{"id":3418,"date":"2022-05-05T11:30:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T10:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2021\/07\/26\/new-draft-post-24\/"},"modified":"2022-05-11T15:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T14:51:10","slug":"what-is-ref","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2022\/05\/05\/what-is-ref\/","title":{"rendered":"Colette Fagan: REF2021 results countdown – what it is and why it\u2019s so important"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n

Research and discovery is a core part of our University\u2019s mission and strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like many, I am proud of the quality and reach of our research and the research environment<\/a> which we provide to enable our researchers to thrive. The quality of our research and its impact is recognised internationally by our world-class standing in global league tables<\/a>, including our leading contribution to the delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals framework which is consistently celebrated in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest evaluation will arrive on 12 May, when Research England will announce the REF2021 results.<\/p>\n

As we await the results let me summarise what REF is, what it involves and why it is important.<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>What is REF?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h6>REF stands for the <strong>Research Excellence Framework<\/strong>. It is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. REF takes place approximately every seven years.<\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><br \/>How are we assessed?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Each university decides which subjects, or disciplines \u2013 called <u>Units of Assessment<\/u> – to submit. Each Unit of Assessment is evaluated on the quality of its submission across three components to produce an <strong><u>Overall<\/u><\/strong> quality profile:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><u>Outputs (60%)<\/u><\/strong>: mainly publications, but also other outputs such as datasets, art exhibitions, music compositions.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>Impact (25%)<\/u><\/strong>: a selection of case studies which show how our research has created benefit for society \u2013 such as economic, environmental, health and well-being, or cultural enrichment and understanding.<\/li>\n<li>and research <strong><u>Environment (15%)<\/u><\/strong>: what the university provides to foster an environment and culture in which researchers can excel. This includes how we support and develop our PGRs and other Early Career Researchers; the quality of our library, research facilities and infrastructure; the professional service expertise that support research and impact, and so forth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each Unit of Assessment is assessed by a panel of experts. The panel comprises senior academics from the UK and wider afield to give an international perspective, and a range of research users.<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>Why is REF important?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From tackling cancer and poverty to finding the energy solutions of the future, our submission shows we make a real difference to the quality of people\u2019s lives across the globe.<\/p>\n<p>It is important for three other reasons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Funding <\/strong>\u2013 The REF results determine how much \u2018Quality Research\u2019 (\u2018QR\u2019) funding we will receive. This public funding is allocated by Research England to enable universities to make strategic investment to support research. Our annual QR for the last seven years was based on our REF2014 results and in 2020\/21 this was equivalent to 18% of the research income we secured through winning competitive research grants and contracts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reputation<\/strong> – Our results help us to attract research funding from industry, charities and government agencies that want to collaborate with us. Our research reputation is also a magnet for recruiting the best researchers and students, particularly international students. All of this feeds into our position in global league tables, which further bolster our reputation and international standing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Quality –<\/strong> REF provides evidence about the quality of university research in the UK, and its impact to make the world a better place. This helps to demonstrate the value of research to the government and other research funders, and our wider community. In particular the REF evidence influences the Government\u2019s decisions about the public funding which flows through UKRI (\u00a37.8 billion in 2021\/22) and directly through Government ministries.<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>How did we do last time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In REF 2014, 83% of our research activity was judged to be ‘world-leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*). We were ranked fifth for research power, which is a measure of the quality of our research multiplied by the number of researchers at the University.<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>How have we prepared for REF2021?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The University of Manchester REF submission is one of the largest in the UK. We submitted 2,400 eligible staff, 5,200 outputs and 160 impact case studies across 31 Units of Assessment.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h6>Assembling a submission of this size could only be achieved by strong team effort \u2013 by researchers and professional service colleagues across the University working together over several years to prepare the required documents and evidence.<\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><br \/><\/strong><strong>What happens next?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The results will be released publicly on May 12. Research England does not publish University rankings but the media will do so.\u00a0We will let our colleagues, students and the wider world know how we get on.