Four ARU researchers ranked among best in the world

From left: Professor Viren Swami, Professor Stephen Bustin, Professor Anna Nekaris and Professor Nick Drydakis

Four researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) have been ranked in the top five in the world in their respective fields, by a renowned academic index.

The ScholarGPS rankings have placed Professor Nick Drydakis, Professor Stephen Bustin, Professor Viren Swami and Professor Anna Nekaris in the global top five across their areas of research.

Professor Drydakis is ranked number five in the world in the field of sexual orientation research. Professor Drydakis is director of ARU’s Centre for Inclusive Societies and Economies, and some of his foremost work has focused on discrimination against minority groups in the labour market. Professor Drydakis is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Economic Exploitation and Inequality.

Professor Nekaris is a conservation biologist who has spent more than 30 years working in the tropics, particularly Southeast Asia, with a focus on conservation, nocturnal mammal ecology and empowering the human communities that live alongside them. Professor Nekaris, a world-leading expert on slow lorises, is ranked fourth in the world for research into endangered species.

According to the ScholarGPS rankings, Professor Bustin is the world’s number one expert in polymerase chain reaction, a laboratory technique that rapidly copies billions of specific DNA segments from a tiny sample, creating enough material for detailed analysis in a very short space of time.

Professor Bustin’s research focuses on translating molecular techniques into practical, robust and reliable tools for clinical and diagnostic use, such as rapid testing for infectious diseases such as Covid-19.

Viren Swami, Professor of Psychology at ARU, is ranked second in the world in the field of body image. Professor Swami is a prominent science communicator and author, with extensive experience in television, radio, and digital and print media work, and focuses his research on the psychology of body image and the benefits of spending time in nature.

ScholarGPS celebrates academic researchers for their exceptional performance in various disciplines, using algorithms to identify and rank over 30 million scholars who are affiliated with over 120,000 institutions worldwide.