About us

As one of the largest and most successful centres for research and education in the UK, we benefit from extensive international and local partnerships that encourage innovative and progressive collaboration.

Educate to inspire and improve

Our thriving student community consists of more than 5,000 students who are supported by over 500 leading scientists and educators. We deliver courses for talented aspiring clinicians and health professionals in partnership with our NHS partners, including the world-renowned Guy’s, King’s College and St Thomas’ Hospitals.

Research to inform and innovate

Research is core to what we do and how we educate. We are strategically aligned to King's Health Partners, bringing together academics and clinicians who are committed to ensuring efficient translation and adoption of research innovation into clinical practice.

The Faculty’s mission is to deliver world leading education and research in the biomedical and health sciences. Our international reputation is well established: the QS World University Rankings ranked us 11th in the world for Life Sciences & Medicine, 26th in the world for Anatomy and Physiology and 31st in the world for Pharmacy and Pharmacology (QS World Rankings 2025).

REF2021

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the current framework exercise, developed by the UK higher education funding bodies, to provide accountability for public investment in research and to inform the selective allocation of these funds.

The Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine’s REF2021 return included 482 members of staff (98 more staff than our REF2014 submission) against 6 Unit of Assessments (UoAs).

Overall 4*/3* percentages:

UoA1

94%

UoA2

94%

UoA3

95%

UoA5

83%

UoA12

95%

UoA24

96%

In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) submission:

93 per cent of our research overall was deemed either ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*)
98 per cent of our research environment was deemed either 4* or 3*
94 per cent of our research impact was deemed either 4* or 3*
92 per cent of our research outputs were deemed either 4* or 3 *