Do University Rankings Really Tell Us Anything? | Stats + Stories Episode 255

University rankings are big business with highly ranked universities leveraging their ranking and marketing to prospective students, employees and funders. But the process of generating those rankings may not always be so sound that's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guests Elizabeth Gadd and Adrian Barnett. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Gadd is a Research Policy Manager at Loughborough University. She chairs the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) Research Evaluation Working Group and champions the ARMA Research Evaluation SIG. She founded the LIS-Bibliometrics Forum and The Bibliomagician Blog and was the recipient of the 2020 INORMS Award for Excellence in Research Management and Leadership. Adrian Barnett is a professor of statistics who has worked for over 27 years in health and medical research. He is passionate about using the best available evidence in national health and science policy. He is particularly interested in how we generate high quality scientific evidence that is of most value to the public and politicians, and how this evidence gets translated into policy and practice. He writes about statistical issues at Median Watch.