Reaction to Research Excellence Framework 2021 results

Research England has published the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) which the UK higher education funding councils carry out to provide accountability for public investment, provide benchmarking information, and inform the selective allocation of quality-related research (QR) funding.

The REF results are very important to UK higher education institutions and funders – and to the broader research community and society – as a way of capturing the quality and impact of UK research as well as the state of the environment in which that research is carried out. The exercise assesses the quality of research outputs (worth 60% of the overall profile), the impact of research (worth 25%) and the research environment (worth 15%).

Tom Welton, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, recognises that the results will prompt much analysis and discussion across the research community. He says: “We should really start with thanking all involved in the REF process. It is a huge task, not only in submitting but also judging the REF submissions, they do it so conscientiously and well.”

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