The University of the West of England in Bristol (UWE Bristol) is a public research university, with around 30,000 students and 3,500 staff. It is the largest provider of Higher Education in the South West of England and makes a major contribution to the social and economic development of Bristol and the surrounding region. The University offers more than 600 courses at undergraduate, postgraduate, professional and short course levels. It enjoys an excellent reputation for teaching, as evidenced by its Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework and its strong performance in league tables (e.g. 11th of all UK universities for overall student satisfaction in the National Student Survey and 28th out of 121 institutions in the Guardian League Table).
With regard to research, UWE Bristol combines outstanding research with real world impact. Over 320 staff members were submitted to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), one of the largest submissions in the Alliance University mission group. Nearly two-thirds of the research conducted at UWE Bristol was rated internationally excellent or world-leading. On ‘research power’ – quality combined with the number of staff engaged in research – UWE Bristol was ranked just outside of the top 50 universities nationally at 54th. Moreover, through the breadth and quality of its teaching and research, and a focus on partnerships, UWE Bristol is at the centre of numerous dynamic and impactful collaborations. The university is actively engaged with over 4,000 business and community organisations. Such partnerships bring together knowledge, experience, networks and facilities, to deliver the very best student experience and excellent research that generates solutions to some of the most pressing issues of our times.
Research is carried out within four Faculties, one of which is the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences. It comprises 544 members of academic staff. One of its most dynamic research groups is the Social Sciences Research Group. This multidisciplinary research group is dedicated to understanding the complex social world that we live in. Its members pursue projects as part of various Research Themes, which notably include ‘Crime, Risk and Society’ and ‘Global Security and Human Rights’. As part of the former theme, researchers are developing research, theory and analysis to help understand a range of issues related to crime and risk in society, as well as assessing how the criminal justice system responds to such issues, the evidence basis for such responses and possible alternatives. As for the latter theme, ‘global security and human rights’ are understood in a wide sense, drawing on work on global security, human security, human development and human rights. Key cross-cutting dimensions are around gender, migration, health, governance, security, human rights, exclusion, vulnerability and resilience.