Submissions to the Hidden REF will be made in the following categories. You can suggest changes to the description or assessment of the categories until 11 December 2020.
The submission should include the level of support provided, notable times that their skills were fundamental to the achievement of a success, a discussion of their level of skills, any help they have provided to transfer their skills, and any other notable impact from their work.
Submissions in this category must be submitted by a person other than the person (or persons) named in the submission. It’s advisable to discuss your submission with the person for whom it is made.
Training materials and courses
Title
Training materials and courses
Category no.
2
Description
Training materials are vital in ensuring that knowledge is disseminated across the research community. This includes Open Access content. The Hidden REF will recognise the time and dedication invested into the creation of new materials or courses, and significant efforts in updating existing materials and courses.
Assessment
A submission should reflect the demand for the materials (e.g. number of people trained) and the utility of the taught skills to research.
The REF Impact agenda is biased towards narratives of positive effects such as benefits and successes. However impact is more complex, unpredictable, contagious, involves multiple partners and many times is beyond the control of the researcher. This award sheds light on research that has had an equal and opposite effect (in terms of significance and reach) on society.
Assessment
This category will be a judged on a narrative based justification, similar to the current REF Impact criterion. Credit will be attributed to organisations and individuals that have put in place mechanisms to slow the growth of Grimpact, increase responsible research and innovation (RRI), and have minimised the potential for negative effects of research.
Citizen science is research conducted, in whole or in part, by members of the public. Citizen science can drive advancements in research, as well as increasing the public’s understanding of and trust in science. Large volunteer networks often allow scientists to accomplish tasks that would be too expensive or time consuming to accomplish through other means. Volunteers in citizen science gain hands-on experience doing actual research.
Assessment
Submissions will describe the importance of the research, the method of participant engagement, and the motivation for your approach. Submissions should demonstrate a positive experience for participants, and describe the importance of the data collected and the results generated.
Enabling access to facilities
Title
Enabling access to facilities
Category no.
5
Description
Applications for facility time can be as time-consuming and competitive as grant applications, but are rarely recognised as such. As with any scientific endeavour, success is not guaranteed, but if an experiment at a synchrotron fails then the researcher receives no credit.
Assessment
The submission should include a description of the importance of the research that was attempted, and information such as the size of the team brought to the facility, the number of people trained to use the facility, and details of successful applications.
Community Building
Title
Community Building
Category no.
6
Description
Communities play a hugely important role in supporting researchers and helping to develop the collaborations that are so vitally important in modern research. As research becomes increasingly multi-disciplinary, communities can provide valuable knowledge exchange, skills development opportunities, a stronger voice in contributing to and influencing policy discussions and links to key bodies such as funders and professional societies. This all, ultimately, contributes to the production of higher quality research outputs.
Assessment
Success in this category will be determined by factors such as the size and longevity of a community (relative to its intended reach, e.g. local or national), the type of activities it runs and how many people they reach, feedback from members (e.g. via event feedback questionnaires), other support for members (newsletters, technical clinics, etc.), funding won to support the community, training provided by the community, and policy changes as a result of community efforts.
Standards are used to allow communities and interested parties to work together more easily. If applied too early they can inhibit innovation, if applied too late they can encourage bad or unethical practices. They may also be part of regulations or legal frameworks in particular areas such as medical devices. This category includes technical standards for software, data and metadata standards, practice or community standards, and may include other types of standard too.
Assessment
1. If the standard is accepted and used by a particular community 2. If standardisation allows collaboration or sharing or data or resources 3. If standards are entered into law
Physical Artefact
Title
Physical Artefact
Category no.
L
Description
Artefacts, objects or craftworks, exhibited, commissioned or otherwise presented or offered in the public domain, for example visual arts, craft and cultural creations.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Devices and Products
Title
Devices and Products
Category no.
P
Description
An element, system or substance developed to perform a particular function, set, or combination of functions. Incorporates developing the concept and the design and development of any chemical, mechanical, electronic and software components, and where appropriate the overall system architecture.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Performance
Title
Performance
Category no.
M
Description
A single or series of public events, or short-term, long-term or permanent installations, at which works of interest are displayed. This may take the form of moving image, sonic, visual or other digital media or written text, or a combination of these, as appropriate, to enable the panel to access the research dimensions and/or the researcher’s contribution to the exhibition and to assess its significance, originality and rigour.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Patent/published patent application
Title
Patent/published patent application
Category no.
F
Description
Granted patents, copyrights, trademarks, or registered designs on specific products or processes. Patents can have been granted in the UK or another patent-awarding country.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Composition
Title
Composition
Category no.
J
Description
An original published/publicly available score, first performance or first recording by a record label of a musical composition.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Design
Title
Design
Category no.
K
Description
A creative research/problem-solving output in the form of design drawings, books, models, exhibitions, websites, installations or built works. This may take the form of moving image, sonic, visual or other digital media or written text, or a combination of these, as appropriate, to enable the panel to access the research dimensions and/or the researcher’s contribution to the design and to assess its significance, originality and rigour.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Research report for external body
Title
Research report for external body
Category no.
N
Description
Non-confidential reports, commissioned and/or funded by an external organisation, including reports for private companies, government departments and nongovernmental organisations. May also include non-commissioned reports.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Confidential report for external body
Title
Confidential report for external body
Category no.
O
Description
Confidential reports commissioned and/or funded by an external organisation, including reports for private companies, government departments and non- governmental organisations. For clarity, confidential material is not in scope of the open access requirements.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Software
Title
Software
Category no.
G
Description
Originally researched, created and published software (computer programs and their associated documentation, consisting of a set of instructions written by a programmer) or database products of commercial quality, which has been made publicly available.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Website Content
Title
Website Content
Category no.
H
Description
A collection of material which embodies research and is undertaken on a systematic basis specifically for dissemination through a website and/or as an interactive approach to allow users to engage directly with the process or products of the research.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Digital or Visual Media
Title
Digital or Visual Media
Category no.
Q
Description
Research outputs presented in digitised and/or audio-visual format. This may take the form of moving image, sonic, visual or other digital media or written text, or a combination of these, as appropriate, to enable the panel to access the research dimensions and/or the researcher’s contribution to the output and to assess its significance, originality and rigour.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Research Datasets and Databases
Title
Research Datasets and Databases
Category no.
S
Description
Data sets may come in a variety of formats, for instance in spreadsheet, but also any collection of data on which analysis can be performed. Databases are collections of data specifically organised and presented for the ease of viewing, retrieval and analysis.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.
Translation
Title
Translation
Category no.
V
Description
A translation of a work or body of works by another author or authors, informed by critical evaluation of the sources (such as earlier manuscripts, texts, documents and letters), and by critical analysis of the work’s original cultural context for the new readership.
Assessment
This is a non-publication category from the standard REF and, as such, is assessed on the basis of significance, impact and rigour.