REF 2021

The REF is a sector wide assessment exercise of publicly funded research in the UK. It was last held in 2014, when UK institutions were invited to submit outputs, impact case studies and evidence about the quality of their research environment for assessment. Panels of peer reviewers assessed the institutional submissions in research areas, or units of assessment. The outcome was a quality profile for each unit of assessment which rated the quality of outputs, impacts and the research environment as world leading (4*), internationally excellent (3*), recognised internationally (2*) or recognised nationally (1*). For the general institutional quality profile, the elements of assessment were weighted as follows: publications 65%, impact 20% and research environment 15%.

The REF is the latest iteration of research assessment exercises held by the UK government since the 1980s, each 6 years or so apart from the next. It has always been a selective exercise, in which institutions were invited to submit their best (not all) of their research. It is a measure of research quality as well as research intensity, with research intensive institutions submitting the majority of their eligible staff and others submitting smaller groups of researchers. In the 2014 exercise the largest submission came from University College London which submitted 2,565.6 FTE of their staff (more than 90%), and the smallest came from St Mary’s University College, a teacher training and liberal arts institution which submitted 3 FTE (around 6%). Our own submission rate in 2014 was just over 71%; we submitted 597.2 FTE.

The REF outcome has become an internationally recognised standard of research quality for UK institutions, and feeds into many institutional ranking and benchmarking exercises. It therefore has great reputational value to UK institutions.

The REF results also feed into the formula used by the funding councils to calculate the annual  research block grant or Research Excellence Grant (REG). 

About two thirds of the REG is calculated through a formula which multiplies the weighted percentage of 4* research and the percentage of 3* research achieved in the REF by each unit of assessment with the number of staff submitted to work out our institutional share of the resource the Scottish Funding Council identifies for distribution each year. The remaining third of the REG calculated on the basis of our share of the sectoral total research income in Scotland over the last three years.

Our REG is currently around £20m a year and is distributed through the school budgets in accordance with numbers of staff submitted and REF quality profiles achieved. 

For each previous research assessment exercise, the rules changed slightly which makes the comparison of results tricky.  Between REF 2014 and REF 2021, the rules changed significantly so that direct comparisons between the results is not possible.

Main differences:

• Inclusive Submissions:  REF2021 provided the option of either ‘inclusive’ submissions (i.e. all REF eligible staff are submitted). Or ‘selective’ submissions (i.e. institutions define what ‘research active’ is within their own context and submit all research active staff)
• Each researcher had to be submitted with at least one and at most 5 outputs; an average of 2.5 outputs per submitted FTE applied
• Impact received a higher weighting (25% rather than 20%)
• Interdisciplinary outputs were assessed by slightly different criteria

The Institutional Code of Practice explains how we prepared our REF submissions, and how we will manage the data generated during our REF preparations.

The funding bodies have put in place a formal process for individuals to raise complaints where the code of practice which governs the institutional REF preparations has not been applied properly by the submitting institution.  Further information is available here.

The following colleagues were appointed as panel members for REF2021:

    Professor Marion Campbell, Unit of Assessment 2 Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care
    Professor Euan Phimister, Unit of Assessment 6 Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science
    Professor Xavier Lambin, Unit of Assessment 7 Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences
    Professor Marian Wiercigroch, Unit of Assessment 12 Engineering
    Professor Roderick Paisley, Unit of Assessment 18 Law
    Professor Bernadette Hayes, Unit of Assessment 21 Sociology
    Professor Alison Brown, Unit of Assessment 22 Anthropology and Development Studies
    Professor Beth Lord, Unit of Assessment 30 Philosophy (Interdisciplinarity Champion)
    Professor Tom Greggs, Unit of Assessment 33 Theology and Religious Studies

The University’s REF 2021 return included 729 eligible staff across 22 Units of Assessment; together submitting 1,718 different outputs, 70 impact case studies and research environment descriptions for 22 Units of Assessment and for the institution.

Some notable achievements in REF 2021 include:

• 5th in Scotland for Research power
• 1st in the UK for Theology and Religious Studies
• 1st in Scotland and 8th in the UK for Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care
• Top quartile for research Power in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences

The full results from REF 2021 can be accessed here or at REF2021 Results and submissions