Manchester European Research Institute
The Manchester European Research Institute (MERI) , established in 2003, aims at sustaining and enhancing research potential in areas focussing on European issues or involving Europe's relationship with the rest of the world, especially in the cultural, economic, legal, literary, political and social fields. The Institute's Director is Professor Clive Archer, and the Deputy Director is Professor David Corkill.
RAE 2008
MERI RAE Success
The Manchester European Research Institute's two submissions for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise have shown the strengths
of the Institute.
A Big Hitter
European Studies is now ranked 7th in the UK out of 27 in a table of strength and breadth of research. MERI submitted 34 staff -
the fourth largest in UK European Studies- but still raised standards considerably, such that 70% of research was judged to be of
an international standard. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Brooks, considered this to be 'a very strong result; taking into
account quality and depth, we are hopeful of
significant funding as a result.'
A Gem
The submission by the European Philosophy Group showed a result in which 95% of the research output was evaluated by philosophy
peers as being of an international standard and above, and includes activity deemed 'world leading' by the assessors. This is a
substantial improvement on the 2001 result and Professor John Brooks, Vice-Chancellor of MMU, described it as an 'absolutely
delightful outcome, particularly for young staff'.
A Move Up
The Director of MERI, Professor Clive Archer said of MERI's results: ' We have now moved up from having research at the national
level in 2001 to having an overwhelming part of our research recognised as being at the international level and above. I would
like to thank our researchers for all their diligence and hard work.'
MERI submitted 40 researchers (38.4 full-time equivalents) to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, drawn from five departments, Economics, History and Economic History, Languages, Politics & Philosophy and the School of Law. Submissions were made to European Studies (UoA 50) and to Philosophy (UoA 60).’
Research Centres
MERI has six research centres:
British Political and Labour History Unit (BPLHU)
Centre for European Integration (CEI)
Centre for European Literatures and Cultures (CELC)
European Philosophy Group (EPG)
Institute for Global Studies (IGS - MERI group)
Manchester Centre for Regional History (MCRH)
Aims
MERI’s aims are:
- To enhance research excellence by collecting into one new research institute, researchers reflecting diverse expertise, interests and contacts that either focus on European issues or involve Europe’s relationship with the wider world, especially in the cultural, social, political and economic fields.
- To encourage inter- and multi-disciplinary research in research units, especially those based in the Faculty of Humanities, Law, and Social Science and which mainly span Economics, Economic History, European Languages, History, International Relations, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology.
- To help attract outside funding for this research.
- To encourage postgraduate researchers in the above disciplines.
- To assist non-research active colleagues to undertake quality research work.
- To help the building of links and co-operative research with other universities, colleges and institutes and with practitioners in the public and private sectors.
- To raise the research profile outside the University of European research at MMU by supporting the dissemination of this work.
Advisory Board
Reflecting MERI’s increased external profile, an Advisory Board was formed in 2007. This included members with some connection to MERI but who also have experience of other research or non-academic organizations and who may offer sound advice on strategy and on funding. The Board consists of:Mohammed Amin (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, London and Manchester)
Professor Keith Ansell-Pearson (Philosophy, University of Warwick),
Judge George Arestis (European Court of Justice),
Alyson Bailes (Former Director, Stockholm Peace Research Institute)
David Galloway (Council of Ministers, European Union)
Professor Hans-Helmut Gander (Philosophy, Freiburg University)
Frank O’Gorman (formerly Professor of History at Manchester University)
Linda Pariser (CornerHouse Cinema, Manchester)
Professor Michael Rose (University of Manchester)
Gary Titley (Member of the European Parliament).