REF 2029 keeps the same 34 units of assessment (UoAs) and four main panels used in REF 2021 — the structural break is inside the scoring model, where outputs, impact and environment have been renamed, rebalanced and, for staff counting, decoupled from individual researchers. Institutions do not need to remap subject groupings; they need to replan how work within each UoA is scored and evidenced.
The REF 2029 units of assessment are the 34 subject-based categories into which every UK higher education institution (HEI) submits research for the Research Excellence Framework, the UK-wide system that informs roughly £2 billion a year of block-grant research funding, run by Research England on behalf of the four UK funding bodies.
- What structure does REF 2029 keep from REF 2021?
- How are the three assessment elements changing?
- What’s changing in how staff and outputs are counted?
- What’s changing for impact case studies and portability?
- How should institutions plan REF 2029 submissions?
- Answer-first Q&A on REF 2029
What structure does REF 2029 keep from REF 2021?
REF 2029 retains the REF 2021 unit-of-assessment structure in full. Submissions are still made into 34 UoAs, each with its own expert sub-panel, sitting under four main panels, according to the official REF 2029 guidance published by Research England.
- Main Panel A — Medicine, Health and Life Sciences: 6 UoAs, including Clinical Medicine and Biological Sciences.
- Main Panel B — Physical Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics: 6 UoAs, including Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science and Informatics.
- Main Panel C — Social Sciences: 12 UoAs, including Economics and Econometrics, Business and Management Studies, and Education.
- Main Panel D — Arts and Humanities: 10 UoAs, including History, English Language and Literature, and Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies.
Main panels set overall criteria and ensure consistency; sub-panels develop discipline-specific assessment criteria and carry out the detailed review of submissions. Full expert panel membership for all 34 UoAs was appointed and announced in September 2025, and panels began meeting to set criteria in early 2026.
How are the three assessment elements changing?
The structural change that matters for planning purposes is not the UoA list — it is the renaming and rebalancing of the three elements every submission is scored against. All three have been renamed for REF 2029, and two of the three weightings have moved.
| Assessment element | REF 2021 | REF 2029 | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research outputs | Outputs — 60% | Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding (CKU) — 55% | Renamed; weighting cut by 5 percentage points; minimum-output rule removed |
| Non-academic benefit | Impact — 25% | Engagement and Impact (E&I) — 25% | Renamed; weighting unchanged; 2* quality threshold for underpinning research removed |
| Research culture | Environment — 15% | Strategy, People and Research Environment (SPRE) — 20% | Renamed twice (via an interim “People, Culture and Environment” label); weighting raised by 5 points |
The Environment element had the most turbulent path to REF 2029. Research England’s four funding bodies initially proposed a “People, Culture and Environment” (PCE) element weighted at 25%, ran a sector-wide PCE pilot, then paused criteria-setting in September 2025 on the instruction of UK Science Minister Lord Vallance. When criteria-setting resumed on 10 December 2025, the element was renamed Strategy, People and Research Environment and its weighting was set at 20%, with CKU confirmed at 55% and E&I at 25% — the figures that now stand for REF 2029.
What’s changing in how staff and outputs are counted?
REF 2029 continues the shift, begun in REF 2021, away from assessing named individuals. Institutions will no longer submit an individual staff census; instead, the “volume measure” that determines how many outputs and impact case studies a unit must submit is calculated from an average of HESA staff record data rather than a single REF census date.
Within Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding, the REF 2021 requirement of a minimum of one output per researcher has been removed, reducing pressure on individuals who published little during the assessment period. A recommended (non-mandatory) maximum of five outputs per researcher has been reinstated for clarity, matching REF 2021 practice. Outputs remain linked to units via a “substantive link” policy rather than to named individuals.
What’s changing for impact case studies and portability?
Two burden-reduction changes affect Engagement and Impact. First, the minimum number of impact case studies required has been reduced to one for units with fewer than 9.99 full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff, with revised thresholds for larger units. Second, the REF 2021 requirement that underpinning research reach at least 2-star quality to support an impact case study has been removed entirely.
REF 2029 also introduces limited portability for long-form and extended-process research outputs, such as monographs, alongside simplified requirements — a direct response to concerns raised by arts, humanities and social science submitters about the practical effect of decoupling outputs from individual staff moves.
How should institutions plan REF 2029 submissions?
Because the 34 UoAs are unchanged, institutions do not need to reorganise which subject groupings they submit into. Planning effort should instead focus on three areas the funding bodies have flagged as high-impact for REF 2029 preparation:
- SPRE evidence-gathering — institution-level and unit-level statements on strategy, people and research environment now carry a fifth of the total score, up from a 15% Environment weighting in REF 2021, so institutions should start collating research-culture evidence well ahead of the 2027 submission window.
- HESA data governance — because the volume measure now derives from HESA staff record averages rather than a census date, research administration and HR data teams need aligned processes for confirming eligible contracts and cost centres.
- Output selection strategy — with the minimum-output rule gone but a five-output ceiling retained, units should reassess how they allocate limited high-quality outputs across contributing staff under Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding.
The REF 2029 submission window opens in autumn 2027, the submission deadline falls in autumn 2028, and results are planned for publication in December 2029, according to the REF 2029 timetable maintained by Research England. Institutions that treat SPRE, HESA-based volume measures and output-selection policy as the priority work-streams — rather than re-litigating UoA boundaries that have not moved — will be better positioned for the assessment phase.
Answer-first Q&A on REF 2029
What are the REF 2029 units of assessment?
The REF 2029 units of assessment are the same 34 subject-based categories used in REF 2021, organised under four main panels covering medicine and life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Each UoA has its own expert sub-panel that develops discipline-specific criteria.
What are the key changes for REF 2029?
The key changes are not to the units of assessment but to how work within them is scored: outputs become Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding (55%), impact becomes Engagement and Impact (25%), and environment becomes Strategy, People and Research Environment (20%), alongside HESA-based staff-output counting.
What publications are eligible for REF 2029?
Eligible outputs are original research publications with a substantive link to an eligible staff member’s employment, assessed under Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding. REF 2029 removes the REF 2021 minimum of one output per researcher, reinstates a recommended maximum of five, and introduces limited portability for long-form outputs such as monographs.
What does REF mean in a university context?
REF stands for the Research Excellence Framework, the UK-wide system for assessing research quality in higher education institutions. It informs the allocation of around £2 billion a year in block-grant research funding and is run by Research England on behalf of the four UK higher education funding bodies.
What comes next for REF 2029 planning
With weightings confirmed and full panel criteria due by autumn 2026, the structural picture for REF 2029 is now settled enough for research administration teams to build submission timelines around it. The open questions that remain — detailed panel criteria, Code of Practice approval windows, and the mechanics of SPRE evidence templates — will be published in modules through 2026, making the REF 2029 guidance pages, not third-party summaries, the authoritative reference for any submission-critical detail.
