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This site provides researchers and administrators with up-to-date information on the REF and is intended to help all those involved with the compilation of REF submissions. The website will be regularly updated by the School’s REF Team.
REF at the School of Clinical Medicine
Now in its second incarnation, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the means of assessing the quality of research in UK HEIs. Organised and undertaken by the four British research councils, the REF is a process of expert review of 34 subject-based Units of Assessment (UoAs). Expert panels assess three distinct elements of an HEI’s research, namely: the quality of research outputs (60%), the impact of the research beyond academia (25%), and the environment that supports the research (15%).
The School of Clinical Medicine is administering the REF submission for the following UoAs:
- UoA1: Clinical Medicine
- UoA2: Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care
- UoA4: Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience.
Assessment Criteria
The assessment criteria and level definitions for research quality profiles are as follows:
- Four star: Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
- Three star:Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour but which falls short of the highest standards of excellence.
- Two star: Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
- One star: Quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
- Unclassified: Quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognised work or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment.
