REF 2029 has no single census date. Unlike REF 2021, which fixed staff eligibility to a single snapshot (31 July 2020), REF 2029 replaces the census-date model with a volume measure — an average full-time-equivalent (FTE) figure calculated from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data across two academic years, 2025/26 and 2026/27. Institutions will submit a pool of research outputs sized to that average, rather than assigning outputs to named individuals on a fixed date.
This is the single most consequential structural change in the next Research Excellence Framework (REF), and it changes how research offices plan staffing data, HR coordination, and output collection for the 2027–2028 submission window. This guide sets out what changed, why, and what to track.
- What happened to the REF 2029 census date?
- How does the volume measure replace it?
- REF 2029 key dates and submission timetable
- Who counts towards REF 2029 staff eligibility?
- Answer-first Q&A
- Implications for research offices
What happened to the REF 2029 census date?
Every previous REF cycle fixed staff eligibility to a single date. REF 2021 used a census date of 31 July 2020: whoever held an eligible contract on that day was in scope, and institutions submitted named individuals against specific outputs.
REF 2029 abandons that model entirely. As Research Professional News confirmed in August 2024, the four UK funding bodies reminded the sector that institutions “will submit outputs, not staff” for the next exercise, meaning there is no census date in the REF 2021 sense. The change was formalised through the REF 2029 volume measure policy, published via the official REF 2029 site (2029.ref.ac.uk).
How does the volume measure replace the census date?
The REF 2029 volume measure is an average FTE figure drawn directly from HESA staff data, calculated across two academic years: 2025/26 and 2026/27. This average determines how many outputs an institution submits per unit of assessment — it does not require any single-day snapshot of who was employed and does not require institutions to name individual authors against outputs.
The mechanism decouples output volume from individual staff attribution. Institutions submit a representative pool of outputs for a discipline rather than a one-to-one mapping between named staff and named outputs — the core reform behind the “not staff” framing the funding bodies used in 2024.
REF 2029 key dates and submission timetable
The REF 2029 team last updated the official project timetable on 10 December 2025. The exercise itself was renamed from REF 2028 to REF 2029 following a December 2023 policy decision that extended the assessment period, with results now planned for December 2029.
| Milestone | Planned timing |
|---|---|
| Volume measure period (HESA FTE average) | Academic years 2025/26 and 2026/27 |
| Final guidance on submissions and panel criteria published | Autumn 2026 |
| Survey of submission intentions opens / closes | Spring 2027 / Summer 2027 |
| Submission window opens | Autumn 2027 |
| Submission deadline; assessment phase begins | Autumn 2028 |
| Publication of results | December 2029 |
| Publication of submitted data and REF 2029 reports | 2030 |
The exercise was paused in autumn 2025 during criteria-setting, and weightings were reconfirmed in winter 2025 before guidance drafting resumed. Research offices should treat the autumn 2027 submission opening and autumn 2028 deadline as the two hard planning anchors, since HESA data collection for the volume measure is already underway across both reference years.
Who counts towards REF 2029 staff eligibility?
Because there is no census date, eligibility now works through two HESA-derived staff categories that feed the volume measure calculation:
- Teaching and Research contract staff with “significant responsibility for research” — the precise definition is expected in the autumn 2026 final guidance.
- Research-only contract staff classified as independent researchers under HESA reporting.
A separate, broader eligibility route applies to research outputs themselves. Institutions may submit outputs from any staff member with a “demonstrable and substantive link” to the institution — including technicians, research managers, and other research-enabling roles — provided the individual holds at least a 0.2 FTE contract and research activity forms part of that role. The output eligibility window has been provisionally indicated by institutional REF teams (for example, the University of St Andrews) as running from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2028, pending final confirmation in the autumn 2026 guidance.
Answer-first Q&A
What is the cut-off date for REF 2029?
There is no single cut-off date for staff eligibility in REF 2029. The volume measure instead uses an average FTE calculated from HESA data across academic years 2025/26 and 2026/27. The output eligibility window is provisionally indicated as 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2028, pending final guidance.
What are the key changes for REF 2029?
REF 2029 replaces the outputs element with Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding (55% weighting) and the environment element with Strategy, People and Research Environment (20% weighting). Individual staff are no longer submitted; institutions submit representative output pools sized by the HESA-derived volume measure instead.
Is it REF 2028 or REF 2029?
The exercise is officially REF 2029. It was originally planned as REF 2028, but a December 2023 policy decision extended the timetable, and results are now scheduled for publication in December 2029 rather than the earlier target year.
What publications are eligible for REF 2029?
In-scope longform output types provisionally mirror REF 2021 definitions: published books, book chapters, edited books, and scholarly editions. Final panel-specific output criteria, including any changes to eligible formats, are expected in the autumn 2026 Final Guidance on Submissions and Panel Criteria.
Implications for research offices
The shift from a fixed census date to a two-year HESA average changes what research offices need to track and when. Priority actions:
- Verify HR/HESA data accuracy for 2025/26 now — errors in this reference year directly shape the institution’s volume-measure baseline and cannot be corrected retroactively once the period closes.
- Track the autumn 2026 Final Guidance publication for confirmed definitions of “significant responsibility for research” and “independent researcher.”
- Prepare Code of Practice documentation ahead of the survey of submission intentions (spring–summer 2027), which will require institutions to state early submission plans.
- Map research-enabling staff (technicians, research managers) against the 0.2 FTE and “demonstrable and substantive link” output-eligibility test, since this is a new, broader eligibility route absent from REF 2021.
Institutions with strong research administration functions are better positioned to absorb this shift, since research administration teams already coordinate the HR, HESA, and output-tracking data flows that the volume measure depends on. The removal of a single census date does not reduce the compliance burden — it redistributes it across a longer two-year data-integrity window, with less room to correct late-discovered errors.
With autumn 2026 guidance, spring 2027 submission-intention surveys, and the autumn 2028 deadline now fixed on the official timetable, research offices have a defined runway to align HESA reporting, staff contract classification, and output-tracking systems before the volume measure calculation window closes.
