Middlesex Research Forum is a meeting and exchange point for academic staff at the University. Initiated by Professor Katy Deepwell and Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell, with Professor Carol Costley.

This event is open to all academic staff. The aim is that those attending can share and exchange ideas and points of view about the broader culture of research and what it means to be a researcher in academia.

You are welcome to bring your lunch. We are not able to provide tea or coffee at this event.

We plan to discuss the implications for individual researchers of:-
HEFCE’s INITIAL DECISIONS report (September 2017): http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rereports/year/2017/ref201701/

Summary in public letter to VC’s, here: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2017/CL,332017/

HEFCE’s full report (September 2017) of University Responses in its first Consultation on Stern can be found here: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Pubs/Independentresearch/2017/REF,201702/REF_2017_02.pdf  
Further consultation was planned and final decisions will be announced in February-March 2018.

REF 2020/2021 will offer a ‘continuity of approach through an exercise based on peer review, informed by metrics where appropriate, and assessing outputs, impact and environment’.

Impact will be 'deepened and broadened’, increasing weighting of impact in submissions from 20 to 25 per cent. Outputs – 60 per cent, Environment – 15 per cent.

There will be an all staff submission – 100% of all those staff defined as ‘having a significant responsibility to undertake research’.  Their current approach defines these as Staff who:

· have an academic employment function of ‘research only’ or ‘teaching and research’

· are independent researchers

· hold minimum employment of 0.2 full-time equivalent

· have a substantive connection to the submitting institution.

‘Institutions may return 100 per cent in certain units of assessment (UOAs) only; for any other UOAs in which they submit, they must document and follow a process’ - ‘No single indicator identifies those within the scope of the exercise – and there are many staff in HEI’s who have more significant responsibility for other activities, including knowledge exchange, professional practice, and scholarship.’

They will NOT map staff onto UOA’s by HESA cost centres and have opted instead to allow institutions to determine who will be entered under different UOAs. Several panels have been restructured.

They are reviewing Portability rules for individual outputs recognising ‘problematic disincentives for investment, and negative effects on staff recruitment and retention, associated with credit for outputs moving with staff in previous exercises’ AND ‘the unintended consequences for staff mobility (particularly for early-career researchers) and publication behaviour, and about burden, practical implementation and retrospective application’ in future decisions about 2021.