Queen's University Belfast is a member of the Russell Group of 24 leading UK research-intensive universities, providing world-class education underpinned by world-class research. Founded as Queen’s College in 1845, it became a university in its own right in 1908. Today, it is an international centre of research and education rooted at the heart of Northern Ireland. The University has won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education on five occasions – for Northern Ireland's Comprehensive Cancer Services programme and for world-class achievement in green chemistry, environmental research, palaeoecology and law. Four prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Awards further recognises the University’s contribution to society. Queen’s received the award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts in 2008, was awarded the title of the UK’s Entrepreneurial University of the Year in 2009, won the Outstanding Engineering Research Team of the Year category in 2010 and received the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year Award in 2011. With more than 17,000 students and 3,500 staff, it is a dynamic and diverse institution, a magnet for inward investment, a patron of the arts and a global player in areas ranging from cancer studies to sustainability, and from pharmaceuticals to creative writing.