The problem with recognising all research is that no one knows which research outputs need to be collected to recognise everyone’s contribution.

For the 2021 competition, we started with the non-publication-based categories from the 2021 REF (categories L to V) and asked the research community to nominate new categories, adding categories 1–7 below. For the 2024 competition, we built on discussions at the Festival of Hidden REF and again crowdsourced ideas for both new categories and changes to existing ones, resulting in four additional categories (8–10 and 12). For 2026, we continued this community-led approach and added one further category (11).

Further details about the category can be found by clicking on its title in the table below (the entire list is also available as are example submissions).

Nominate a great colleague

This category allowed for nomination of people whose work has been instrumental in the conduct of your research. You may wish to talk to the person you are nominating and allow them to review your nomination to ensure that you have described their work accurately.

Nominate your work

These categories allow the nomination of any work that contributes towards research success, but which is not best represented by traditional research outputs.