The census date for staff in REF2014 was 31 October 2013. Staff who had left Imperial by the staff census date were not eligible to be returned.
The results of REF2014 will be used to distribute HEFCE mainstream QR funding from 2015-16 onwards (equal to £1,558M in 2014-15). This funding is allocated to HEIs based on the assessed quality of submissions (Research outputs, Impact and Envronment) and the submitted volume (Full Time Equivalent - FTE) of submitted academic staff who were in post on the staff census date.
See content below for further information on:
- Staff eligibility
- Decision making
- Code of practice and staff circumstances
Staff eligibility
Two classifications of staff were eligible for submission in REF2014: Category A (academics) and Category C (honoraries).
| Category A - Academics | Category C - Honoraries | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Academic staff in post and on payroll at Imperial with a contract of employment of at least 0.2 FTE on the staff census date. | Staff employed by a non HEI-organisation (e.g. the NHS, a Research council unit, a charity etc.) whose contract or job role includes undertaking research focused at Imperial on the staff census date. |
| Includes | Academic staff; Early career researchers; NHS staff with joint appointments; Staff with joint appointments with other HEIs; Staff on secondment on the census date. |
Honorary staff. |
| Excludes | Research only staff unless they are acting as independent investigators; Staff on secondment for more than 2 years. |
Staff on non-academic contracts; Retired staff; Visiting professors, fellows and lecturers employed by other HEIs. |
| FTE contributes to funding volume? | Yes | No. Category C staff contribute to the quality assessment only, and not the funding volume. Therefore, Category C staff should only be included in the submission if their research outputs will improve the assessed quality of the submission. |
| Research outputs contribute to quality assessment? | Yes | Yes |
| Extra details | FTE on the census date; Start date at Imperial (if joined since 01 January 2008); Contract start and end dates; Early career researchers: date became eligible for submission. |
Category C staff details (form REF1c): Name of employer; Job title; research responsibilities; evidence research is focused in submitting unit. |
Decision making
Each HEI decided which staff to submit in order to maximise both the quality (which includes the assessment of their research outputs) and resulting funding (linked to submitted staff volume). The peer review panels did not assess the quality of individual staff. Information on staff was used for verification purposes (to confirm staff eligibility) and in summary statistics (for example statistics which use the FTE of Category A staff submitted etc).
All academic staff employed by the College on the REF Census Date of 31 October 2013 who met the criteria for submission were eligible for possible submission to REF2014. However, the decisions about which staff to submit was a College one. The College's Code of Practice ensured that all decisions were justifiable and did not show any unjust discrimination.
