Scrutable

Oooh - the anticipation!

Will this exercise result, as usual, in vast wads of cash going to the usual suspects?

Or will the current order be overturned - leading to a much more equitable distribution of resources across the sector

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue May 10, 2022 1:16 pm

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

In the sociology of science its called the Matthew effect.

Not holding my breath, and frankly I've got bigger worries right now than the REF (like in a B horror movie, the TEF appears to be resurrected now. Actually with the TEF it'll be even funnier to chart the contortions to make sure the RG comes out on top)

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Tue May 10, 2022 1:16 pm

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Indeed. Leaked early results show that the exercise will reinforce the...

Rather strangely, one of my current employers, a post-92, has arranged a 'celebration event (their words) to hear the outcomes, which seems a bit of a risk if there hasn't been advance guidance.

Allo V Psycho wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 10:15 am

Rather strangely, one of my current employers, a post-92, has arranged a 'celebration event (their words) to hear the outcomes, which seems a bit of a risk if there hasn't been advance guidance.

Universities got their own results on Monday, and the rest of the sector results on Tuesday - all under embargo.

Could a hastily arranged "celebration event" invitation be seen as breaking the embargo?

The West Midlands Express & Star has broken the embargo...

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/edu ... -research/

bob sterman wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 12:56 pm

Universities got their own results on Monday, and the rest of the sector results on Tuesday - all under embargo.

Could a hastily arranged "celebration event" invitation be seen as breaking the embargo?

Nah, we've had a celebration event planned for yonks. Every uni will have something to celebrate/spin, even if it's along the lines of "we came in the top 3 for subject x amongst our comparator universities*". Just watch how the bumpf under everyone's** signatures will change over the next few weeks.

* of which there are only 4.
** well, academics might be able to refuse the shameless self promotion but spare a thought for the poor professional services.

Grumble wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:34 pm

what the duck is this thread about?

The REF2021 is the Research Excellence Framework, with results released tomorrow in err... 2022. It's like Squid Game for universities.

FairySmall wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:48 pm

Grumble wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:34 pm

what the duck is this thread about?

The REF2021 is the Research Excellence Framework, with results released tomorrow in err... 2022. It's like Squid Game for universities.

I’m not sure a reference to Squids helps me understand. Is it to do with funding?

Grumble wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:51 pm

FairySmall wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:48 pm

Grumble wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:34 pm

what the duck is this thread about?

The REF2021 is the Research Excellence Framework, with results released tomorrow in err... 2022. It's like Squid Game for universities.

I’m not sure a reference to Squids helps me understand. Is it to do with funding?

Or just copious production of ink?

Grumble wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:51 pm

I’m not sure a reference to Squids helps me understand. Is it to do with funding?

Sorry for being flippant. Yes, it's to do with funding. It's how the government (via the research funders) allocates the billions for research that is given to unis as a big lump sum. There's a separate pot of money that unis/academics apply for research grants from but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

It's a mammoth exercise every 7ish years involving all kinds of data and evidence gathering, and various convuluted schemes by unis to game the system. And in the end the results are pretty much the same each time. Bureaucracy eh?

Grumble wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:51 pm

FairySmall wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:48 pm

Grumble wrote: ↑

Wed May 11, 2022 9:34 pm

what the duck is this thread about?

The REF2021 is the Research Excellence Framework, with results released tomorrow in err... 2022. It's like Squid Game for universities.

I’m not sure a reference to Squids helps me understand. Is it to do with funding?

It's a mark of academic solidarity with falsely imprisoned (now released) Brazilian presidential candidates. Lulas livres!

Introduced in 1986 by the Thatcher government - under the leadership of Sir Henry Peter Francis Swinnerton-Dyer, 16th Baronet, KBE, FRS - back then it was called the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

Funny thing is - back in 1981 Swinnerton-Dyer wrote this...

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v03/n21 ... -education

The two major concerns of any university are teaching and research. It is not possible to divide up the expenditure of a university explicitly between teaching and research, saying that this item is for teaching and that item is for research.

Then he went on to develop a system which explicitly contribution to just such a division!

Well, my institution's attempt to game play along with the system for the Italian equivalent, which involved some sort of algorithm for choosing which articles of each of us should be considered, seems not to have worked particularly well...