REF2021
Find out more about REF2021 at Coventry
Research Excellence Framework
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a critical and strategic component of the university’s research activities, benchmarking our research efforts against peer institutions at both subject and institutional levels.
REF remains a periodic, expert-led research assessment exercise, taking place approximately every seven years, and is used to distribute over £2 billion annually in public funding to support research activities in higher education institutions.
For REF 2029, the framework maintains its assessment of 34 subject-based units of assessment (UoAs), organised under four main panels that represent the broad range of research carried out across the sector. Each institution submits work aligned with their respective UoAs, allowing subject areas to be assessed against peer groupings in other institutions.
Each submission is evaluated based on:
• Contribution to Knowledge and Understanding (e.g. publications, practice-based outputs such as performances).
• Engagement and Impact (e.g. contributions to policy, industry, society).
• People, Culture and Environment (e.g. the infrastructure, strategy, and culture supporting research).
These are weighted as follows:
Knowledge and Understanding
Engagement and Impact
People, Culture and Environment
The submissions are peer-reviewed by expert panels, including senior academics, international experts, and end-users of research, whose evaluations combine to produce an overall score for each UoA.
What is the REF's purpose?
- Inform the allocation of block-grant research funding to HEIs based on research quality.
- Provide accountability for public investment in research and produce evidence of the benefits of this investment.
- Provide insights into the health of research in HEIs in the UK.
Find out more about research impact.
