All staff eligible for inclusion in the forthcoming Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) will shortly receive an invitation to voluntarily declare circumstances that impacted their ability to work productively during the REF period.
The purpose of collecting this information is to:
- Enable staff to be entered into REF who have been unable to produce a REF-eligible output during the assessment period 1 January 2014 – 31 July 2020.
- Recognise the effect that equality-related circumstances can have on an individual’s ability to research productively.
- Establish whether there are any Units of Assessment (UOA) where the proportion of declared circumstances is sufficiently high to warrant a request for a reduced number of outputs to be submitted.
As set out in our Code of Practice, the University has established safe and robust processes to enable staff to voluntarily declare any equality-related circumstances which include:
- Qualifying as an ECR (started career as an independent researcher on or after 1 August 2016)
- Absence from work due to secondments or career breaks outside the Higher Education sector
- Qualifying periods of family-related leave including statutory maternity or adoption leave
- Junior clinical academics who have not gained a Certificate of Completion of training by 31 July 2020
- Disability (including chronic conditions)
- Ill health, injury or mental health conditions
- Constraints relating to family leave that fall outside the standard allowances
- Caring responsibilities
- Gender reassignment
Note that other than maternity, paternity and adoption leave, absences impacting on research productivity must amount to at least 12 months. If your combined absences are close to this total, please submit a form as there may be other circumstances that can be taken into account.
If you have previously returned a staff circumstances form and your circumstances have not changed, you do not need to resubmit.
Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions.
