Research in Belfast
Science Explorer records 90 research institutions in Belfast, United Kingdom. The highest-ranked on research quality in 2022–2025 are Queen's University Belfast, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and Agri Food and Biosciences Institute.
- Research institutions
- 90 11 of them ranked worldwide
- Research works
- 67k ▲ 11% vs 2013–17
- Top-10% rate, 2022–2025
- 21.6% record average 16.5%
A city carries no overall standing here. The composite score is built for institutions and countries, the units its floors and field normalisation were designed around. An empty rank on this page is a statement about the measure, not about the place.
Which research institutions are in Belfast?
| # | Institution | Works | Against the largest here | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Queen's University BelfastUniversity | 49,713 | #438 | |
| 2 | Royal Victoria HospitalHospital / health system | 2,643 | #14,571 | |
| 3 | Belfast City HospitalHospital / health system | 2,024 | #19,778 | |
| 4 | Belfast Health and Social Care TrustHospital / health system | 1,439 | #10,093 | |
| 5 | Institute for Conflict ResearchNonprofit | 1,284 | #15,377 | |
| 6 | Agri Food and Biosciences InstituteResearch facility | 1,102 | #10,295 | |
| 7 | Belfast City CouncilGovernment institution | 822 | #23,772 all time | |
| 8 | Education AuthorityGovernment institution | 816 | #27,135 | |
| 9 | Government of Northern IrelandGovernment institution | 783 | #22,812 all time | |
| 10 | Musgrave Park HospitalHospital / health system | 674 | #22,849 all time | |
| 11 | Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick ChildrenHospital / health system | 672 | #25,667 | |
| 12 | St Mary's University CollegeUniversity | 545 | #21,641 all time | |
| 13 | Public Health AgencyInstitution | 495 | #19,347 | |
| 14 | Department of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentGovernment institution | 473 | #20,753 all time | |
| 15 | Stranmillis University CollegeUniversity | 404 | #14,143 all time | |
| 16 | Mater HospitalHospital / health system | 404 | #27,426 all time | |
| 17 | Marie Curie HospiceHospital / health system | 350 | #26,385 | |
| 18 | Department of the EnvironmentGovernment institution | 324 | #21,235 | |
| 19 | The Northern Ireland Cancer CentreHospital / health system | 230 | #22,358 all time | |
| 20 | Department for InfrastructureGovernment institution | 154 | #25,701 all time | |
| 21 | Royal Jubilee Maternity ServicesHospital / health system | 132 | #41,291 all time | |
| 22 | Union Theological CollegeUniversity | 109 | not ranked | |
| 23 | CatalystNonprofit | 87 | not ranked | |
| 24 | Northern Ireland OfficeGovernment institution | 84 | not ranked | |
| 25 | Belfast Metropolitan CollegeUniversity | 74 | not ranked | |
| 26 | Metropolitan Arts CentreArchive | 68 | not ranked | |
| 27 | Northern Ireland Civil ServiceGovernment institution | 62 | not ranked | |
| 28 | Action CancerNonprofit | 55 | not ranked | |
| 29 | Northern Ireland HospiceHospital / health system | 55 | not ranked | |
| 30 | Community Relations CouncilInstitution | 42 | not ranked | |
| 31 | Department of FinanceGovernment institution | 41 | not ranked | |
| 32 | De Borda InstituteInstitution | 37 | not ranked | |
| 33 | Bombardier (United Kingdom)Company | 37 | not ranked | |
| 34 | Proteus (United Kingdom)Company | 35 | not ranked | |
| 35 | Northern Ireland Statistics and Research AgencyGovernment institution | 34 | not ranked | |
| 36 | Exploristics (United Kingdom)Company | 27 | not ranked | |
| 37 | Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care TrustInstitution | 27 | not ranked | |
| 38 | Gridpoint solutions (United Kingdom)Company | 26 | not ranked | |
| 39 | Department for Employment and LearningGovernment institution | 24 | not ranked | |
| 40 | Police Service of Northern IrelandGovernment institution | 23 | not ranked | |
| 41 | Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary ActionNonprofit | 19 | not ranked | |
| 42 | Committee on the Administration of JusticeNonprofit | 18 | not ranked | |
| 43 | Momentum (United Kingdom)Company | 18 | not ranked | |
| 44 | Campbell CollegeUniversity | 17 | not ranked | |
| 45 | Linen Hall LibraryArchive | 15 | not ranked | |
| 46 | East Belfast Community Development AgencyGovernment institution | 13 | not ranked | |
| 47 | Celerion (United Kingdom)Company | 12 | not ranked | |
| 48 | Alere (United Kingdom)Company | 11 | not ranked | |
| 49 | Analytics Engines (United Kingdom)Company | 10 | not ranked | |
| 50 | Northern Ireland Advanced Composites and Engineering CentreInstitution | 9 | not ranked | |
| 51 | Odyssey TrustCompany | 9 | not ranked | |
| 52 | BioKinetic Europe (United Kingdom)Company | 8 | not ranked | |
| 53 | Department of Health Social Services and Public SafetyGovernment institution | 8 | not ranked | |
| 54 | Schrader International (United Kingdom)Company | 7 | not ranked | |
| 55 | Northern Ireland Tourist BoardGovernment institution | 7 | not ranked | |
| 56 | Northern Ireland Housing ExecutiveGovernment institution | 7 | not ranked | |
| 57 | Strategic Investment BoardGovernment institution | 7 | not ranked | |
| 58 | Consarc Design Group (United Kingdom)Company | 5 | not ranked | |
| 59 | Translink (United Kingdom)Company | 5 | not ranked | |
| 60 | Northern Ireland Chest Heart and StrokeNonprofit | 5 | not ranked |
By fractional works over the whole record; world rank on research quality in 2022–2025. Bars are scaled to the largest institution in this city, not to anything off the page.
