Research Strategy and Structure

Research Strategy

Abertay is a compact, focused University with an established reputation for working well across traditional research boundaries, as well as within new and emerging disciplines and sectors.

We are committed to high quality research that delivers real impact for society. From environmental research into sustainable businesses and food production, to using computer games as creative and critical tools to understand the behaviours and structures that drive and influence individuals in the societies in which they exist, our researchers are solving complex real-world problems to fuel innovation-led growth and sustainable development.

Society faces unprecedented socio-economic and environmental challenges, the continual emergence of sector disruptors, and the problems as well as benefits afforded by global connectivity and competition – these are truly wicked, complex challenges often requiring mixed discipline approaches.

The solutions to these challenges require the application of excellent fundamental research and creative cross- and inter-disciplinary approaches that consider the interplay amongst a mix of social, economic, environmental and technological concerns.

Our Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategy 2020-25 integrates our research into a single University-wide initiative where expertise from a range of subject areas is integrated and used to support discovery, innovation and applied research within and across traditional disciplinary boundaries. We have drawn on our industry-facing heritage and effective interdisciplinary practice, to enhance our existing expertise and internationally recognised successes; our research culture is inculcated into everything we do as a University.

Our structure promotes collaborative and interdisciplinary working, to break away from traditional academic models and address real-world challenges. Our academics and research staff focus and build excellence within diverse Research Groups, interact and innovate to build strength in our ways of working within Pooled Excellence areas, and collaborate with other discipline experts through our Challenge Spaces to deliver impact for society and the economy.

The Graduate School is central to our research community. The School grants membership to all students engaged in postgraduate study at Abertay.  Our purpose-designed forum, where researchers and postgraduates come together to work, learn, collaborate and socialise, supports a unique postgraduate community operating in a multi-disciplinary and creative environment. From projects developing novel and sustainable foods, to computer games programmes used for anti-cancer drug design, the School supports the University’s research community as a whole. In addition to providing a physical workspace, the Graduate School offers a comprehensive and integrated training and professional development programme to our research students and academics, to enhance research excellence, impact and individual employability.

School Research

Our three academic schools: School of Business, Law and Social Science, School of Applied Sciences and the School of Design and Informatics have an outstanding record of conducting world-leading and internationally excellent research. Staff collaborate across divisions and with external partners to produce research that sparks new conversations, informs government policies and impacts lives for the better. Explore each school for a more detailed overview of what we are working on.