The University is currently making decisions on its overall strategy for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, and on which eligible individuals will have research outputs (publications and other outputs)  included in the submission for each Unit of Assessment.

These are tough strategic decisions for the University, as the REF incorporates several new elements (such as the assessment of research impact) and is formulated to produce a concentration of research funding in areas with both excellence and critical mass.

Although Sussex is a research-intensive university with several areas of excellent and internationally recognised research, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Michael Davies, believes that Sussex must do more to develop excellence in all areas and to secure the critical mass needed to sustain that excellence for the long-term, in a tough financial environment.

Professor Davies says: “Sussex is an institution with many world-class researchers, strong research units and much potential for further development of research excellence and our new Strategic Plan will set out our goals and strategies to deliver on that potential.

“However, the REF submission will be based on our profile since 2008, and this includes a few research areas that are currently of low critical mass relative to their peers, or which have scope for improvement in their research quality.

“Combined with HEFCE’s changes to the way the REF operates compared to the old Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), this means that a significantly higher threshold for the inclusion of an individual’s research outputs in the REF is likely to be applied in most of our Units of Assessment than may have been the case in previous exercises.

“The REF will only fund the most excellent research, and we are planning our submission to respond to this.”

Most comment on the REF across the higher education sector in the UK suggests that other universities will take a similar, more selective, approach to the REF than was typically applied for the RAE. Professor Davies believes that markedly lower submission rates of eligible staff will emerge in most subject areas across the sector.

The REF Steering Group at Sussex, chaired by Professor Davies and composed of some of the leading Sussex researchers across the arts and humanities, social sciences, and sciences, has begun making recommendations on strategy and on the inclusion of individuals to the Vice-Chancellor’s Executive Group (VCEG), which will make final decisions.

 “Throughout the course of our REF preparations, the Steering Group has noted that the changes to research assessment represented by the REF require a degree of culture change within the institution, alongside a change of expectations towards the exercise itself,” continues Professor Davies.

“There should no longer be any automatic assumption that an academic with the required number of outputs will have them included in the REF; rather developing research outputs of the highest quality requires a planned and long-term strategy from the University, the Unit of Assessment, and the individual, where inclusion in the REF is one indicator of success.

“Equally, the REF requires a new understanding of the value of research impact – so an academic who produces one of our impact case studies has made a major contribution to the REF submission of the unit, irrespective of whether his or her outputs are included. Individual contributions to doctoral student supervision and research income generation are also important to the submission.”

VCEG is currently making its decisions, and individual members of staff will be notified during July of whether or not their outputs will be included in the REF.

Staff with questions about the REF are invited to review the REF FAQs or email ref@sussex.ac.uk, or contact their Unit of Assessment Leader.

Further information on the REF, and the University’s REF Code of Practice, can be found at the REF website. 

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