UNC Research Facts and Rankings
Research at UNC has doubled over the past 12 years, firmly establishing Carolina as one of America’s top-ranked research universities.
Download UNC Research Stats PDF
11th top-ranked
university in the United States for federal research, totaling $907M annually
$1.55 billion
UNC conducts more than one billion dollars of sponsored research from all sources annually, making it the 9th 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, 2024
2 Nobel Laureates
// Royal Swedish Academy of Science
21st most cited university in the world
// CSIC Webmetrics, 2023
Research Collaboration
// UNC RAMSeS, 2024
63% in multi-investigator projects
51% in multi-department projects
35% in multi-school projects
Postdoctoral Research
More than 950 postdoctoral fellows
// UNC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, 2024
23rd in the nation for the total number of postdoctoral fellows
// Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2022
Federal Investment
9th in the US for federally funded health sciences research
// HERD Survey, 2023
The National Institutes of Health is UNC’s largest federal funder, awarding more than $592M in 2024
// UNC RAMSeS, 2024
2nd in the nation for federally funded social and behavioral science research and development
// COSSA, 2023
4th among the nation’s Schools of Public Health for NIH funding
// BRIMR, 23
Industry Partnerships
33rd in the US for privately sponsored clinical trials
// HERD Survey, 2023
$55 million in annual clinical trials research
// HERD Survey, 2023
$73 million in annual R&D from private industry sponsors
// UNC RAMSeS, 2024
National Rankings and Research Expenditures by Field
// HERD Survey, 2024
3rd social sciences research, $96M
5th health sciences research, $911M
1st psychology research, $57M
1st sociology, demography & population studies research, $69M
4th social work research, $19M