News Archive

REF 2021 Code of Practice approved

In June 2019, we submitted our REF Code of Practice for assessment by the REF Equality & Diversity Advisory Panel and Research England. Approval of the Code is a requirement for all institutions intending to make a submission to the REF. We are pleased to announce that our Code of Practice has now been approved.

The Code was developed in collaboration with colleagues across the University as well as committees and the Universities College Union, and we are grateful to these colleagues for their input and support.

Code of Practice Implementation

The Code of Practice details how we will put our submission together; it sets out the steps that we will take to ensure fairness in decision making, and explains how we will meet our legal responsibilities with regards to equality and diversity.

It sets out expectations for fair and transparent internal processes for:

(i) identification of staff with significant responsibility for research;

(ii) identification of staff who classify as independent researchers;

(iii) selection of outputs to be submitted and;

(iv) taking into account any personal circumstances of individuals.

These processes are relevant to all academic staff with responsibility for research, and so we encourage you to visit the Code of Practice pages. In addition, the PVCs (Research & Innovation) will visit Schools in late September and early October, to answer questions. We encourage you to attend these meetings. The current schedule is:

If you want to know more about the Code of Practice, please visit the COP pages here. For questions about the Code and its content, contact ref.admin@reading.ac.uk .

If you want to know more about our preparations for the REF 2021, please visit the University’s main REF 2021 pages here. For more information about the REF nationally visit www.ref.ac.uk.