What the REF: In conversation with Steven Hill

With REF releasing their guidance for the 2029 submission at 10am on 11th November, the Hidden REF team hosted a special LIVE What the REF?! episode to help you digest the important information. Listen back to a fun and informative 96 minutes!Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael and Ola unpack what the US midterms could mean for science funding, and why Research England is scrapping its ring-fenced pots for research culture, policy engagement and practice-based research. Then James talks to Javiera Atenas (University of Suffolk) about the COARA Open Science OER Toolkit: free, GitHub-hosted, and built for under-resourced universities. Why is data still undervalued? How can institutions reward community work, from citizen science to bat surveys, without turning openness into a checklist? Plus some REF folklore-busting: can an output be both a CKU submission and an impact case study?Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: Ola Thomson, Michael Donnay and James Baker. Our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon's away, so James and Gemma are going rogue. This week: two autumn predictions land, a £1bn devolution push and a new research data policy. Then the British Academy's report on dual support, which quietly admits UK research is funded by a tripartite system. Could QR money ever be audited after allocation? Next, the Meta Science Unit's AI-driven evaluation plans: do we really need more indicators, and would you rather be assessed by a bot or your peers? In REF folklore, do panels judge NTOs by proxies? Plus, a trail for our mid-November live reaction to the REF guidance.Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: Gemma Derrick - a self-confessed REF junkie, and James Baker. Our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The REF 2029 guidance finally has a date... Sort of. James, Ola and Michael unpack what that means, then dig into UKRI’s reported plans to phase out QR funding for research culture and policy engagement, and Prof. Brian Cox’s argument that you can’t engineer growth by directing research. They explore CoARA’s guidance on recognising diverse research outputs, share lessons from non-traditional output workshops in Aberdeen and Loughborough, and bust some REF folklore about those mysterious 300-word statements. Plus: a book on Vatican II, a TV show about space policy, and a plea for clarity.Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: James Baker, Ola Thomson and Michael Donnay. Our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

REF rules are (probably) coming this autumn — but what else is heading the sector's way? James, Gemma and Simon (plus one uninvited chicken) map out the season ahead: the budget, UKRI funding fallout, open data policy, devolution, and the very real possibility a Russell Group university could collapse. They dig into the Hidden REF competition's record-breaking 222 entries, report back from an international research-evaluation conference in Antwerp, and tackle the sector's favourite rumour: is the REF finally getting cancelled? (Spoiler: probably not.) Sharp, funny, and essential listening for anyone navigating UK research policy.Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: Gemma Derrick - a self-confessed REF junkie - James Baker, and Simon Hettrick. Our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Hidden REF competition is back! Bigger, busier and more diverse than ever. But why should you enter? In this episode, the What the REF team hears from three previous winners about what they gained from taking part. Jenni Adams explains how winning a Hidden Role award recognised work that often goes unseen. Jamie Davies reveals how a competition win helped his team secure funding for a vital global database. And Professor Lynne Bianchi shares how entering helped her team reflect on, evidence and articulate their impact. Plus: why submitting might be valuable even if you do not win. Ready to enter?Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: Michael Donney, Lyndsey Ballantyne, and Ola Thomson, and our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you do your first REF when there is no instruction manual? In this episode of What the REF, we meet Arts University Plymouth as they prepare for their very first REF submission. Alexandra Murphy and Ian Hutchinson share the excitement, confusion and opportunities of building a REF culture from scratch at a specialist arts university. We explore practice-based research, "not-traditionally submitted outputs", creative portfolios and the relationship between art and research. Plus, we discuss the demise of Research Professional, REF and research integrity, and why REF 2029 might be a live experiment for the future of research assessment.Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: Gemma Derrick - a self-confessed REF junkie - Ola Thomson and Simon Hettrick. Our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 23 of What the REF looks back at the recent ARMA Conference and the team’s take on various sessions there on the Research Excellence Framework. Gemma, Ola, and James discuss uncertainty around REF 2029, proposals to broaden what counts as research outputs, and gaps between policy language and what actually happens in institutions. They also dig into some of the bigger critiques of the REF — from Stefan Collini’s call to scrap it altogether, to counter-arguments that stress the need for accountability and a fair way of distributing research funding. Along the way, they share reflections from ARMA workshops, swap insights from creativity-focused university events, and dive into some REF folklore.Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: Gemma Derrick – a self-confessed REF junkie – Ola Thomson, and James Baker.Our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode of What the REF, the team officially launches the 2026 Hidden REF Competition and explores how it has evolved from a one-off initiative into a wider movement for research culture change. New co-host Michael Donnelly joins Lyndsey and Simon to discuss why the competition exists, who it supports, and how it helps spotlight overlooked research roles and outputs. They unpack this year’s REF-aligned submission process, share success stories from past entrants, and reflect on the morale boost, recognition and institutional change the competition has already inspired across the sector.Our hosts are all members of the Hidden REF committee based at the universities of Southampton and Bristol: Simon Hettrick, Lyndsey Ballantyne and Michael Donnay, and our producer is Ben Thomas.Find out more about the HiddenREF campaign at Hidden-REF.org'What the REF' is made possible by the Embedding Trust in Evaluation (E-TIE) research grant from Research England.Want to get in touch? Email: [email protected] is co-produced by Simon Hettrick, Gemma Derrick, James Baker and Ben Thomas. Video and Sound production by Ben Thomas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.