RESEARCH EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK (REF)

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UK’s system for assessing the excellence of research in higher education institutions.

The main purpose of REF is to assess the quality of UK research and inform the selective allocation of core research funding grants to universities by the four UK higher education funding bodies: the Department for Economy, Northern Ireland (DfE), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), Research England and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

The results of REF 2021 were announced publicly on 12 May 2022.

Our REF results

Ninety percent of our research was world-leading, internationally excellent or recognised internationally.

The University also increased its position for research intensity, now ranking within the top 90 universities in the UK.

UWS’s REF results include an outstanding performance for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism, ranking within the top three Scottish universities in this area, with 71 percent of research recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent.

The University also saw 100 percent of its impact in Physics recognised as internationally excellent.

The results reinforce the position that UWS makes a significant contribution to economic, social, cultural, health and public policy, both internationally and within our local communities.

SIGNIFICANCE OF REF

REF feeds directly into our strategy and vision for the future of research at UWS and a considerable amount of work went into our submission exercise.

REF offers a partial window into the overall research performance of UWS and the exercise is centred on the work of expert panels who assess research outputs, research impact and research environment:

  • Outputs (60% of the assessment) produced during between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2020
  • Impact (25% of the assessment) that includes case studies of the delivered benefits from our research between 1 August 2013 and 31 December 2020
  • Environment (15% of the assessment), to assess the vitality and sustainability of our research environment between 1 August 2013 and 31 July 2020

REF provides a great opportunity for reflection and review, in line with our mission and values set out in Strategy 2025 to support excellent, relevant, and purposeful research, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As an institution, UWS’s strategic direction is to develop purposeful research and innovation which addresses major global challenges and is delivered at a scale and intensity that ensures sustainable impact, globally.

UWS REF2021 CODE OF PRACTICE 

The UWS REF2021 Code of Practice presents the University’s approach for submission to REF2021, complying with equality and diversity legislation and providing a transparent explanation of our REF2021 submission. The purpose of the REF2021 Code of Practice is principally to cover the following processes:

  • Institutional arrangements for UWS REF2021 Strategy and Governance
  • How the University has identified staff with significant responsibility for research eligible to be submitted to the REF
  • How the University has selected research outputs to be submitted, ensuring a fair and transparent approach

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR REF2021

The funding bodies required all institutions to conduct an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) on their policy and procedures for identifying staff with significant responsibility for research (where applicable), determining research independence and for selecting outputs for the REF submission.

UWS submitted its REF2021 EIA together with the final version of the UWS REF2021 Code of Practice (see above).

Last updated: 08/04/2024