Our reputation

Our School specialises in philosophy, theology and religious studies, and the history and philosophy of science.

Through our interdisciplinary research and teaching, we are proud to have created a stimulating environment for taught and research students, visiting professors and the external organisations with which we collaborate. The School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science is part of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, and this supports our interdisciplinary work with other Schools across the University and beyond. This can be anything from cross-disciplinary research, hosting interdisciplinary conferences, and co-delivering taught modules.

Our students come from around the world, and we're proud of the diverse and lively environment that this creates. 

Teaching staff in the School are highly respected in their fields and their expertise means that we can offer a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, diverse module choice and extensive research supervision across numerous topics.

Research events and activities, such as the collections in the Museum of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine and the Community Religions Project, highlight the passion, expertise and commitment of our staff and students to real-life issues. In turn, these create exciting opportunities for students across the School to get involved with.

Academic excellence

• Top 50 in the world for Philosophy, QS World Rankings by Subject 2025
• 11^th in the UK for Religious Studies and Theology, Guardian University league tables 2025
• Joint 6^th overall in the UK and 33^rd in the world in the leading reputational survey in Philosophy in The Philosophical Gourmet Report.

University of Leeds rankings

• 86^th in the world, QS World University Rankings 2026 
• 6^th most targeted by employers, High Fliers 2025 Report 
• 21^st in the UK, Complete University Guide 
• Top 10 UK student city, Best Student Cities 2025 
• We are a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities 

Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021

Every six years, the UK’s four higher education funding bodies undertake an exercise to measure the quality of research undertaken by UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The funding bodies use the outcomes to inform the allocation of their research funding to HEIs. The Research Excellence Framework was the framework used in 2021.

Unit of assessment: Theology and Religious Studies (TRS) and Philosophy

• 86% of the research outputs submitted to Theology and Religious Studies (TRS) and 77% of those submitted to Philosophy were ranked as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.