1) The REF and HiddenREF for PRISMs

18 March 2025, 13:30-15:00
How should the contributions of PRISMs towards the UK’s research sector be assessed? Currently, PRISMs do not fit neatly into the research assessment structures of the UK. For example:

• PRISMs contribute to the smooth running of research groups, but rarely get their names on the research outputs they enable.
• Some PRISMs are on research contracts and will be counted in HESA returns towards the volume measure in the REF; others on professional service contracts won’t be counted, though they work as closely with researchers.
• PRISMs prepare and write impact case studies, but are not credited.
• PRISMs are pivotal to the day-to-day research culture of their groups, setting both relational and recording norms, but these factors are hard to capture in institutional data.
• Many PRISMs work in interdisciplinary spaces which don’t fit into units of assessment.

Should the UK care more about assessing our work, directly or indirectly? What can we do to engage with current research assessment structures? For example by joining an assessment panel or developing non-traditional research outputs. Join Duncan Shermer of REF and Simon Hettrick of HiddenREF to explore how both of these structures are engaging with PRISMs currently, and how they expect to see this change over time. Members only event - join the network and email us for joining details.
 

2) #IAMREMARKABLE

Wednesday 30 April 2025, 13:00-14:00
#IAmRemarkable workshop to boost confidence and share success! We are often not comfortable at sharing our achievements so this workshop aims to break that mould and get us moving into being more confident. We talk through the barriers to vocalising this and how we can work as a community to support each other and encourage ourselves to recognise the positive steps we are making in our personal and professional lives. Members only event - join the network and email us for joining details.