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?
- Who does REF 2029 apply to?
- What does REF 2029 assess?
- How does REF 2029 differ from REF 2021?
- What is the REF 2029 timetable?
- Common questions about REF 2029
- What this means for first-time submitters
- Where to find primary REF 2029 guidance
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.