REF 2028: Five years to go

Positivity mixes with caution after funders map out the path to the next Research Excellence Framework

One year after the frenzy that greeted the results of the Research Excellence Framework 2021, hype around research assessment is back in universities.

Before the dust even settled on REF 2021, speculation was rife about what shape the huge assessment of universities’ research quality would take in 2028, and how changes might alter the destination of more than £2 billion in annual quality-related research money that hinges on REF results.