REF2021 - Update 1: St George's Code of Practice - we need your feedback

29 January 2019

From Professor Jodi Lindsay

REF2021 is the national exercise to assess the quality of research in higher education (https://www.ref.ac.uk/ ), and SGUL’s REF2021 submission will impact on our income and reputation.

As part of the REF2021 process, SGUL will submit our Code of Practice to REF on June 7 2019.

The Code of Practice states how SGUL will:

• Identify which staff will be returned for REF2021
• Identify staff with significant responsibility for research
• Outline how outputs (papers) will be identified for return.

The Code of Practice requires staff consultation before the final version is agreed upon and submitted.

Our latest DRAFT is available on our portal, and we invite you to provide feedback and comments. https://portal.sgul.ac.uk/research/ref2021/ref-2021-code-of-practice

It is also being circulated through the union representatives, and we will have a staff presentation and discussion session on Feb 14 at 1pm – 2pm in Lecture Theatre B. All staff are welcome, and you can sign up to attend at https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=a7xs9vfNYUK9c0PbO57iqvn8oSi7nU1AoMuQkkniWmNUN1pOS1JSQzBKMEZYNURERzFERExKQktDTi4u

 There is a website for feeding back comments here – http://sgul.ac.uk/refcode

Alternatively, you can email me directly, or Yvonne Castle, our Research Strategy & Development Manager, ycastle@sgul.ac.uk

Feedback closes on Feb 28 2019 and will be presented to SGUL’s REF Steering committee for discussion and consideration.

Our Code of Practice is a long document. So here is a summary of our strategy:

Staff will be returned if (on the census date of July 31, 2020) they

• have a contract with SGUL >0.2 FTE,
• research in an area aligned with SGUL’s submission strategy,
• are a member or a joint member of a Research Institute,
• are employed as a Professor, Reader, Senior Lecturer or Lecturer or hold an independently funded fellowship post-PhD/MD.

Note that there is a new procedure for staff wishing to apply to be a joint member of an Institute and this is detailed in the Code of Practice.

Outputs will be selected for return using the following guidelines -

• Papers must be in CRIS and eligible
• Academics will have the opportunity to comment on their top papers using the new functionality in CRIS
• Publication metrics, such as WoS citation count and JIF, will be used to short-list papers
• We will have an internal panel of experts who will read and grade papers
• External REF assessment will be sought on some papers
• For all returned academic staff, the best paper will be identified.
• A list of the remaining papers will be ranked and the cut-off set at 2.5 x FTE, removing those papers where an author has >5.
• The REF Steering committee will make the final decisions.

Thank you for your help, and we look forward to your feedback.

Jodi

Academic Lead for REF2021