Elsewhere on Ulster
REF 2021 Unit of Assessment for 3. Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy.
"This Unit of Assessment represents a large and diverse range of disciplines.
Alongside a world-leading (100% 4*) research environment, I am especially proud of our achievements to translate research outcomes into meaningful impact for the benefit of wider society.
This has only been made possible by our talented and dedicated academic, research, technical and business support staff – a true team effort!"
Professor Victor Gault
Associate Dean R&I
An outstanding 88% of our research has been judged as world-leading or internationally excellent.
Our research environment was awarded an exceptional 100% 4* rating and was considered as one of the best in the UK.
These outstanding results are testimony to the efforts of hard-working colleagues engaged in both teaching and research. They build on the successes scored in previous research assessment exercises and identify Ulster as a national powerhouse for health-related research aimed at improving the lives of people living both locally and worldwide.
94.4% of our research was judged to have an outstanding or very considerable impact.
These REF results reflect the outstanding world-class research with impact that is conducted at Ulster in allied health professions, and the success of our suite of impact case studies showcasing how our research influences healthcare and improves the lives of people in our society.
82.6% of our research outputs were rated as either world-leading or internationally excellent.
Our research, returned by 150 academic staff, encompasses the disciplines of biomedical sciences, nursing, nutrition, pharmacy, optometry, health sciences and personalised medicine.
Ranked 5th in the UK for Research Power (Source: Times Higher Education)
Unit of Assessment Coordinators
School of Health Sciences
Derry~Londonderry
MF136
School of Biomedical Sciences
Coleraine
W1069
A special thank you to Professor Kader Parahoo who has since retired from Ulster University.
Without your leadership and contribution, these results would not be possible.
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Abdel-Wahab, Y Dr | Reader |
| Allsopp, P Dr | Lecturer in Human Nutrition |
| Anderson, R Professor | Professor of Vision Science |
| Atkinson, S Dr | Lecturer in Stratified Medicine (Vision) |
| Banat, I Professor | Professor of Microbial Biotechnology |
| Barr, O Professor | Professor of Nursing and Intellectual Disabilities |
| Beck, ER Dr | Lecturer in Nursing |
| Beirne, R Dr | Lecturer in Optometry |
| Berggren, PO Professor | Professor of Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology |
| Bjourson, A Professor | Professor Of Genomics |
| Black, P Dr | Lecturer |
| Blackburn, N Dr | Lecturer in Healthcare Science |
| Bleakley, C Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Boomer, C Miss | Research Fellow - Nursing Research & Practice Development |
| Breen, C Dr | Lecturer in Clinical Physiology |
| Breslin, K Dr | Lecturer in Optometry |
| Brown, D Dr | Senior Lecturer in Nursing |
| Burnett, K Professor | Professor of Pharmacy Education |
| Callan, B Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Callan, J Professor | The Norbrook Chair in Pharmaceutical Science |
| Casson, K Dr | Lecturer In Health Promotion |
| Cathcart, J Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Coates, V Professor | Professor of Nursing Practice Research |
| Cobice, D Dr | Lecturer in Bioanalytical Chemistry |
| Coleman, H Dr | Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Chemistry |
| Conway, C Dr | Scientific Assistant |
| Cook, N Professor | Associate Head of School of Nursing |
| Courtenay, A Dr | Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy |
| Cundell, J Dr | Lecturer Practitioner in Podiatry |
| Curran, C Professor | Executive Dean |
| Dolk, H Professor | Professor of Epidemiology & Health Services Research |
| Dooley, J Professor | Professor of Microbiology |
| Dornan, L Dr | Lecturer in Nursing |
| Douglas, P Mrs | Senior Lecturer/Clinical Dietetics Facilitator |
| Duddy, W Dr | Lecturer in Stratified Medicine (Bioinformatics) |
| Duguez, S Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Flatt, P Professor | Research Director- Biomedical Sciences |
| Gallagher, A Professor | Head of the Doctoral College (Coleraine/Magee) |
| Gault, V Professor | Associate Dean (Research and Impact) |
| Gibson, D Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Gill, C Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Gillen, P Dr | Reader in Nursing and Midwifery Research and Development |
| Given, J Dr | Research Fellow - EUROlinkCAT |
| Gracey, J Dr | Lecturer |
| Hannon-Fletcher, M Dr | Professor of Biomedical Science |
| Hasson, F Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Hawthorne, S Dr | Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Biosciences |
| Hill, A Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Hoey, L Dr | Lecturer in Human Nutrition |
| Hughes, C Dr | Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition |
| Hughes, C Professor | Associate Research Director - School of Nursing and School of Health Sciences |
| Irwin, N Professor | Professor |
| Irwin, R Dr | Lecturer in Genomic Medicine |
| Jack, I Mr | Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy |
| Kelly, C Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Kernohan, G Professor | Professor of Health Research |
| Kerr, D Professor | Head of School of Health Sciences |
| Kerr, M Dr | Lecturer in Food Regulatory Affairs |
| Lagan, B Dr | Lecturer In Nursing |
| Laird, E Dr | Lecturer In Nursing |
| Lees-Murdock, D Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Liddle, D Dr | Lecturer in Health & Rehabilitation Sciences |
| Little, JA Dr | Associate Research Director - School of Biomedical Sciences |
| Loane, M Dr | Senior Research Fellow |
