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Vitae has published two briefings for institutions submitting to REF 2014

'REF 2014: Briefing for Researcher Developers' has been written to support those responsible for preparing submissions within their institutions, to maximise the quality of their Environment proposal.
‘REF 2014: Summary for Submitting Units' is a shorter briefing, which researcher developers may want to circulate internally. 

The briefings highlight the importance of evidence of researcher development activities in meeting the Environment criteria in REF. 

Breadcrumbs

Research Excellence Framework

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), a method of assessing the research of UK higher education institutions (HEIs). It is currently planned to take place in 2014 to assess research that has taken place during the period 2008-2013 inclusive.

The REF will be undertaken by the four UK higher education funding bodies. The exercise will be managed by the REF team based at the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and overseen by the REF Steering Group, consisting of representatives of the four UK funding bodies.

The primary purpose of the REF is to produce assessment outcomes for each institutional submission. The assessment outcomes will be used to:

  • inform the selective allocation of their research funding to HEIs, with effect from 2015-16
  • provide accountability for public investment in research and produce evidence of the benefits of this investment
  • provide benchmarking information and establish reputational yardsticks.

Making submissions

Institutions will make submissions through an online system. The timetable for release of the submission system is as follows:

Timetable

September 2012

Pilot of REF submission system available to all HEIs
Technical guidance on use of the system

October-December 2012

Survey of HEIs’ intentions to submit to the 2014 REF

January 2013

Launch of submissions system

29 November 2013

Deadline for submissions

Institutional contacts

Each institution has two designated REF contacts:

  • A main contact: to act as the primary point of contact between the institution and the REF team on all updates and enquiries relating to REF policies and guidelines
  • A technical contact: to act as the institution's main contact with the REF team regarding the REF submission software and system support. To find out who the technical contact is for your institution please contact your institution's main REF contact 

Submissions guidance, timetables, related publications, FAQs and more can be found on the REF website.

Documents