The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) has released it guidelines detailing how universities will be assessed in the upcoming Research Excellence Framework (REF), which will help to determine how much funding institutes receive. In the Assessment Framework and Guidance on Submission for the 2014 REF, the funding councils have outlined the final criteria and specific data and narratives required for submissions. The new guidance also aims to encourage universities to place more value on researchers who have taken a career break or returned to academia from industry.
I am a freelance science writer specialising in physics, astronomy, science funding and research policy. I write for a variety of online and print journals. In my day job, I work as a Research Facilitator in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford.
REF looks to help academics who take a career break – Chemistry World
July 20th, 2011
REF refined – Chemistry World
March 29th, 2010
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) has made changes to the proposed Research Excellence Framework (REF) following an extensive consultation with stakeholders in the research community. The consultation, which closed in December 2009, gave the opportunity to comment on the controversial changes to the way quality related research will be assessed in future.
Hefce received a total of 534 responses to the consultation from higher education institutions, various organisations and associations and individuals.
Hefce takes more hits over impact – Chemistry World
January 8th, 2010
Just weeks after an independent report looking at international approaches to evaluating research impact, a poll of UK professors finds that over a third would consider pursuing their academic career abroad if current UK plans to assess and reward impact are implemented.
A new report by think tank Rand Europe, commissioned by Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce), has investigated the progress made by other countries on assessing research impact and indentifies lessons Hefce could learn from these examples. The report also makes recommendations to Hefce regarding aspects of the proposed Research Excellence Framework (REF), including impact weighting, attribution and users as peer reviewers.
Red card for REF – Chemistry World
January 5th, 2010
Universities, learned societies and educational establishments have raised concerns about the UK’s proposed new Research Excellence Framework (REF), with particular controversy surrounding the impact assessment element of the evaluation process.
Currently the REF, a new system for assessing research quality due to be implemented from 2013, proposes that excellence be rated based on research output (60 per cent), impact (25 per cent) and research environment (15 per cent).
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