What is the Research Excellence Framework?
The Research Excellence Framework is a national assessment of the quality of research in UK higher education institutions and determines the allocation of around £2 billion quality-related funding a year, starting in August 2022.
The Research Excellence Framework:
- covers all research disciplines
- gives accountability for public investment in research and produces evidence of the benefits of this investment
- provides reputational benchmarking information for higher education institutions and the public
The four UK higher education funding bodies that undertake the REF are:
The next REF
The next REF will take place in 2028, with results announced in Winter 2029. Changes to REF2029 were developed through the Future Research Assessment Programme (FRAP) commissioned by the UK Funding Bodies.
The three assessed elements have been reshaped to support a broader assessment of research excellence, and the weightings of the elements has been revised to increase the emphasis on people, culture and environment. The new elements will be:
Find out more about REF2029 here
Privacy Notice for REF2029 Evidence Collection
Personal data provided to the University of Nottingham (UoN) for the purposes of evidencing research impact or environment, as part of the REF2029 assessment, will be held only for the duration of the REF2029 assessment. Once the assessment period is complete (at the end of December 2028) any personal data is anonymised and deleted from UoN systems.
The lawful processing purpose relied on is Public Task.
Information will be shared beyond the university with UK Higher Education funding bodies as per the data collection statement
Understand how the university processes personal data
REF2029 Code of Practice (CoP)
It is a requirement that every institution making a REF submission needs to develop, document and apply a code of practice for REF2029, including:
Our REF2029 CoP is currently under development and will build on the CoP we submitted for REF2021. The finalised document will be published here in 2026.