Research Assessment Exercise Riad Bayoumi Research Assessment Exercise

Research Assessment Exercise Riad Bayoumi

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is a periodic national exercise which assesses the quality of research. The information obtained is used for the selective distribution of public funds for research by the Institutes of Higher Education funding bodies. It is also used as a variable in various ranking exercises by other national and international bodies.

• The Research Assessment Exercise is conducted jointly by the Higher Education Funding Councils • The primary purpose of the RAE is to produce quality profiles for each submission of research activity made by research institutions. • The higher education funding bodies use the quality profiles to determine their grants for research to the institution which they fund. • Any Higher Education Institution that is eligible to receive research funding from one of the funding bodies is eligible to participate in the exercise.

Establishing Excellence • Qualities of Surprise and Delight • Transparency of Argument and Evidence • Commitment to Rigor and Peer Review • Communication and Dissemination of Standards and Examples

Scholarship • “Is it possible to define the work of faculty in ways that reflect more realistically the full range of academic and civic mandates? ” • “… the work of the professoriate might be thought of as having four separate, yet overlapping, functions” – Discovery – Integration – Application – Teaching

Discovery • Scholarship that makes a commitment to knowledge for its own sake, to freedom of inquiry and to following in a disciplined fashion an investigation wherever it may lead … • Comes closest to what is usually meant when we speak of “Research”

Integration • Scholarship that makes connections across the disciplines, in a larger context, at the boundaries where fields converge … that seeks to interpret, draw together, and bring new insight to bear on original research … • Interdisciplinary, interpretive, integrative

Application • Scholarship that serves the interest of the larger community by addressing consequential problems … bringing knowledge to bear on the issues faced by members of the society. • The community’s issues themselves define the agenda for scholarly investigation

Teaching • Scholarship using disciplinary methods and practice to study and improve student learning … building on, peer reviewing, and sharing knowledge gained through investigation to improve teaching and learning. • Not only transmitting knowledge, but transforming and extending it as well.

The Advancement of Learning Discovery Integration The University Application Teaching

Quality Profile The overall quality profile is comprised of the aggregate of the weighted profiles produced for: Research Outputs, Research Environment, and Esteem Indicators.

Overall Quality Profile Research Outputs Research Environment Esteem

Content of Submissions • • RAE Forms: RA 0 – Summary information RA 1 – Staff: RA 2 – Research outputs RA 3 – Research students & studentships RA 4 – Research income RA 5 – Esteem and environment RA 5 b – Confidential staff information

Main Panel • Co-ordinate criteria for assessment and working methods across sub-panels • Help consistency between sub-panels during the assessment phase • Endorse quality profiles • Co-ordinate requests for specialist advice beyond expertise of the sub-panel • International members (30%)

Criteria and Consultations • Internal consistency checks and legal advice • Published draft criteria and working methods • Opportunity for subject communities to have input to the criteria and working methods for their disciplines • Final criteria • Finalise and publish

Overall Quality Profile Research Outputs Research Environment Esteem 4* Quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour 3* Quality that is internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour but which nonetheless falls short of the highest standards of excellence 2* Quality that is recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour. 1* Quality that is recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour. u/c Quality that falls below the standard of nationally recognised work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment.

Overall Quality Profile Research Outputs 75% Research Environment Esteem 20% 5%

Research Outputs 75% • Inclusive approach: Refereed jnl articles, books, authored/edited, professional/practitioner jnls. , research reports etc. Textbooks/teaching material considered if they embody research. • Normal expectation: 4 research outputs/ person/ year • Assessed through excellence in - originality, significance/impact and rigour - all types of research (applied, interdisciplinary, practice-based) given equal weighting •

Environment 20% • To include research students and grant income • Students – numbers, studentships and degrees awarded – • External research income • Pattern of grants more important than total value

Environment 20% The institution’s vision, strategy, relevant update on research Plans • Mechanisms and practices for promoting research and sustaining research culture • Nature and quality of research infrastructure • Arrangements for supporting interdisciplinary and collaborative research • Arrangements for collaboration with public, private and voluntary sectors, involvement of service- users, relationship – critical or supportive to government policy technology transfer and for interactions with end- users • Approach to developing and supporting staff

Esteem 5% Plenary addresses, prizes, honours and awards, editorships, learned society engagement, membership of research councils or similar • Esteem of user community • Advisor to govt, parlt. , voluntary bodies, contributions to public service • International collaborations, visiting research posts • Contributions to academic/professional associations

Overall Quality Profile Quality Level % of Research Activity Research Outputs 4* 3* 2* 1* u/c 20 25 30 15 10 Research Environment Esteem Indicators 4* 3* 2* 1* u/c 15 25 35 15 10 25 25 15 20 15 30 20 10 20 20 eg 70% eg 20% eg 10% (Minimum 50%) (Minimum 5%)

Overall Quality Outputs in Profile the public Research domain, includes journal articles, monographs, chapters, conference proceedings, confidential reports, patents 4* 3* 2* 1* u/c Quality Level % of Research 20 Activity Research Outputs 25 30 15 Research Environment 10 Esteem Indicators 4* 3* 2* 1* u/c 15 25 35 15 10 25 25 15 20 15 30 20 10 20 20 eg 70% eg 20% eg 10% (Minimum 50%) (Minimum 5%)

Overall Profile Environment Quality may include for example Issues of: - Sustainability and Vitality Strategy & Plans, Research Students 4* Income, 3* 2* 1*Research u/c Quality Level collaboration with business/industry % of Research 20 Activity Research Outputs 25 30 15 Research Environment 10 Esteem Indicators 4* 3* 2* 1* u/c 15 25 35 15 10 25 25 15 20 15 30 20 10 20 20 eg 70% eg 20% eg 10% (Minimum 50%) (Minimum 5%)

Overall Esteem Indicators might include: Quality Profile Fellowships, Editorial Board positions, Prizes; Prestigious Grants/Studentships 4* 3* 1* u/c Quality Advisory Roles for 2*Industry Level Collective and 25 Individual % of Research 20 30 15 10 Activity Research Outputs Research Environment Esteem Indicators 4* 3* 2* 1* u/c 15 25 35 15 10 25 25 15 20 15 30 20 10 20 20 eg 70% eg 20% eg 10% (Minimum 50%) (Minimum 5%)

RAE in UK • The first RAE was undertaken in 1986. For the first time it introduced an explicit and formalized assessment process of the quality of research. Further exercises held in 1989, 1992 and 1996 became gradually more transparent, comprehensive and systematic.

RAE in UK • The fifth exercise in 2001 was the most rigorous and thorough exercise to date. It considered the work of almost 50, 000 researchers in 2, 598 submissions from 173 IHE. The RAE is the principal means by which institutions assure themselves of the quality of the research undertaken in the HE sector. • The next RAE is in 2008, with a closing date for submissions of November 2007.

Impact • Generates further research funding • Contributes to the research productivity and financial support of the researcher’s institution • Advances the researcher’s careers • Promotes research progress

Impact II • Note the direct connection between open access, impact, research assessment and funding. • Measures the size of a research contribution to further research (“publish or perish”), e. g. citation-counts, co-citations, now we also have usage-measures (“hits”, webmetrics), time-course analyses, early predictors, etc.

Outcome of RAE has been effective as a means of: • Informing funding • Symbolizing Public Accountability • Inducing improvement in research

Than k You

Sub Panels • Draft criteria for assessment and working methods • Produce draft quality profiles and brief feedback on each submission • Advise the main panel on cross-referrals and need for specialist advice