Category Archives: HEFCE

Depersonalising the REF

Posted on 17 March 2017 by Athene Donald

Successive rounds of the RAE and its successor REF have always caused high levels of stress and anxiety. The associated workload is very substantial for institutions (and many individuals); the stakes are high in terms of both reputation and funding. … Continue reading →

Posted in HEFCE, Research, Royal Society, Science Culture, Science Funding, Stern Review | Comments Off on Depersonalising the REF

Beyond the Silo Mentality

Posted on 11 December 2016 by Athene Donald

I have been fretting about the challenges of appropriately evaluating interdisciplinary work for many years. My specific beef has been about grant assessment in the Research Councils at the interface between physics and biology, because that is where my research … Continue reading →

Posted in HEFCE, interdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinary Science, REF21, Research | Comments Off on Beyond the Silo Mentality

A Basketful of Metrics?

Posted on 9 July 2015 by Athene Donald

For those who were involved with any aspect of REF2014, it had similarities to a slow speed nightmare. For those embroiled in preparing the submissions, not only was it extremely, ridiculously time-consuming, but it was also a heavy burden of … Continue reading →

Posted in HEFCE, James Wilsdon, REF, Research | Comments Off on A Basketful of Metrics?

Debating the role of metrics in research assessment

Posted on 7 October 2014 by Stephen

I spent all of today attending the “In metrics we trust?” workshop organised jointly by HEFCE and the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University. It was an open session that was part of the information-gathering process of HEFCE’s … Continue reading →

Posted in HEFCE, metrics, REF, Research Assessment, science, Scientific Life | Comments Off on Debating the role of metrics in research assessment

Royal Society Meeting on Open Access in the UK: What Willetts Wants

Posted on 27 February 2013 by Stephen

After all the excitement of open access (OA) developments last Friday, there was a chance to take stock this Monday at the Royal Society’s conference on “Open access in the UK and what it means for scientific research”. The meeting, … Continue reading →

Posted in David Sweeney, David Willetts, HEFCE, Open Access, RCUK, Royal Society, Tom Welton | Comments Off on Royal Society Meeting on Open Access in the UK: What Willetts Wants

Levelling the Playing Field

Posted on 2 November 2011 by Athene Donald

This article has been published in the November issue of Physics World. The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE),which has been used to measure the quality of UK research for more than 20 years, has now morphed into the equally clunky sounding … Continue reading →

Posted in consultation, Equality, HEFCE, maternity leave, outputs, REF, Research, Women in science | Comments Off on Levelling the Playing Field

The New College of Humanities; is this the future?

Posted on 5 June 2011 by Sylvia McLain

This morning I read about The New College of Humanities (NCH) ; or rather before I read about the New College of the Humanities, I read alot of RTs on Twitter about the BBC article on New College of the … Continue reading →

Posted in HEFCE, higher education, Mary Beard, New College of Humanities | Comments Off on The New College of Humanities; is this the future?