Review of the central coordination of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework submission

Coordinating an institutional submission for the REF can be a challenging process involving years of planning and departments and teams from across the university. REF 2021 had additional challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, including competing priorities as colleagues assisted with the fight against Covid and staff were forced to work from home.

We were asked by Imperial College London to review the central coordination of their 2021 REF submission, with a particular focus on identifying process improvements in the preparation of the submission as well as how the College can make better use of research and impact data as part of business as usual processes.

We conducted a review of internal documentation supported by a consultation process. This involved 17 interviews with 27 internal stakeholders, including academics, senior leaders and support staff, as well as a focus group presentation with selected project stakeholders to present the emerging findings of this work and allow for discussion.

Throughout the review, the strengths of both the existing internal processes, dedication of staff throughout the REF cycle and research impact were apparent. Through the consultation conducted with the key departments involved in the submission, examples of both good practices and areas for improvement were identified. As a result, we identified three strategic priorities and suggested 20 recommendations in total to deliver these.