Shaping the future of research evaluation. Insights from The Festival of Hidden REF.

Abstract

The white paper outlines the experiences and processes underpinning the first Hidden REF exercise in 2021, plus the discussions held at the inaugural Festival of Hidden REF in Bristol, UK, on 21 September 2023.

Organised around two main themes, the white paper defines and evaluates non-traditional outputs in order to promote their inclusion in the mainstream Research Excellence Framework (REF 2029). Plus, it determines the structure of the next Hidden REF exercise, currently envisioned for 2024.

The white paper demonstrates that the Hidden REF 2024 exercise presents an opportunity to experiment with evaluation approaches that would not be possible in the mainstream REF 2029. As such, Hidden REF 2024 is uniquely well-placed to assess what works in the evaluation of non-traditional outputs. If these conclusions are implemented in REF 2029, sectoral confidence in the fair and robust evaluation on non-traditional outputs will grow, and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will include more non-traditional outputs in their REF 2029 output submissions.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Simon Hettrick: orcid.org/0000-0002-6809-5195

ORCID for James Baker: orcid.org/0000-0002-2682-6922

ORCID for Lyndsey Ballantyne: orcid.org/0009-0000-7528-9417

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