A beginners guide What is the REF Successor to the Research Assessment Exercise RAE held in 2008 2001 Determines distribution of QR funding to HE institutions a lot of money ID: 369635
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Slide1
The Research Excellence Framework
A beginner’s guideSlide2
What is the REF?
Successor to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), held in 2008, 2001, …
Determines distribution of ‘QR’ funding to HE institutions (a lot of money!).
Each ‘unit of assessment’ (likely to be Philosophy/HPS/TRS combined) in each HEI makes a submission.
Assessment on the basis of
outputs, research environment
and
impact
(probably).
Outputs
can be a major factor in hiring decisions.
Deadline between summer 2012 and summer 2014.Slide3
How are the results determined?
Each element (individual outputs; environment; impact) awarded a grade (U, 1*, 2*, 3*, 4*).
Funding determined by:
h
ow many staff are submitted
w
hat proportion at each grade. (In 2010-11, the funding ratio for 4*:3*:2* is 9:3:1.)
Institutions also want to
maximise
‘grade point average’ (because of league tables).
Every permanent or temporary staff member in post on the census date will normally be expected to contribute outputs (though mostly not including
postdocs
).Slide4
Outputs
Up to 4 per person (depending on when you ‘entered the profession’).
You MUST submit your full quota ( ‘U’ – unclassified – grade for missing outputs).
Each submitted output is graded by the REF panel (U, 1*, 2*, 3*, 4*).
So you need to:
h
ave the required number of published outputs;
m
ake sure they’re at least 2*.Slide5
What do the * ratings mean?
*
RAE
2008
Definition
4*
Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and
rigour
.
3*
Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and
rigour
but which nonetheless falls short of the highest standards of excellence.
2*
Quality that is
recognised
internationally in terms of originality, significance and
rigour
.
1*
Quality that is
recognised
nationally in terms of originality, significance and
rigour
.
U
Quality that falls below the standard of nationally
recognised
work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of assessment. Slide6
Environment
Not a major consideration for panels hiring junior staff.
Things like:
PhD completions
Research income
Editing journals
Activity in the dept (conferences etc.)
Major
awards
and invitations.Slide7
Impact
Again, not a major consideration: currently unclear how it will be assessed or what kinds of thing will count.
Might include things like:
Involvement with practitioners and policymakers (medics, lawyers, government agencies, etc.)
Popularising
(public lectures, podcasts, etc.)
Junior staff not really expected to contribute here, but if you can, do!Slide8
Strategies?
Focus on outputs!
High-quality, meaty publications in high-quality journals.
Quality over quantity. You need to meet your quota, but beyond that, focus on writing better things rather than more things.
Think about timing. Unconditional acceptance at a journal will normally suffice, but some journals take a long time (over a year) to make a decision.
Be wary of PhD-based monographs. (May count double but less likely to score well. Also time-consuming so may prevent you meeting your quota.)