CASRAI Dictionary

Tag: ref 2029 timetable

  • What Is REF 2029? A Plain-English Explainer for New Research Staff

    REF 2029 is the UK’s next Research Excellence Framework exercise — the national, peer-review-based assessment that determines how roughly £2 billion a year in public research funding is allocated to UK universities. Submissions are due in autumn 2028, with results published in December 2029.

    The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system the four UK higher education funding bodies use to assess the quality of research produced by UK universities and other higher education providers, and to inform block-grant research funding decisions accordingly.

    What Is REF 2029?

    REF 2029 is the fourth full cycle of the Research Excellence Framework, following REF 2014, REF 2021, and their predecessor, the Research Assessment Exercise. It was originally scheduled as “REF 2028” but was renamed and extended following a December 2023 policy decision, moving the results date back to December 2029.

    Research England manages the exercise on behalf of all four UK higher education funding bodies: Research England (covering England), the Scottish Funding Council, Medr — Wales’ Commission for Tertiary Education and Research — and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland. Their shared aim, carried over from previous cycles, is to secure a world-class, dynamic and responsive research base across UK higher education.

    Who Does REF 2029 Apply To?

    REF 2029 applies to every UK higher education provider that receives public research funding and chooses to make a submission. Submissions are organised by discipline into Units of Assessment (UoAs), each reviewed by an expert sub-panel sitting under one of four main panels covering the sciences, engineering, social sciences, and arts and humanities.

    The biggest structural change for first-time submitters: REF 2029 decouples research outputs from named individual staff. Under REF 2021, institutions submitted a set number of outputs per named staff member. Under REF 2029, an institution’s total research volume is calculated automatically from Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) staff data — specifically, staff recorded as having significant responsibility for research — with outputs required in proportion to that calculated volume rather than tied to individually listed academics.

    What Does REF 2029 Assess?

    REF 2029 assesses research quality through three weighted elements. Each Unit of Assessment receives a profile combining scores across all three, expressed on the same five-point scale used since REF 2014 (4* world-leading down to unclassified).

    Assessment element What it covers Weighting
    Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding (CKU) Peer review of submitted research outputs (publications, datasets, practice-based outputs) and a unit-level disciplinary statement 55%
    Engagement and Impact (E&I) Impact case studies describing effects on the economy, society, culture, public policy, health or quality of life beyond academia 25%
    Strategy, People and Research Environment (SPRE) Institution- and unit-level statements on research culture, people strategies, and research infrastructure 20%

    SPRE — renamed from the originally proposed “People, Culture and Environment” (PCE) element — is scored 60% at institutional level and 40% at unit level, meaning an institution’s overall research infrastructure carries more weight than any single department’s environment.

    How Does REF 2029 Differ From REF 2021?

    REF 2029 keeps the same three-part structure as REF 2021 but rebalances the weightings and changes how submissions are built. The table below compares the two exercises directly.

    Feature REF 2021 REF 2029
    Outputs element weighting Outputs: 60% CKU: 55%
    Impact element weighting Impact: 25% Engagement and Impact: 25%
    Environment element weighting Environment: 15% Strategy, People and Research Environment: 20%
    Staff submission model Named individual staff, fixed outputs per person Decoupled; HESA-derived research volume, no fixed per-person minimum
    Output portability Output counted for both institutions if a researcher moved Tied to the employing institution by default, with a five-year portability concession for long-form outputs

    An important, under-reported fact for anyone new to REF: the REF 2029 criteria-setting process was formally paused in autumn 2025 after sector concern about the original PCE proposals, and the current weightings above were only confirmed in winter 2025 once the pause was lifted. Guidance published before that point should be treated as superseded.

    What Is the REF 2029 Timetable?

    The REF 2029 project timetable, maintained by Research England and last updated 10 December 2025, sets out the milestones below. Institutions preparing their first submission should track this schedule directly, since dates for the census and output periods are refined as guidance is finalised.

    Milestone Timing
    REF renamed from “REF 2028” to “REF 2029”; extension confirmed Winter 2023
    Full expert panel membership announced Summer/Autumn 2025
    REF 2029 criteria-setting paused Autumn 2025
    Weightings confirmed; SPRE and Engagement and Impact guidance published Winter 2025
    Final guidance on submissions and panel criteria published Autumn 2026
    Survey of submission intentions Spring–Summer 2027
    Submission window opens Autumn 2027
    Submission deadline; assessment phase begins Autumn 2028
    Results published December 2029

    Common Questions About REF 2029

    Is it REF 2028 or REF 2029?

    It is REF 2029. The exercise was originally planned as “REF 2028” but Research England announced an extension in December 2023 following consultation, renaming it REF 2029 and moving the results date to December 2029, with submissions due in autumn 2028.

    What Are the Changes in REF 2029?

    The three headline changes are: decoupling of outputs from named individual staff in favour of a HESA-derived research volume measure; a rebalanced weighting toward outputs (CKU 55%) and research environment (SPRE 20%); and a five-year portability concession for long-form outputs when researchers move institution.

    What Is the REF 2029 Definition of Impact?

    REF’s definition of impact, carried forward into REF 2029’s Engagement and Impact element, is an effect on, change to, or benefit for the economy, society, culture, public policy, services, health, the environment, or quality of life, occurring beyond academia. It is evidenced through impact case studies at Unit of Assessment level.

    What Period Does REF 2029 Cover?

    REF 2029’s submission deadline falls in autumn 2028, with the assessment phase running through 2029 and results published in December 2029. Exact census and output-period start/end dates are confirmed in the REF 2029 guidance’s Section 1 Overview, published on the official REF 2029 site.

    What This Means for First-Time Submitters

    If you are a new research-administration staff member or an early-career researcher encountering REF for the first time, three practical points follow from the above:

    • You will not be individually “submitted” or excluded by name in the way REF 2021 worked — your institution’s HESA-derived staff data determines its overall output requirement, so your contribution matters at unit level rather than through a fixed personal output quota.
    • Impact case studies and disciplinary statements still require accurate, evidenced attribution of who contributed what to a piece of research — this is where standardised contributorship records become operationally useful for REF preparation.
    • Because REF 2029’s criteria were paused and then revised in 2025, always check the publication date on any guidance document against the official REF 2029 timetable before relying on it.

    Where to Find Primary REF 2029 Guidance

    The authoritative source for REF 2029 rules, panel criteria and open-access policy is the official REF 2029 site, maintained by Research England on behalf of the four funding bodies; institution-specific planning pages from individual universities (Reading, Leeds, Oxford, St Andrews and others) are useful secondary summaries but should always be checked against the primary guidance sections. UKRI’s Research England pages provide the policy and funding context that sits above the REF itself.

    For institutions building out their REF submission workflows, clear, standardised contributor attribution is increasingly relevant to both the Engagement and Impact and Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding elements — an area where CRediT-based contributor role taxonomies and broader research administration practice intersect with REF preparation. As REF 2029’s remaining guidance and panel criteria are finalised through 2026 and 2027, first-time submitters should expect further refinement rather than wholesale change to the framework described here.

  • REF 2029 Census Date: No Single Date, New Rules

    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?

    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:

    1. 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.
    2. Track the autumn 2026 Final Guidance publication for confirmed definitions of “significant responsibility for research” and “independent researcher.”
    3. Prepare Code of Practice documentation ahead of the survey of submission intentions (spring–summer 2027), which will require institutions to state early submission plans.
    4. 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.