The design of REF 2029 has been developed through the Future Research Assessment Programme (FRAP), commissioned by the UK funding bodies. The FRAP was tasked to identify approaches to research assessment that encourage and strengthen the emphasis on delivering excellent research and impact, support a positive, productive research culture, while simplifying and reducing the administrative burden on the HE sector. The FRAP has developed its conclusions with input from an international advisory board, consultation with the REF 2021 panels, evaluation activities (including the real time REF review, which sought to capture how researchers experience the exercise) and equality impact assessment.
Through this work, the REF funding bodies have agreed that REF 2029 should fulfil the following core purposes:
- Inform the allocation of block-grant research funding to HEIs based on research quality;
- Provide accountability for public investment in research and produce evidence of the benefits of this investment; and
- Provide insights into the health of research in HEIs in the UK.
The announced changes are intended to create an assessment exercise that will underpin:
- A research system that produces high-quality, rigorous research that is open to all;
- An inclusive and collaborative research system that supports a diversity of people, ideas, institutions, methodologies, outputs, and activities; and
- An engaged and impactful research system that connects research with wider society to bring about positive socio-economic change.
