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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.

UNC Research Facts and Rankings

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

11th top-ranked
university in the United States for federal research, totaling $827M annually

$1.36 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, 2021

2 Nobel Laureates
// Royal Swedish Academy of Science

21st most cited university in the world
// CSIC Webmetrics, 2023

RESEARCH COLLABORATION

// UNC RAMSeS, 2023

59% in multi-investigator projects

46% in multi-department projects

31% in multi-school projects

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH

More than 800 postdoctoral fellows
// UNC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, 2021

21st in the nation for the total number of postdoctoral fellows
//  Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2021

FEDERAL INVESTMENT

9th in the US for federally funded health sciences research
// HERD Survey, 2022

The National Institutes of Health is UNC’s largest federal funder, awarding more than $535M in 2023
// UNC RAMSeS, 2023

2nd in the nation for federally funded social and behavioral science research and development
// COSSA, 2023

3rd among the nation’s Schools of Public Health for NIH funding
// BRIMR, 22

INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS

18th in the US for privately sponsored clinical trials
// HERD Survey, 2022

$46 million in annual clinical trials research
// HERD Survey, 2022

$59 million in annual R&D from private industry sponsors
// UNC RAMSeS, 2023

NATIONAL RANKINGS AND RESEARCH EXPENDITURES BY FIELD

// HERD Survey, 2022

10th life sciences research, $1.02B

4th social sciences research, $77M

7th health sciences research, $798M

1st psychology research, $49M

1st sociology, demography & population studies research, $49M

4th social work research, $19M