Research Impact: Evidencing the REF

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) was introduced to assess the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Almost two thousand submissions were made in 2014 involving over fifty thousand academic staff, over one hundred and ninety research outputs, and close to seven thousand impact case studies. The results certainly demonstrated the high quality and enhanced international standing of UK research, 22% of outputs were judged world-leading and a further 50% were judged internationally excellent. The UK funding bodies will use these assessment outcomes to inform decisions on the allocation of research funding. How will the first REF assessment process inform future submissions? How can institutions benchmark outcomes from assessments and drive the quality of submissions?

For the first time there was an emphasis on impact beyond academia that was included to demonstrate the wider benefits of research. The expert panel found that there were impressive impacts found across all disciplines, with submissions of all sizes and from many diverse UK universities. Assessors concluded 44% of impacts were judged to be outstanding and a further 40% were judged to be considerable. How can universities best evidence impact for the REF in 2015 and beyond across the economy, health, the environment, culture, public policy and services?

Join us at Research Impact: Evidencing the REF to learn how to improve REF submissions and help to build evidence for ongoing impact assessment.