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Impact pilot exercise

During 2010 the REF team ran a pilot exercise to test and develop proposals for assessing the impact of research in the REF.

The pilot exercise involved 29 UK higher education institutions submitting evidence of impact to be assessed by pilot expert panels in five REF units of assessment.

Outcomes of the pilot exercise

The key findings of the pilot exercise were published in:

Following the completion of the pilot exercise, the four UK higher education funding bodies announced their decisions on the assessment of impact in the REF (REF 01.2011).

Further information

Example pilot case studies from Clinical Medicine

Download the ClinicalMedicine as PDF (222 KB) | Download the ClinicalMedicine as MS Word (167 KB)

Example pilot case studies from Physics

Download the physics as PDF (664 KB)  | Download the Physics as MS Word (803 KB)

Example pilot case studies from Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences

Download the EarthSystems_EnvironmentalSciences as PDF (217 KB)  | Download the EarthSystems_EnvironmentalSciences as MS Word (143 KB)

Example pilot case studies from Social Work and Social Policy

Download the SocialWork_SocialPolicy as PDF (269 KB)  | Download the SocialWork_SocialPolicy as MS Word (162 KB)

Example pilot case studies from English Language and Literature

Download the EnglishLang_Lit as PDF (259 KB)  | Download the EnglishLang_Lit as MS Word (161 KB)

Impact Pilot Steering Group: terms of reference and membership

Download the steeringgroup_TOR as PDF (8 KB)  | Download the steeringgroup_TOR as MS Word (55 KB)

Guidance on submissions for institutions participating in the pilot

Download the REF_impact_pilot_guidance_on_submissions as PDF (313 KB)  | Download the REF_impact_pilot_guidance_on_submissions as MS Word (307 KB)

Supplementary notes on guidance on submissions for participating institutions

Download the REF_impact_pilot_sup_guidance_on_submissions as PDF (62 KB)  | Download the REF_impact_pilot_case_study_template_guidance as MS Word (68 KB)

REF impact pilot: revised case study template and guidance July 2010

Download the REF_impact_pilot_case_study_template_guidance as PDF (53 KB)  | Download the REF_impact_pilot_case_study_template_guidance as MS Word (68 KB)

Participating institutions and units of assessment

Download the Institutions_byUOA as PDF (24 KB)  | Download the Institutions_byUOA as MS Word (71 KB)

Guidance to the pilot expert panels

Download the guidance_panels as PDF (237 KB)  | Download the guidance_panels as MS Word (172 KB)

Summary of workshops on the impacts of research in the practice-based creative and performing arts, the humanities and social sciences

Download the workshops_impact_research as PDF (166 KB)  | Download the workshops_impact_research as MS Word (182 KB)