REF 2014 latest news

Units of assessment and recruitment of expert panels

More about panel roles, recruitment and structure.

Recruitment of sub-panel chairs

Further particulars and how to apply.

Panel member nomination form

An online form will be available here shortly.

Research Excellence Framework

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the new system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). It will replace the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and will be completed in 2014. The REF will be undertaken by the four UK higher education funding bodies. The exercise will be managed by the REF team based at HEFCE and overseen by the REF Steering Group, consisting of representatives of the four funding bodies.

The REF will:

inform the selective allocation of research funding to HEIs
provide benchmarking information and establish reputational yardsticks
provide accountability for public investment in research and demonstrate its benefits.

Through the REF, the UK funding bodies aim to develop and sustain a dynamic and internationally competitive research sector that makes a major contribution to economic prosperity, national wellbeing and the expansion and dissemination of knowledge.

Key features

The REF will be a process of expert review, informed by indicators where appropriate. Expert sub-panels for each of 36 units of assessment (UOAs) will carry out the assessment, working under the guidance of four broad main panels. Institutions will be invited to make submissions to each UOA, to be assessed in terms of:

The quality of research outputs
This will continue to be the primary factor in the assessment. The quality of research outputs will be assessed by the expert panels against international standards of excellence. We expect that some of the panels will make use of citation information to inform their review of outputs.
The wider impact of research
We are currently running a pilot exercise to develop and test the method for assessing this.
The vitality of the research environment

The outcomes of the overall assessment will be fine-grained enough to identify excellence wherever this may be found. Panels will produce a sub-profile for each element (outputs, impact and environment), to be combined into an overall excellence profile. The profiles will show the proportion of submitted work at each point on a five-point scale (1* to 4* plus Unclassified).

Development and implementation

During 2009 we consulted on proposals for the new framework.

In March 2010 we published a summary of responses and announced the initial decisions and next steps in the design and implementation of the framework.

We are currently progressing with the impact pilot exercise to test and develop the approach to assessing the impact of research. The method for assessing impact and the weightings between the three elements will be determined after the current impact pilot exercise has concluded in autumn 2010.

We have published details about the units of assessment and recruitment of expert panels and are now establishing the expert panels. To this end:

Chairs Designate for the four REF main panels have been appointed
applications are invited for the roles of sub-panel chairs
we are seeking nominations for panel members (a nomination form will be available from next week).

An equality and diversity expert group (Adobe PDF) has been established to advise on ways to strengthen the equalities and diversity measures in the REF.

Detailed guidance on submissions and assessment criteria will be published during 2011. Institutions will be invited to make submissions during 2013 and the assessment will take place during 2014.

More on the timetable for the REF (Adobe PDF)

Further information

Last updated 23 July 2010