The results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), published today, suggest that the quality of research at UK universities has improved significantly since the last assessment in 2008, and for the first time highlight the broad-reaching social impact of UK research. Research projects involving more than 52,000 academics at 154 UK universities were assessed, with panels judging 30% of submissions to be “world-leading” and a further 46% “internationally excellent”.
Changes to the assessment system (the new REF replaces the former Research Assessment Exercise), combined with an awareness of its influence on research funding allocations, have led to considerable controversy and unrest in the run-up to the REF 2014 release.
Notably, UK research is now assessed partly on its social impact. Assessments of case studies demonstrating research outcomes beyond the academic sphere now account for 20% of the overall score given to each submission, with 65% based on the caliber of research output and 15% on the quality of the research environment. This marks the first time a country has attempted to allocate research funding based on assessments of social impact – though Australia ran a pilot project along these lines in 2012.
Controversy over new social impact assessment
This new component, which requires universities to gather and present a significant amount of supplementary data, has prompted some complaints about the extra work now involved, as well as raising questions about how best to assess the social impact of research – which may take several decades to have effect.
With some UK£2 billion per year in public research funding at stake, it’s clear to see why UK universities feel compelled to invest time and resources in their submissions to the Research Excellence Framework. It’s been estimated that institutions have spent UK£47 million on compiling REF 2014 entries, with a further £12 million in administrative costs incurred by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which oversees the scheme.
One critic has argued that this time and (mostly taxpayer) money could be better spent, and that the results of REF 2014 are likely to simply confirm what’s already known – largely reproducing the order of UK universities already shown in international rankings tables.
However, proponents of the new social impact component argue that it will play a key role in improving the public accountability of UK research, encouraging universities to pursue projects likely to have a clear positive impact on communities and within industry. Analysis conducted by The Guardian shows that the fields of UK research most likely to demonstrate high social impact are clinical medicine, public health and chemistry, while sports and exercise science, philosophy and computer science received the lowest social impact scores.
In an official press release, Professor Madeleine Atkins, chief executive of HEFCE, said the Research Excellence Framework “provides new incentives to enhance the public benefits derived from research”. She added, “It highlights the many ways in which research has fuelled economic prosperity, influenced public policy and services, enhanced communities and civic society, enriched cultural life, improved health and wellbeing, and tackled environmental challenges.”
More UK research classed as “world-leading”
All UK universities eligible to receive funding from the four UK research funding bodies were invited to participate in REF 2014. Each participating institution nominated academics to participate, with each individual academic required to submit four samples of research published between 2008 and 2013, which were then assessed by expert panels.
The results are presented as “overall quality profiles”, showing the proportions of submissions from each institution which met the following quality levels: 4* (world-leading); 3* (internationally excellent); 2* (recognized internationally); 1* (recognized nationally); U (unclassified).
While the overall results cannot be directly compared to the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, a comparison of the research output field suggests that the quality of UK research has improved during the intervening period. In REF 2014, 22% of research outputs are deemed “world-leading” and 50% “internationally excellent”, compared to 14% and 37% respectively in 2008.
The results will be used by the four UK higher education funding bodies – the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland (DEL) to allocate research funding to UK universities in the coming years.
Funding experts Research Fortnight forecast the largest chunk of research funding will be claimed by the University of Oxford, followed by UCL (University College London), the University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh and University of Manchester. Also in the predicted top 10 for research funding are Imperial College London, King’s College London (KCL), the University of Nottingham, University of Bristol and University of Leeds.
