A selection of electron-impact excitation R -matrix calculations completed by the collision group at Queens University Belfast are discussed. The atomic data calculated are the foundation of applications in a variety of fields, a sample of which are presented here. They include an analysis of Fe ii emission in active galactic nuclei, the possible presence of Pt and Au in the spectra of binary neutron star mergers and the viability of W ions as a diagnostic tool in magnetically confined tokamak plasmas. The radiative atomic data were computed using the most recent version of the fully relativistic structure code grasp0 and the collision cross sections were evaluated using the recently developed pdarc R -matrix package. Graphic abstract