How concentrated the city is
The same institutions as shares of everything the list accounts for. A city that is one university and a city that is twelve read alike as a table and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
What is Belfast strongest at in research?
Relative to its size, research in Belfast is most concentrated in Pharmaceutical Science, Public Administration and Small Animals (6.3× the world share in Pharmaceutical Science).
- Pharmaceutical ScienceSubfield · 57.5 works6.3×
- Public AdministrationSubfield · 21.3 works4.6×
- Small AnimalsSubfield · 41.7 works4.0×
- VeterinaryField · 42.5 works3.7×
- Geriatrics and GerontologySubfield · 32.5 works3.5×
- HistorySubfield · 90.3 works3.3×
Location quotient against the world baseline. Inside a single field a city is a meaningful unit, which is why this is where a city is measured at all.
Which keywords describe research in Belfast?
By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Nationalism, Conflict, Identity, Mental Health, Transition, Public Health and Globalization.
- Family Perspectives
- Health Care Costs
- Palliative Care
- Democracy
- Northern Ireland
- Peace Process
- Mortality
- Primary Care
- Resilience
- Transition
- Healthcare
- Ethnicity
- Oxidative Stress
- Treatment
- Quality of Life
- Nationalism
- Deep Learning
- Inflammation
- Mental Health
- Globalization
- Epidemiology
- Climate Change
- Public Health
- Machine Learning
- Identity
- Human Rights
- Sustainability
- Environmental Impact
- Risk Factors
- Conflict
- Ethical Considerations
- Depression
- History
- Reconciliation
- Paramilitarism
- Consociationalism
- Colonialism
- Health Disparities
- End-of-Life
- Advance Care Planning
Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this city's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.
All 40 words, with their numbers
- Epidemiology459▲ 1.36×133 topics
- Globalization246▲ 1.47×119 topics
- Climate Change227◆ 0.99×100 topics
- Mental Health227▲ 1.82×44 topics
- Public Health220▲ 1.78×64 topics
- Inflammation208▲ 1.17×83 topics
- Machine Learning204▼ 0.73×82 topics
- Deep Learning194▼ 0.67×81 topics
- Identity186▲ 3.0×57 topics
- Nationalism173▲ 4.4×25 topics
- Human Rights162▲ 1.85×60 topics
- Quality of Life159▲ 1.29×58 topics
- Sustainability151▼ 0.73×97 topics
- Treatment141▲ 1.37×50 topics
- Environmental Impact138◆ 0.95×53 topics
- Oxidative Stress129◆ 0.93×59 topics
- Risk Factors128▲ 1.36×37 topics
- Ethnicity127▲ 4.0×18 topics
- Conflict118▲ 8.5×11 topics
- Healthcare117▲ 1.22×31 topics
- Ethical Considerations109▲ 3.8×18 topics
- Transition106▲ 13×6 topics
- Depression103▲ 1.37×24 topics
- Resilience98▲ 2.4×18 topics
- History98▲ 1.64×46 topics
- Primary Care97▲ 3.0×15 topics
- Reconciliation93▲ 65×2 topics
- Mortality92▲ 1.88×13 topics
- Paramilitarism92▲ 53×2 topics
- Peace Process92▲ 53×2 topics
- Consociationalism91▲ 88×1 topic
- Northern Ireland91▲ 88×1 topic
- Colonialism78▲ 1.93×38 topics
- Democracy77▲ 2.5×21 topics
- Health Disparities72▲ 3.2×9 topics
- Palliative Care58▲ 4.3×5 topics
- End-of-Life55▲ 7.1×3 topics
- Health Care Costs52▲ 7.6×2 topics
- Advance Care Planning49▲ 9.7×1 topic
- Family Perspectives49▲ 9.7×1 topic
What research is done in Belfast?
Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.
- 1 Irish and British StudiesSociology and Political Science 91 works
- 2 Palliative Care and End-of-Life IssuesPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health 49 works
- 3 Retinal Diseases and TreatmentsOphthalmology 28 works
- 4 Advancements in Transdermal Drug DeliveryPharmaceutical Science 28 works
- 5 Cystic Fibrosis Research AdvancesPulmonary and Respiratory Medicine 27 works
- 6 Antenna Design and AnalysisAerospace Engineering 27 works
- 7 Grief, Bereavement, and Mental HealthClinical Psychology 27 works
- 8 Innovations in Medical EducationPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health 26 works
- 9 Animal Behavior and Welfare StudiesSmall Animals 25 works
- 10 Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental ImpactEcology 22 works
Research output over time
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more.