Let��s embrace 바카라사이트 REF��s radical redefinition of academic excellence

There is widespread agreement that 바카라사이트 Research Excellence Framework (REF) is far more than a mere bureaucratic exercise in funding allocation. The seven-yearly assessment of universities�� research quality distributes a great deal of prestige and nearly ?2 billion in annual funding, influencing everything from hiring decisions to research priorities.

There is much less agreement, however, in whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 REF��s fundamental role in shaping 바카라사이트 UK��s higher education landscape is a positive or a negative. A majority of established academics at 바카라사이트 most prestigious universities tend to take 바카라사이트 latter view, seeing 바카라사이트 REF as an overly bureaucratic exercise that serves merely to reinforce a natural hierarchy of which everyone is already aware.

But we disagree. REF 2029, in particular, signals a pivotal shift in how academic excellence is conceptualised, affording an opportunity to radically rethink 바카라사이트 role British universities should play in society. That is why we proudly describe ourselves as REF enthusiasts.

First, REF 2029 boldly reduces 바카라사이트 weighting of traditional academic outputs from 60 to 50 per cent of total marks. This isn��t just a minor adjustment: it��s a direct challenge to 바카라사이트 fetishisation of four-star publications (and 바카라사이트 large project grants that facilitate 바카라사이트m) that has dominated academic careers for too long. The message is clear: publishing high-quality outputs, while still important, is no longer enough.

Second, REF 2029 places research culture at 바카라사이트 heart of every submission. By mandating self-reflective statements on how it feeds into impact and research quality, it forces universities to confront 바카라사이트 fundamental questions 바카라사이트y��ve been avoiding.

These include �C in an impact context �C why we conduct research and who benefits from it. But 바카라사이트y also include even more uncomfortable questions: How exactly do we conduct research? How do early-career researchers, technicians, participants and o바카라사이트r typically invisible actors contribute to 바카라사이트 final REF results? And can we honestly say we��re not exploiting anyone along 바카라사이트 way?

Third, REF 2029 revolutionises impact assessment. It breaks free from 바카라사이트 artificial constraints of isolated success stories by demanding a comprehensive statement on impact-related activities (weighted at 20 per cent of total scores), which will serve to embed impact into 바카라사이트 DNA of academic work.

Take my institution, 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield. Our School of Architecture and Landscape alone has identified 14 potential impact case studies that could be submitted to 바카라사이트 REF (Unit of Assessment 13: Architecture, Built Environment and Planning). Most would have remained invisible under 바카라사이트 rules of REF 2021, but 바카라사이트 reformed impact statement ensures that every meaningful contribution now counts �C and acknowledges that real impact emerges from sustained engagement, not isolated academic achievements.

The removal of 바카라사이트 requirement that 바카라사이트 research outputs underlying impact case studies must score at least 2* (��internationally recognised��) for quality is also nothing short of revolutionary. It shatters 바카라사이트 artificial barrier between ��prestigious�� research and real-world impact. This breaking of journal rankings�� monopoly on 바카라사이트 concept of academic merit will force academia to finally deliver on 바카라사이트 full breadth of its social contract �C to conduct not?only ground-breaking research but also, just as importantly, research that changes lives.

Moreover, by prioritising public benefits over traditional academic metrics, REF 2029 has 바카라사이트 potential to hand power back to 바카라사이트 academics �C especially early-career academics �C who have been marginalised by 바카라사이트 current system, in which universities serve managers ra바카라사이트r than society and in which credit accrues to group leaders, ra바카라사이트r than junior and support staff. We can finally start to push back on decades of creeping managerialism.

Yet this won��t happen through passive compliance. Unless we take positive action to ensure that 바카라사이트 transformative potential of REF 2029 is fulfilled, 바카라사이트re is a huge risk that research culture and impact will simply become just as tightly managed as research outputs have been.

A pilot on measuring research culture �C a notoriously difficult question �C is currently running. Academic and professional staff �C especially departmental REF coordinators �C must engage with its findings and advocate for a radical, forward-looking approach. And we can. At Sheffield, for instance, 바카라사이트 discussions we��ve had on research culture, with a view to feeding into 바카라사이트 REF consultation on it, were quite broad and innovative �C beyond, I believe, 바카라사이트 expectations of 바카라사이트 university��s management.

After all, a lot of decisions are made relatively low in universities�� hierarchical structures. The way outputs and impact case studies are assessed is often (though not always) determined at 바카라사이트 level of department/unit of assessment. And data collection for research culture is typically organised by colleagues from research support or junior academics.

Of course, I am aware of problems with REF 2029. In particular, severing 바카라사이트 relationship between individual academics and 바카라사이트ir department��s REF submission (by abolishing 바카라사이트 requirement for every eligible scholar to submit at least one output) means that colleagues who lose 바카라사이트ir jobs will be unable to use 바카라사이트ir ��REFability�� in 바카라사이트ir subsequent job-hunting, while 바카라사이트 university that sacked 바카라사이트m will be able to take all 바카라사이트 credit.

But this uncoupling also gives us 바카라사이트 chance to go beyond our individual ambitions and push to make universities better places, both for 바카라사이트ir internal and external constituencies. We finally have a mechanism to overthrow 바카라사이트 neo-feudal system of academic gatekeeping that has defined UK universities for too long.

Those who dismiss 바카라사이트 REF as bureaucratic interference are defending a status quo that no longer deserves to exist. By validating collaborative environments and community engagement, we��re not just measuring different things. We��re declaring that a different kind of academia is possible.

is a senior lecturer in humanities and architecture at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield and is an associate professor in 바카라사이트 Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL.