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Multiple images of researchers working in the field. The first image shows two student researchers, looking at a laptop by a stream in their high boots and weighters. The second image is a close up shot of a student researcher looking at creatures in glass containers. The third image shows two professors, wearing safety glasses, about to pour liquid nitrogen. The fourth image shows a researcher in the lab. The fifth image shows a group of researchers looking at foliage in plastic bags. The sixth image shows two researchers taking images for the library archive, one is standing on a stool while the other holds books open.
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UNC Research Facts and Rankings

Research at UNC has quadrupled over the past 15 years, firmly establishing Carolina as one of America’s top-ranked research universities.

5th top-ranked
university in the United States for federal research, totaling $701M annually

$1.14 Billion
UNC conducts more than one billion dollars of sponsored research from all sources annually, making it the 12th largest US research university in research volume and annual expenditures

62%
UNC-Chapel Hill performs more than half of all UNC system research

EXCEPTIONALISM

More than 150 faculty at UNC are members of the National Academies & prestigious learned societies
// UNC Research, 2019

2 Nobel Laureates
// Royal Swedish Academy of Science

21st most cited university in the world
// CWUR, 2018-19

RESEARCH COLLABORATION

// UNC RAMSeS, 2018

$586 million in multi-investigator projects

$467 million in multi-department projects

$330 million in multi-school projects

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH

Nearly 1,250 postdoctoral fellows
// UNC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, 2018

17th in the nation for the number of postdoctoral fellows in science and health
//  Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2017

FEDERAL INVESTMENT

4th in the US for federally funded health sciences research
// HERD Survey, 2018

The National Institutes of Health is UNC’s largest federal funder, awarding more than $473M in 2019 for more than 900 projects
// UNC RAMSeS, 2019

1st in the nation for federally funded social and behavioral science research and development
// COSSA, 2019

3rd among the nation’s Schools of Public Health for NIH funding
// NIH RePORTER, 2018

INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS

20th in the US for privately sponsored clinical trials
// HERD Survey, 2018

$35 million in annual clinical trials research
// HERD Survey, 2018

$66 million in annual R&D from private industry sponsors
// UNC RAMSeS, 2019

NATIONAL RANKINGS AND RESEARCH EXPENDITURES BY FIELD

// HERD Survey, 2018

11th life sciences research, $826M

3rd social sciences research, $115M

6th health sciences research, $669M

1st psychology research, $48M