Research Excellence Framework 2029: SPRE Explained

The Research Excellence Framework 2029 replaces the old institution-level and unit-level Environment statements with a single Strategy, People, and Research Environment (SPRE) element, worth 20% of the overall quality profile, in which a new institutional-level statement (ILS) — not a unit-level narrative — now carries 60% of the score. This marks the most significant structural change to how UK higher education institutions report research culture since REF 2021, shifting accountability for a supportive research environment from individual departments to institutional leadership.

The Research Excellence Framework 2029 (REF 2029) is the UK’s next national exercise for assessing the quality of research at higher education institutions (HEIs), run jointly by Research England, the Scottish Funding Council, Medr (Wales) and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland, with results due in December 2029 following submissions in autumn 2028.

• What is REF 2029’s Strategy, People and Research Environment (SPRE) statement?
• How is SPRE scored across institution and unit level?
• What must the institutional-level statement (ILS) cover?
• REF 2029 SPRE: answer-first Q&A
• What this means for research administrators and institutional leaders

What is REF 2029’s Strategy, People and Research Environment (SPRE) statement?

The Strategy, People, and Research Environment (SPRE) element is the REF 2029 assessment component that evolved directly from the REF 2021 Environment statements, known then as REF5a (institution-level) and REF5b (unit-level). According to REF 2029 guidance published 10 December 2025, the funding bodies renamed the element after concluding the People, Culture and Environment (PCE) pilot, a project led by Technopolis and CRAC-Vitae that trialled culture-and-environment indicators across a representative sample of institutions and units of assessment.

The rename signals a genuine shift in emphasis, not just cosmetic rebranding. Where REF 2021’s environment template centred on describing existing infrastructure and past activity, SPRE explicitly foregrounds institutional strategy — the “active way institutions respond to their potentially challenging operating contexts,” in the funding bodies’ own words — as the driver of research culture outcomes, alongside the people and environment factors carried over from 2021.

How is SPRE scored across institution and unit level?

SPRE will account for 20% of the overall unit quality profile in REF 2029 — comparable in scale to the 15% weighting the Environment element held in REF 2021, though the assessment mechanics have changed considerably. Within that 20%, scoring is now split between two separately reported statements, weighted to reflect institutional versus departmental responsibility for research culture:

Both statements are assessed against the same two criteria used for Environment in REF 2021 — vitality and sustainability. Notably, the funding bodies decided against adding a third “rigour” criterion despite piloting it during the PCE exercise; panels found reflective-practice narratives valuable but not straightforward to measure robustly, so continuous-improvement evidence is recognised within the existing criteria rather than scored separately.

What must the institutional-level statement (ILS) cover?

Both the ILS and the unit-level statement (ULS) are built around four common sections, unchanged in structure from the REF 2021 template but now applied consistently at both levels:

• Context, mission and strategy
• People
• Income, infrastructure and facilities
• Collaboration, engagement and impact

Word limits are flexible across the four sections rather than fixed per section, and the ILS word allowance is anticipated to be fixed regardless of institution size, while the ULS allowance will be smaller with an extra allowance for larger units. The ILS covers the period 1 August 2020 to 31 July 2028 and, once submitted, is shared with sub-panels so it can inform their assessment of the corresponding ULS — meaning institutions no longer control research-culture narrative in isolation at unit level.

Two entirely new requirements sit inside the ULS: a Statement of Representation, justifying how submitted outputs reflect the unit’s full range of research activity, and a Statement on the Research Community: Roles and Careers, describing the composition of everyone contributing to a unit’s research — not only those counted in the volume measure, but research technical professionals, engagement and impact staff, research managers and librarians. This broadened definition of “who counts” as a research contributor echoes the logic behind the CRediT contributor role taxonomy, which CASRAI originated in 2014 to formally recognise the full range of contributor roles beyond conventional authorship credit; the standard is now stewarded by NISO as ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022. Institutions building their roles-and-careers narratives may find that existing CRediT role definitions offer a ready-made vocabulary for describing research-team composition.

Two dedicated advisory panels will inform assessment of the “People” section specifically: the People and Diversity Advisory Panel (PDAP) and the Research Diversity Advisory Panel (RDAP), which will run calibration exercises early in the assessment cycle before advising sub-panels on strengths and concerns.

REF 2029 SPRE: answer-first Q&A

What is the Research Excellence Framework?

The Research Excellence Framework is the UK’s system for assessing research quality at higher education institutions, run by Research England, the Scottish Funding Council, Medr and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland. Its outcomes shape block-grant research funding allocations and provide public accountability for research investment across UK universities.

What are the key changes for REF 2029?

REF 2029 replaces environment statements with the SPRE element, introduces an assessed institution-level statement worth 60% of SPRE, decouples the volume measure from submitted outputs, and adds a Statement of Representation and a research community roles-and-careers statement at unit level. Full templates and indicators are due for confirmation during 2026.

What does the REF 2029 SPRE statement cover?

SPRE statements address four sections — context, mission and strategy; people; income, infrastructure and facilities; and collaboration, engagement and impact — at both institution and unit level. Narratives are supported by indicators drawn from a basket confirmed with panels, rather than a fixed metrics table, and are assessed on vitality and sustainability.

Who is eligible for REF 2029?

Eligibility turns on whether staff hold “significant responsibility for research” (SRR) under an eligible contract at a submitting UK higher education institution, rather than a simple headcount threshold. REF 2029 guidance sets out institutional codes of practice governing how SRR, research independence and unit assignment are identified and verified.

What this means for research administrators and institutional leaders

The practical consequence of SPRE is that research-culture reporting can no longer be delegated entirely to departments. Because the ILS carries 60% of the SPRE score and is shared with sub-panels as context for every ULS they assess, institutional strategy teams — not just unit directors — now own a directly assessed piece of the REF quality profile. Research administrators should expect earlier, more centralised drafting cycles for the ILS, closer coordination between central research offices and units on the new Statement of Representation, and a data-collection burden shift towards documenting institution-wide roles and careers rather than only publication-linked staff.

Because the final templates, indicators and panel criteria for SPRE are still being finalised through 2026, institutions that begin mapping their existing environment narratives against the four SPRE sections now — and start building the evidence base for “distance travelled” since REF 2021 — will be better placed when detailed panel criteria are published.