-ranging research and innovation strengths.

Be a part of this innovation.

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Hotspot of Regional UKRI Investment

UKRI brings together world-leading talent based across the whole of the UK to collaborate and innovate.

With thousands of innovation projects across the country, there is a wide breadth of opportunity for creativity and innovation to come together.

Explore our catalogue of over 750 of the UK's publicly funded research infrastructure that are open to use and collaboration.

Find out more about UKRI

Innovation

Science and research across the UK

The UK has an outstanding research culture that supports discovery, diversity, autonomy and innovation, and offers varied and diverse careers that bring excitement and recognition.

Our diverse funding landscape includes a strong charity-led research contribution. Medical charities alone contributed £1.99 billion in 2022 towards research, and over 19,000 scientists are supported by charity funding.

In just the NHS alone, we have 100,000 doctoral students, 76,000 technicians and over 16,000 research delivery staff, representing a growing and highly skilled R&D workforce that produces world-leading research outputs and innovations.

People are at the heart of our R&D system. The UK is committed to creating a research environment that attracts, develops, and retains enough people within research and innovation to meet our ambitions to become a leader in global collaboration in science and research.

People & funding

Opportunities and funding in the UK

The UK is building a workforce to match our great R&D ambitions – that means supporting research and innovation teams of all sizes to be vibrant, impactful, ambitious and diverse.

The UK is bringing the best out of people to enable talent and ideas to flow freely between academia, business and other sectors. That is why we are investing in scientists and researchers, making the UK among the best places in the world in the world for innovators, scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs to live and work.

The Government’s R&D roadmap commits to investing further in UK research and innovation by increasing investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 and increasing public increasing public spending on R&D to £20 billion per year by 2024/25.

The UK has a comprehensive, diverse and expanding funding landscape, learn more here.

Collaboration

International collaboration

Science is a global endeavour and international collaboration on R&D sits at the heart of UK’s research and innovation excellence. In UK research you will find an internationally diverse workforce; more than a third of the UK’s academic staff are non-UK nationals.

A record level of 59% of all UK research publications in 2020 were the result of international collaborations, significantly above the OECD average. This continues to grow year on year.

The UK’s commitment to international research provides a platform through which scientists, researchers and businesses can work together to tackle significant and shared challenges in society – ranging from climate change to global health.

Be at the forefront of innovation and collaborate with world-leading talent.

UK Research and Innovation

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