The volume measure for REF 2029 will be calculated using data taken directly from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Staff record. This data will be based on the FTE of staff on Teaching and Research contracts with significant responsibility for research (SRR) and staff on Research-only contracts who are independent researchers at your institution. The FTE used to calculate the REF 2029 volume measure will be gathered at a contract level.
This is a change to our previously announced position that data would be used at the person level, rather than the contract level and includes a change to the HESA Staff record to gather data relevant to this policy at contract level. This means that information about SRR, research independence and Unit of Assessment will be gathered at a contract level.
Technical detail
On 31 July 2024, HESA published a notification of changes to the Staff record which will result in information being gathered at contract level from the 2024/25 collection onwards.
This will be used to calculate the volume measure, specifically:
REFQUALCON – contract qualifies for contribution to the REF volume measure calculation.
To qualify for REFQUALCON, contracts must meet one of two criteria:
- Be a research contract which is recognised through the reporting provider’s REF Code of Practice to meet the definition of independent research activity.
- Be a teaching and research contract which is recognised through the reporting provider’s REF Code of Practice to meet the definition of involving Significant Responsibility for Research (SRR).
REFQUALCON will identify contracts that qualify for contribution to the REF volume measure, where they meet wider policy framework guidance.
REFUOA2029 – this field records the REF unit of assessment relating to the contract(s) of the staff member.
CONFTE – this field identifies the percentage of a full-time equivalent (FTE) year being undertaken by staff on the contract over the course of the reporting period.
SIGRES – this field identifies that a contract has significant responsibility for research.
Next steps
On behalf of the funding bodies, we will publish a policy module in autumn/winter 2024. This will include the full policy details relating to the use of the HESA Staff record for the volume measure, along with associated guidance relating to REF Codes of Practice.
If you have any questions, please contact us at info@ref.ac.uk with the subject line ‘HESA data policy’.
Background to the changes
Read more about the background to this change on our news page.