‘Co-creation’ of REF 2029 research environment metrics promised

New indicators to assess research culture at UK universities for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF) will be designed “in collaboration with the sector” and will “take careful account of variation in subjects, disciplines and different institutional types”, the head of Research England has promised.

Announcing new details of a pilot to test potential indicators for the people, culture and environment (PCE) section of REF 2029, Dame Jessica Corner says there will be “wide involvement and participation in the process” of creating the new indicators that she wanted to “co-create with the community”.

“The Research Excellence Framework has always been developed in collaboration with the sector, as a shared endeavour where concerns are settled and best fit solutions are found through iterative dialogue,” says Dame Jessica.

Her comments, published in a blog on 21 March, follow unhappiness among some university leaders about a lack of consultation over proposed changes to the next REF, which has been delayed for a year until the end of 2029 amid concerns over unresolved complexities related to the decision to no longer require all research-active staff to submit outputs.

Uncertainty over how the REF would assess research environment has also been raised, with few clues given over the likely metrics, outputs or key performance indicators that would be used in the “more tightly-defined questionnaire-style template” for research culture assessment, according to its initial decisions published in June.

Further comments on the REF’s proposal to expand the weighting of PCE to 25 per cent, the same as impact, were invited as part of an extended consultation on that issue, says Dame Jessica.

“While input received from the community endorsed the expanded element, concerns over how best to design this aspect of the assessment have been raised, along with a strong desire to pilot approaches,” says Dame Jessica, who adds that the sector had also called “for careful and thoughtful selection of indicators so that they do not also impose additional burden on institutions or create unintended behaviours or hierarchies”.

A pilot to test the PCE indicators will be undertaken to ensure that “people, culture and environment indicators will be co-developed with the whole research sector and this will take careful account of variation in subjects, disciplines and different institutional types”, she says in the blog on the Higher Education Policy Institute website.

In addition to round tables already held, the REF team is planning to hold 10 workshops “covering areas such as research strategy and leadership; research integrity and open research; equality, diversity and inclusion; and collegiality, belonging and healthy research environments”, says Dame Jessica, adding that a sector-wide survey on the potential indicators would also be run.

“Our aim is to co-design the people, culture and environment assessment process with the whole research community,” says Dame Jessica, adding that “we want to be inclusive in our engagement, selecting a broad range of institutions to be involved, and a wide range of experience from individuals on the assessment panels.”

“Our intention is to represent the breadth of the UK research sector in terms of institutional size, mission, disciplinary focus and research intensity,” she adds.

Testing of the new indicators would involve experts from healthcare sciences, biological sciences, environmental science, computer and data science, business studies, social work, history and music, drama, dance and screen studies, the blog also explains.

“This is the beginning of an exciting phase in the development of REF 2029. We are very much looking forward to developing our thinking on the assessment of people, culture and environment, and we are committed to finding an approach that will be robust and transparent and workable for the sector with regards to the levels of effort required,” Dame Jessica writes.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com