Call for nominations for REF panel membership

REF2021REFAdvisory Boards

The Chartered ABS has been contacted by HEFCE regarding the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

The REF will be undertaken through a process of peer review by expert panels, involving over 1000 senior UK academics, users of research from organisations beyond higher education and international advisors. Membership of the panels is widely seen as a mark of esteem, in what is regarded as a world leading assessment system.

Members of the expert panels will be appointed through a nominations process. Any association, or organisation with a clear interest in the conduct, quality, funding or wider benefits of publicly funded research can nominate individuals for panel membership. Mission groups, individual UK HEIs and groups within or subsidiaries of individual UK HEIs may not make nominations.

The Chartered Association of Business Schools is a registered nominating body and we will be collating responses on behalf of the business and management education community. We will also be liaising with the British Academy of Management (BAM) to see where there are areas of agreement.

We are therefore inviting nominations from you for panel members and of sub panel chairs. We have formulated the following criteria for you to consider when making your recommendations.

  • Consider the diversity of nominations. This includes gender, geography (i.e. four home nations), subject specialty, disciplinary affiliations and methodological preference.
  • A minimum expectation should be that nominees have published to a high standard but it should not be simply a collection of those with the highest H-index.
  • At least some of the nominees should have a specific interest in impact.
  • At least some of the nominees should have a multidisciplinary background and/or a research record of working across disciplines.
  • At least some of the nominees should be in “employer” roles such as Deans or Heads of Department. This is because the line management voice is important in understanding how our discipline is perceived relative to others, which is a priority for the Chartered ABS.

Please forward any nominations you may have to Martin Pearson at martin.pearson@charteredabs.org  by Friday 29 September.