Rankings and Reputation - Lancaster University

The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026

Over 90% of our research is world-leading and internationally excellent
Lancaster’s Mathematics and Statistics department was ranked first out of 157 UK universities for research impact, with 100% of research being rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
Lancaster Environment Centre was ranked fifth in the UK overall, fifth for research outputs, sixth for research impact and fourth for research environment, when ranked according to research power.
95% of the Engineering department’s research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
In the Physics department, 98% of research outputs were rated world-leading or internationally excellent. Physics was ranked 14th in the UK for its research outputs and for the quality of its research environment.
The School of Computing and Communications was ranked 13th in the UK for research environment, 14th for research power, with 94% of research being rated world-leading or internationally excellent
85% of research in Chemistry was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, while 88% of the department’s research environment was rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
In Psychology, 87% of research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, while 67% of research impact was rated outstanding.

We are home to one of the world’s largest centres for environmental research
We share our facilities with the Environment Agency
We are home to one of the government’s top environmental research laboratories, run by the Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Home to Hazelrigg Weather Station, the UK Meteorological Office’s Climatological Station Number 7236, making daily weather observations since 1966
Our chemistry laboratories have amongst the best analytical facilities in the world for environmental organic chemistry research
Home to the noble gas laboratory, the only lab in the UK with magnetic sector instrumentation focused specifically on environmental applications of noble gases
We have a long term relationship with Jari forestry who own large sections of the Amazon rainforest, giving us access to the tropical forests of South America
Some of our renowned physicists are researchers at CERN, Geneva, probing the fundamental structure of the universe
We are members of the Athena SWAN Charter, a scheme which recognises and celebrates good employment practice for women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in higher education and research
Our Psychology Department is home to one of the largest human developmental centres in the UK