In REF 2029 the environment element from REF2021 will be expanded to include Strategy, People, and Research Environment (SPRE) and will contribute 20% of the overall quality profile. The SPRE element in REF 2029 will consist of an institution-level statement and a unit-level statement. The institution-level statement will carry 60% of the SPRE weighting.
Templates and indicators for SPRE will be confirmed and published by REF as soon as possible in 2026.
Institution-level quantitative data is anticipated to include
- which units are submitted in each main panel
- volume measure for each submitted unit
- the units with small unit exceptions and their volume measure
- number of research doctoral degrees awarded by UoA and total for the institution, for the REF period, by year
- average annual research income for the REF period, total across all sources
- average annual research income for the REF period by source
Unit-level quantitative data is anticipated to include:
- volume measure
- total number of ACEMPFUN.02 and 03 contracts over the volume measure qualifying years and the percentage with a REFQUALCON flag
- total number of outputs submitted
- number and percentage of substantive links, for the submitted outputs and the associated reserve pool, with one, two, three, four, five or more research outputs attributed to them
- number and percentage of outputs also submitted to one, two or more other UoAs
- distribution of outputs and substantive links per sub-discipline within the UoA as defined by the REF taxonomy
- number and percentage of substantive links that are prepublication, from previous staff and those using the long-form and/or extended process exception
- number and percentage of substantive links that are volume contributing within the volume measure period
- number of research doctoral degrees awarded in the REF period, by year
- average annual research income for the REF period, total across all sources
- average annual research income for the REF period by source
The institution-level statement will require narrative for each of the four sections, 1) context, mission and strategy; 2) people; 3) income, infrastructure and facilities and 4) collaboration, engagement and impact. The word count will be flexible across the four sections.
The unit-level statement will require narrative for each of the four sections but will have more flexibility in the choice of content. The word count will be flexible across the four sections. The unit-level statement also has three required elements, i) the statement of representation, ii) the statement on the research community and iii) details of the approach to Engagement and Impact. These will be incorporated into context, mission and strategy (section 1) and engagement and impact (section 4) in the template.
The unit-level statement will include a Research Community: Roles and Careers statement. This statement should provide an overview of the range of roles, functions, and career stages that contribute to a unit across the REF period. Units are encouraged to celebrate the breadth of research activity, roles, and contributions that support research excellence.