University research funding will be distributed partly according to measures of ’research impact’, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) has revealed.
On 23 September, Hefce released a full draft of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for consultation. The new framework will replace the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and take place in 2013 to inform funding from 2014 onwards. Hefce distributes about £1.6 billion of quality-related research funding each year – and the inclusion of impact assessment as a formalised element in the REF heralds a shift in the way that academic excellence is assessed.