| Logue, C Dr | Lecturer in Dietetics |
| Lowry, D Dr | Lecturer in Pharamceutical Sciences |
| Magee, P Dr | Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition |
| Marley, J Dr | Lecturer in Physiotherapy (Musculoskeletal) |
| Martin, S Professor | Professor of Occupational Therapy |
| Matchett, K Dr | Lecturer in Molecular Immunology |
| McAloon, T Dr | Lecturer in Nursing |
| McAnena, L Dr | Regulatory Research Officer |
| McCance, T Professor | The Mona Grey Professor of Nursing Research & Development |
| McCann, M Dr | Faculty Partnership Manager (Life & Health Sciences) |
| McCarron, P Professor | Head of School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences |
| McCaughan, E Professor | Professor of Cancer Care |
| McCauley, C Dr | Lecturer in Health Sciences |
| McClean, P Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| McClean, S Professor | Head of School of Biomedical Sciences |
| McClelland, J Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| McConnell, D Dr | Lecturer in Nursing |
| McCullough, S Dr | Lecturer in Optometry |
| McDonough, S Professor | Professor of Health and Rehabilitation |
| McDowell, A Dr | Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology |
| McFadden, S Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| McGarvey, H Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| McGilligan, V Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| McHale, A Professor | Professor of Medical Biotechnology |
| McIlfatrick, S Professor | Head of School and Professor of Nursing and Palliative Care |
| McKenna, D Dr | Associate Head of School of Biomedical Sciences |
| McKenna, H Professor | Professor Nursing |
| McKillop, A Professor | Associate Dean (Education) |
| McNulty, H Professor | Professor of Nutritional Science |
| McSorley, E Dr | Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition |
| Melby, V Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Mitchell, C Professor | Professor of Tissue Regeneration |
| Moffett, C Dr | Lecturer in Pharmacology and Molecular Pathology |
| Moore, K Dr | Lecturer in Nursing |
| Moore, T Professor | Professor of Personalised Medicine |
| Moorhead, A Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Moran, F Dr | Lecturer |
| Mulhern, M Dr | Lecturer in Food Science |
| Mulholland, P Dr | Lecturer in Optometry |
| Murray, E Dr | Lecturer in Stratified Medicine (Mental Health) |
| Naughton, P Dr | Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology |
| Naughton, V Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Nesbit, A Dr | Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology |
| O'Hagan, B Dr | Lecturer in Pathobiology |
| O'Harte, F Professor | Professor of Endocrinology & Metabolism |
| O'Neill, B Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Parahoo, K Professor | Research Director - Institute of Nursing and Health Research |
| Pedlow, K Dr | Lecturer in Physiotherapy |
| Pentieva, K Professor | Professor of Human Nutrition |
| Porter-Armstrong, A Dr | Senior Lecturer in Rehabilitation Sciences |
| Pourshahidi, K Dr | Lecturer in Food Science and Technology |
| Price, R Dr | Clinical Trials Manager |
| Quinn, V Miss | Scientific Assistant (C-Tric) |
| Rai, TS Dr | Lecturer in Cellular Ageing |
| Ray, S Professor | Professor of Global Nutrition (Health and Disease) |
| Reid, B Dr | Lecturer in Nursing |
| Richardson, P Mr | Lecturer Optometry Clinic Manager |
| Rorsman, P Professor | Professor of Cellular and Experimental Diabetes |
| Ryan, A Professor | Professor of Ageing and Health |
| Saunders, K Professor | Professor of Optometry and Vision Science |
| Semple, C Dr | Reader in Clinical Nursing |
| Shukla, P Dr | Lecturer in Stratified Medicine (Bioinformatics) |
| Sinclair, M Professor | Professor of Midwifery Research |
| Singh - Nee Nigam, P Dr | Senior Lecturer in Biotechnology |
| Sittlington, J Dr | Scientific Assistant |
| Slater, P Dr | Senior Lecturer in Statistics |
| Snelling, W Dr | Research Associate |
| Stinson, M Dr | Lecturer |
| Strain, S Professor | Professor of Human Nutrition |
| Taggart, L Dr | Professor of Intellectual Disability Research |
| Tambuwala, M Dr | Lecturer in Pharmacy |
| Tarasov, A Dr | Senior Lecturer in Cellular and Experimental Diabetes |
| Ternan, N Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Thomas, K Mr | Scientific Assistant |
| Thompson, P Dr | Senior Lecturer |
| Titterington, J Dr | Lecturer in Speech & Language Therapy (Paediatrics) |
| Tully, M Professor | Professor of Public Health |
| Walsh, C Professor | Professor of Genetics |
| Ward, M Professor | Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics |
| Watterson, S Dr | Lecturer in Computational Biology (Hypertension) |
| Webba Da Silva, M Dr | Reader of Pharmaceutical Chemistry |
| White, B Mrs | Lecturer in Clinical & Pharmacy Practice |
| Willoughby, C Professor | Professor of Ophthalmology |
| Xu, G Professor | Professor of Epigenetics |
| Yeates, A Dr | Lecturer In Biomedical Sciences |
| Zhang, SD Dr | Senior Lecturer |
"We are delighted with these REF results which confirm our ranking as one of the leading Centres of international excellence for research in the UK for Allied Health Professions. These outstanding results are testimony to the sustained vitality of Ulster’s world class research and builds significantly on the notable successes already achieved in REF2014, including a 32% growth in the number of outstanding researchers."
Professor Ciara Hughes & Professor Peter Flatt
Enhancing the knowledge, expertise and engaged scholarship of nursing, midwifery, public health and allied health professions research.
Study of the biological mechanisms associated with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, blindness and various diseases associated with the ageing population.
© Copyright Ulster University 2025.
Ulster University is registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (NIC100166).
