This is a guest blog from Professor Karen Boyle, Chair of UOA34, which provides an insight into the recruitment process for the REF sub panels.
This is my third REF.
In 2014, I was a late appointee: a Joint Output Assessor for what were then UOAs 35 and 36. In 2021, I was appointed as the Deputy Chair of UOA34 (Communication, Cultural & Media Studies, Library & Information Management). For 2029, I’m chairing the same UOA.
Some would way that makes me a glutton for punishment.
But whilst I don’t want to downplay the challenges, in my current role I am regularly reminded why I’m putting myself through this again.
First, REF matters. It matters, most obviously, because its results determine quality-related funding to universities. For the Arts and Humanities in Main Panel D that really matters.
Second, the underlying principle of REF is to find – and reward – research excellence wherever it is produced and in whatever forms it takes. That means REF produces surprises that would be missed if we used proxies for research quality. The peer-review process – conducted by trained, expert colleagues, with inter- and intra-panel calibration – is at the heart of REF.
There are also selfish motives. It is an immense privilege to engage with the world-leading work of colleagues across the UK. It is energising to learn about the impact this work has on communities. And it is inspiring to learn about the diverse and innovative ways that units make this work happen even – indeed particularly – in these challenging times.
Speaking of challenging times…
I am all too aware that it is difficult to get enthusiastic about REF2029 right now. Over the months ahead, it is up to those of us appointed to Main Panels and UoAs to work with our colleagues in the Secretariat, on Advisory Panels and the central REF team to ensure that we have a REF that is attentive to the current context and its differential impacts. We need to do this whilst ensuring we have the mechanisms to deliver robust outcomes.
Given how critical this is, it is hugely encouraging that there were thousands of high-quality applicants for UOA roles for REF2029. Inevitably, this means many well-qualified colleagues were not selected in all UOAs. I hope a glimpse into the process can help give a sense of why we arrived where we did in UOA34 and what is still to come.
Some things were the same across all panels: the application form and scoring template, for instance. But panels were also able to devise local priorities, dependent – in part – on consultations with the sector.
In UOA34, we consulted sector bodies (including MeCCSA, BaFTSS and AJE) on general principles and concerns. We also brought in expertise from Library and Information Management (LIM) to assist with LIM applications.
There was a unified message from sector bodies about the importance of ensuring the panel has the confidence of our fields and can demonstrate that we understand the current climate, its differential impacts and the way this might (re)shape submissions. For these reasons, we paid particular attention to operational experience in these initial appointments to ensure that the guidelines we devise work across the very many differently constituted units which make up UOA34. This meant balancing panel members with previous REF panel experience with colleagues who are/were working to implement that guidance at institutional level in different parts of the sector facing different challenges. We’ve been more successful in some respects than in others: we don’t yet have a panel member from Northern Ireland and that is a priority for the next round of recruitment.
Operational expertise was set alongside the need to ensure coverage across the range of discrete and overlapping areas which make up UOA34. We were alert to subject, methodological and regional expertise as well as expertise in producing and assessing outputs of different types, including practice-based work.
Many of the fields represented by UOA34 are inherently interdisciplinary. Some cross UOA boundaries. Colleagues need to be confident that wherever their work ends up it will be assessed consistently, by colleagues with expertise in their field. REF also needs to be able to report clearly on research excellence in fields that appear in more than one place.
Film, Television and Screen Studies (FTVS) – which, since 2021, has been acknowledged in the title of UOA33 (Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies) – has nevertheless always been split across 33 and 34 as well as cropping up in a number of other panels. We worked closely with our counterparts on UOA33 for these initial appointments, conducting joint consultations with key bodies representing FTVS (BAFTSS and MeCCSA) and reviewing our appointments to ensure that we had broad expertise to enable joint assessment where appropriate. Once submission intentions are known we will be able to identify where joint appointments – not just with 33 but with other related panels, including 32 (Art & Design) – may be desirable.
This is equally urgent for Library and Information Management. There are some obvious gaps in our current profile – for instance in relation to more quantitative work in LIM – that we will be better able to fill once submission intentions are known. These can help us identify where joint appointments, both within and beyond Main Panel D, may be appropriate.
In short, only once the next round of recruitment is complete will we have all the expertise we need for REF2029. The two-stage process allows us to be responsive to submission intentions – vital given the changing shape of the sector – and make sure we have the right expertise in the right place. Of course, those intentions might also identify other areas not indicated in this blog where we need increased capacity. This means it is incumbent on those of us already in post to be in ongoing dialogue with relevant sector bodies. We also need to continue to work closely within other units (within and beyond Main Panel D) to support interdisciplinary research and multi-disciplinary submissions of all shapes and sizes. The Chairs of 32, 33 and 34 (as well as the Deputy for 33) were on the People Culture and Environment Pilot Panel together and have reflected these concerns in that context too.
The final part of the puzzle is ensuring that excellent colleagues re-apply/are encouraged to apply for UOA roles when the next call comes out.
So if it is something you’re thinking about, please get in touch.
Professor Karen Boyle, Chair of UOA34
Head of Department of Humanities, University of Strathclyde