A major survey on how academic research should be funded, with significant consequences for academic freedom, closes on 13 September .
The Research Excellence Framework is an assessment of UK universities which determines the allocation of two billion pounds of research funding annually. The next REF will take place in 2029.
The REF assesses universities on their performance in a number of differently weighted “elements”. In 2023, the REF announced that it would increase the weighting of the Culture, People, and Environment (CPE) element from 15% to 25%. The CPE element assesses “behaviours within the research system”, “what is valued, recognised and rewarded”, and the general “research culture”.
It appears that the reason for this increased weighting is that:
The funding bodies recognise that the REF’s impact extends beyond its stated purposes and that the shape of the exercise drives behaviours within the research system, often determining what is valued, recognised and rewarded more broadly in the HE sector. The funding bodies agreed that supporting a healthy research culture should be an underpinning principle of the REF, which influences all aspects of its design and conduct. (Initial decisions and issues for further consultation).
That is, the REF management intend to use the allocation of funding to alter the internal culture of universities. This undermines university autonomy, a pillar of academic freedom. Universities should have control over their own research cultures. Worse, as CAF has reported, the phrase “academic freedom” did not appear in the REF’s preliminary description of what the CPE element will assess – and hence the culture the scheme would promote. In this envisaged form, future REF assessments would therefore have disincentivised universities to protect academic freedom.
Academic freedom groups and individuals supportive of academic freedom have campaigned extensively against the increased weighting of the PCE element and the omission of academic freedom. The London Universities Council for Academic Freedom submitted an open letter to the REF signed by 119 academics.
The REF have since committed to review the increased weighting of the PCE element and academic freedom has been included in workshop discussions on the element’s content. These concessions have been won with great effort from supporters of academic freedom, and at present, are limited. Without further action, it is unlikely that the weighting of the PCE element will be reduced, or that academic freedom will be included as a goal for university research cultures.
REF is running a survey for UK academics on the weight and content of the PCE element. We believe it is extremely important that academics who are supportive of academic freedom respond to the survey, urging REF to include academic freedom in the PCE element and not to increase the element’s weighting above 15%. The survey will close on the 13th September.