The REF2029 team currently invites responses to a short survey on aspects of the final design of the 2029 policy. The survey covers six points, with a focus on the Strategy, People and Research Environment (SPRE) section of the next exercise which will count for 20% of a final Unit of Assessment score.
The survey form is available here. It is accompanied by a supporting document which sets out the revised draft criteria on which responses are sought. The deadline for submissions is 4pm on Friday 4 September.
The survey is open to all, including responses from individuals in UK HE, REF leads in departments, and institutions with an interest in the REF policy development. The Society intends to submit a response.
The questions of particular note for historians are those relating to the:
- draft assessment criteria for Strategy, People and Research Environment (SPRE)
- SPRE arrangements for institutions submitting to a single Unit of Assessment (UoA)
Other questions concern REF’s final policy on submitting outputs to more than one UoA, and its guidance — for UoA’s of less than 10 FTE — on adjustments to output submissions to take account of ‘equality-related circumstances’.
In its response, the Society will take this opportunity to advocate for a revision of the current 60/40 split in the proposed weighting given to the Institution Level (IL) and Unit of Assessment Level (UL) statements within SPRE. The Society will propose a 50/50 split as a compromise position.
This follows recent substantial discussions on the importance of such a revision for arts, humanities and social science (SHAPE) subjects in particular. One example of this is a letter from the Academy of Social Sciences (May 2026), sent to the Chair of Main Panel C and supported by a number of other learned societies.
Further updates on the next assessment exercise are available via the REF 2029 page of the Royal Historical Society website.