Author Archives: simonhettrick

Everyone wants to be a Nobel prizewinner, but Nobel prizewinners didn’t get there on their own. Alongside the support of family and friends, scientists rely on an army of technicians, librarians and other people who fill roles that contribute to research outputs — from the humble article to paradigm-shifting experiments. These essential, hidden roles areContinue reading “Time to celebrate science’s ‘hidden’ contributors”

In our new video, you can hear about the Hidden REF and why we’re running the competition from some of the committee behind it.

Andy Dixon is keen on the goals of the Research Excellence Framework, but joined the Hidden REF because it is both a serious and playful accompaniment to the REF proper, providing an alternative lens through which we can explore the potential future for research assessment. Read the full article on Research Professional.

Writing in Times Higher Education, Simon Hettrick argues that one of the most destructive divisions in academia is that between those who conduct research and those who are recognised for conducting research. Read the full article on the Times Higher Education website.

Mike Croucher writes in the MATLAB community blog about the Hidden REF and the importance of software in research. Anyone who has worked around academia for a long time will tell you that there are many roles in academic research that are vital-but-unrecognised.  Software development used to be one of them!  Back in 2012, aContinue reading “Hidden REF and the importance of software”

The more submission the Hidden REF receives, the more evidence we have to campaign for a better and fairer recognition in research. If you are contacting the people in your department, group or community to tell them about the competition, we’ve produced the following flyer to help communicate the important facts.

This article is about the Hidden REF team situating ourselves, about not shying away from the fact that we have a standpoint, and about opening up space to widen our view, especially as we move towards constructing assessment panels to judge responses to the Hidden REF. The hope is that this reflexivity can help usContinue reading “Why it matters who seeks to change how we celebrate research: the people behind the Hidden REF”

Dame Ottoline Leyser was asked about diversity, inclusion and the way that research teams are organised during a recent interview on the Microscopists podcast. The Hidden REF raised as an example. Her response highlighted the “extraordinary contribution of everyone in the system”. Hear the interview on Youtube or via the Microscopists podcast.

The Hidden REF offers all members of the research community the chance to celebrate their unconventional contributions to knowledge.  The REF comes in for a lot of criticism: it’s big, it’s expensive and it soaks up time that many argue would be better spent on conducting research. There’s truth to these criticisms of course, butContinue reading “The Hidden REF celebrates the whole research ecosystem”

The Hidden REF is not alone in campaigning to raise recognition of the diversity of roles that are vital to research. In a recent article, UKRI CEO, Dame Ottoline Leyser, announced a collaboration with the Minister for Science Research and Innovation, Amanda Solloway, to find 101 people, doing 101 different jobs that make major contributionsContinue reading “UKRI looking for 101 different jobs in research and innovation”