British Academy responds to Lord Stern’s independent review of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)

In its response to the independent review of the REF chaired by President of the British Academy Lord Stern, the British Academy has welcomed the Government's recent commitment to the dual support system. Quality Related funding distributed through the REF is crucial, especially for the humanities and social sciences.

The British Academy has emphasised that a REF that relied on quantitative indicators alone would not be capable of assessing research quality, across the research base. In addition, the British Academy has argued that there is an absolute need to obviate distortion of the research process and damage to research careers that research assessment exercises have induced. As part of this, a fundamental reconceptualization of impact is needed – both how it is defined and how it is assessed and the burden on submitting institutions and on the assessment process should also be managed down to reduce the financial costs and also the opportunity costs of REF.

The Academy's response was led by Professor Roger Kain FBA as Vice President for Higher Education. All members of the High Level Steering group for the review served in a personal capacity.

Read the British Academy Full Response Lord Stern's Review of REF here.

Find out more about the British Academy's Responses to Consultations here.