St John’s academics join panels guiding £2 billion research funding

“The REF is one of the most important means for identifying excellent research wherever it occurs in UK universities”
From left: Professor Serena Best, Professor Sarah Hall and Professor Nathan MacDonald

Three St John’s Fellows have been appointed to the 2029 Research Excellence Framework (REF) panels – a national assessment of research in UK higher education.

Owned by the UK’s four higher education funding bodies, the REF informs the allocation of around £2 billion per year of public money for universities’ research and last took place in 2021.

Professor Serena Best, Professor Sarah Hall and Professor Nathan MacDonald have all been selected as expert advisers. Panellists play a key role in shaping the REF to support research through a process of expert review. REF 2029 comprises 34 sub-panels of specialists under the guidance of main and advisory panels.

Professor Best, Professor of Materials Science, and College Lecturer and Director of Studies for Materials Science, is on a sub-panel assessing engineering research.

It will be her third time as a REF panellist, she said: “The REF process is a substantial and important undertaking that will ensure that high research quality continues to be maintained in the UK and that the impact of this work is highlighted both nationally and internationally.”

Professor Hall, University 1931 Professor of Geography and St John’s Director of Studies in Geography, said: “I’m excited to advocate for the importance of geographical research at a time of such profound change which has geography at its heart – from climate change to geopolitics and our changing global economy.”

Professor MacDonald, University Professor of the Interpretation of the Old Testament, College Lecturer in Theology, and Director of Studies in Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion, joins an arts and humanities sub-panel.

He said: “The REF is one of the most important means for identifying excellent research wherever it occurs in UK universities. I am very pleased to be joining the sub-panel that will be assessing the research in theology and religion and I am looking forward to working with colleagues across what is an incredibly diverse and dynamic field.”

The REF is owned by Research England, Scottish Funding Council, Medr, Wales’ Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland.

News
Research

Related articles

Union Street Mill, Ancoats, Manchester circa 1835
‘Slums’ of Victorian Manchester housed wealthy doctors and engineers

St John’s historian uses census data to show many middle-class Mancunians lived in the same buildings as working-class residents

News
Research
A portrait photo of Dr Jessie Munton
Award-winning philosopher features in new Philip Leverhulme Prize Collection

A bitesize digital series celebrating some of the UK’s most original thinkers has been launched to showcase the power and public value of research

News
Research
Human blood cells under a microscope
New lab-grown embryo model produces blood cells

Discovery holds potential to simulate blood disorders like leukaemia, and to produce long-lasting blood stem cells for transplants

News
Research
A page from the manuscript
Ancient Roman conspiracy revived in lost Tudor translation

Sex, ambition and betrayal – the ingredients of a modern political scandal were alive and well in Ancient Rome

News
Research