<\/p>\n<p>REF helps us gauge our progress in our ambition to be among the top 25 world leading research universities in the world for our research, innovation and impact, and for the benefits we bring to society and our environment.<\/p>\n<p>The results complement our position in global rankings and other evidence that our University is a great place to do research, to discover and to learn. We know that our world-class research environment and facilities enable our researchers to make breakthroughs which bring benefit to society and our planet; and where our research and research facilities infuse our students\u2019 learning experience. We also know that our research plays a pivotal role in our University\u2019s social responsibility commitment; including to both the global <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialresponsibility.manchester.ac.uk\/about\/impact\/sdgs\/\">sustainability goals<\/a> and to our city and region through our civic engagement.<\/p>\n<p>A selection of impact case studies are featured on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchester.ac.uk\/research\/impact\/\">research impact pages<\/a>, a small selection of the life-improving impact our research is making.<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>Thank you<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Let me close with a big thank you to our researchers and professional services teams for working together to realise the ambitions of our <a href=\"https:\/\/comms.manchester.ac.uk\/communicationsandmarketinglz\/lz.aspx?p1=M53DUzMjJTMzY2Njo2RDRCRTE3NjBDNUQwQTVGNjBBNzFDNjI0RjA0NjVENQ%3d%3d-&CC=&w=64762\">Research and Discovery Strategy<\/a>, and for preparing our REF submission. The scores will be very close for some universities. But I am confident we will have research successes across the University to celebrate next week!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colette Fagan, <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Vice-President for Research<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can watch the full video of Colette explaining REF and why it\u2019s important below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/smbGLmDenz0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n<h1>Related<\/h1>\n<div class=\"relpost-thumb-wrapper\"><div class=\"relpost-thumb-container\"><h3>Related posts:<\/h3><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-container relpost-block-column-layout\" style=\"--relposth-columns: 3;--relposth-columns_t: 2; --relposth-columns_m: 2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2020\/03\/26\/personal-perspective\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><div class=\"relpost-block-single-image rpt-lazyload\" aria-label=\"Patrick Hackett\" role=\"img\" data-bg=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/138\/2018\/10\/Untitled-5-150x150.jpg\" style=\"background: transparent no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px; aspect-ratio: 1\/1;\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Patrick Hackett: A personal perspective on the current situation<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2021\/06\/28\/why-our-hard-earned-retirement-is-top-of-my-agenda\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><div class=\"relpost-block-single-image rpt-lazyload\" aria-label=\"Karen Heaton\" role=\"img\" data-bg=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/138\/2020\/08\/Karen-Heaton_Viewpoint-150x150.jpg\" style=\"background: transparent no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px; aspect-ratio: 1\/1;\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Karen Heaton: Why our hard-earned retirement is top of my agenda<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/2022\/11\/03\/operations-and-change\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><div class=\"relpost-block-single-image rpt-lazyload\" aria-label=\"Patrick Hackett\" role=\"img\" data-bg=\"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/138\/2018\/10\/Untitled-5-150x150.jpg\" style=\"background: transparent no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px; aspect-ratio: 1\/1;\"><\/div><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Patrick Hackett: Operations and change\u00a0<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research and discovery is a core part of our University\u2019s mission and strategy.Like many, I am proud of the quality and reach of our research and the research environment which we provide to enable our researchers to thrive. The quality of our research and its impact is recognised internationally by our world-class standing in global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":3659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"<p>[et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]<\/p><p>When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p><p>Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p><p>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manchester.ac.uk\/discover\/governance\/corporate-documents\/\">Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk\/news\/display\/?id=23119\">summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p><p>However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p><p>Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p><p>Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. <br \/>Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p><p>Our strategic change programme (including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk\/modernising-it\/\">IT Modernisation<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk\/sep\/\">Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rlp.manchester.ac.uk\/\">Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p><p>Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p><p>When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p><p>To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p><p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]<\/p><h1>Related<\/h1><p>[related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p><p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slt","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3418"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3673,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions\/3673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}