Annex E: Managing conflicts of interest

Overview

The primary purpose of REF 2029 is to produce overall quality profiles for each submission made by institutions, which will be used by the UK higher education funding bodies to inform block-grant research funding.

REF 2029 is committed to ensuring that all research assessment activities uphold the principles of equity, transparency and equality, diversity and inclusion. This guidance seeks to support all panel members in the guidance setting and assessment process to uphold these values and ensure a robust and transparent process for managing conflicts.

Declarations of interest

All main panel chairs and members, IL SPRE Panel Chair and members, sub-panel chairs and members, advisory panel chairs and members, panel advisors and panel secretaries, observers and assessors (hereafter collectively called panel members) are asked to make a declaration of their interest through the Panel Members’ Website. All interests which an objective and fair-minded observer would consider could improperly influence a panel member’s assessment of an HEI’s submission should be declared. An improper influence is one which prevents a panel member judging a submission open mindedly and exclusively on its own merits. It is important to realise that influence might be subconscious, and that the appearance of impartiality is as important as impartiality itself. All such interests which the objective and fair-minded observer in possession of all the facts would consider raised a real (that is, more than fanciful) possibility of improper influence are disqualifying interests in respect of the HEI concerned. For the purpose of REF 2029, disqualifying interests for panel members include:

• any UK higher education institution(s) at which the individual is employed
• any UK higher education institution(s) at which the individual has been employed since January 2021
• any UK higher education institution(s) at which the individual has been engaged in substantial collaboration since the start of the assessment period (1 January 2021). This might include organisations at which the individual has visiting lecturer/fellow/professor or similar status or has worked on a commercial contract or consultancy basis including providing support for a UK HEI with their preparation for this REF exercise
• any UK higher education institution(s) at which the individual’s partner and/or immediate family member (parent, sibling, child, and any person in respect of whom the individual has an equivalently close family relationship whether biologically related or not) is employed
• any financial or commercial interest in a UK higher education institution(s), including spin-out companies
• any minor interest(s), including those listed in paragraph 5.0.2., ruled by a panel chair to be treated as a disqualifying interest

Association with what might be considered to be rival research groups or interests or a particular approach to or school of thought within the subject area in question will not be considered to be a declarable interest unless the panel member is unable to judge a submission open-mindedly on its merits. The relevant panel chair (or their deputy in instances where the potential conflict belongs to the chair) will advise, in collaboration with the REF Director, on any such instances of potential conflict.

Panel procedures

A complete list of the declared interests of panel members and others involved in the assessment will be prepared by the REF team and made available, in confidence, to panels when they start their work.

Individuals will be asked to update the REF team regularly on any additional interests, through the Panel Members’ Website. Complete lists of declared interests will be updated and circulated accordingly on an ad hoc basis.

Panel members may not take part in the assessment of submissions from institutions in which they have declared a disqualifying interest. Panel members must ensure their declarations of interests are up to date in advance of any meeting at which any institution(s) in which they have a disqualifying interest is to be discussed. Panel members must withdraw from that part of the meeting at which the institution in which they have a disqualifying interest is to be discussed. Withdrawals due to disqualifying interests shall be minuted.

Requests for information

Panel members are likely to receive numerous invitations to discuss issues concerned with REF 2029. Although the REF team seeks improved clarity and transparency during this exercise through the dissemination of information, we do not wish panel members to compromise their position by entering into discussions which could be perceived to give a particular individual or institution an unfair advantage.

Therefore, panel members should not discuss issues concerning individual departmental or institutional submissions that in any way break the confidentiality agreements they have entered into in order to work on the REF. However, they may accept invitations to talk at meetings where a number of different institutions are represented, for example those arranged by a professional body or subject association to discuss the REF process in general terms. If any member has concerns over a potential conflict of interests or the propriety of a proposed action, they should discuss it with the REF Director.

Panel members are not expected to suspend normal relations with their colleagues and peers during the exercise. They should not feel in any way obliged, for example, to withdraw from external examining, or participation in appointment committees. They are, however, asked to exercise caution in dealings with individual departments, or with subject associations or similar bodies, where there is an actual or clearly inferable connection with their panel membership.

Declarations of minor interests

Any interest that could lead a reasonable observer to doubt the impartiality of a panel member’s assessment of work that has been allocated to them, that is not a disqualifying interest, must be declared by that panel member as a minor interest. Minor interests should be declared on an ad hoc basis to the chair of the relevant main or sub-panel. Declarations of minor interests shall be minuted.

Minor interests could include, for example:

• a panel member supervises or co-supervises one or more doctoral students from the submitting institution, or who went on to become an academic staff member within the submitting institution
• a panel member was supervised as a doctoral student by a staff member upon whom a substantive link to a research output in the submission is based
• a panel member was a doctoral student at the submitting institution
• a panel member is co-investigator or co-holder of a grant with the submitting institution
• a panel member, or their partner or immediate family member, is employed by a user organisation that is the focus of an ICS
• a panel member is on the editorial board of a journal series published by the submitting department or unit, or has co-organised a conference or conference series with the submitting department
• a panel member has acted during the assessment period as a member of an appointment or promotions committee for the submitting institution
• prior to their appointment to the REF panel, but during the assessment period, a panel member has acted as an external advisor to the submitting institution on their research or REF strategy
• a panel member acts as an external examiner for research degrees for a submitting department or unit
• a panel member has applied for a position at a submitting institution

In each case it shall be for the chair to decide what effect the existence of a minor interest shall have on a panel member’s participation in the assessment. These decisions shall also be minuted. Depending on the nature of the interest, the sub-panel chair may decide:

• that the interest should be noted by the sub-panel, but that it should not affect the panel member’s participation in assessing the submission
• that the panel member should not take sole or lead responsibility for assessing the particular aspect of the submission affected by the interest, but may otherwise be involved in assessing the submission
• that the panel member should take no part in assessing the particular aspect of the submission affected by the interest, but may otherwise be involved in assessing the submission
• that the interest – or a group of interests relating to an institution – held by a panel member shall be treated as a disqualifying interest, and the panel member should play no role in assessing the submission