Universities will be asked to explain how they spend millions of pounds received in quality-related (QR) funding from the Research Excellence Framework as part of a pilot study designed to provide greater transparency on institutional spending.

Under the study launched by Research England on 9 September, universities have been asked to identify how they allocate their  (SIRF), which includes the £2 billion of mainstream QR money awarded annually, QR-related support for research degrees, charity and business-related research, research-related capital funding and other smaller pots of funding for activities such as policy engagement and improving research culture.

Since the inception of the Research Excellence Assessment in the 1980s, now known as the REF, institutions awarded funding on the basis of excellence and later impact and research environment have not been required to account for how they spend their funding given the nature of the unhypothecated block grant system.

Although only a pilot , the study would be a step change for the REF because it would require institutions to state where QR and other funds go – a transparency measure that many claim would be burdensome and bureaucratic given the diffuse ways that research funding is spread across institutions.

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Announcing the start of the pilot – which was first mentioned in published in April 2023 – the funder explains how “quality-related research funding and other types of strategic institutional research funding distributed by Research England can be used flexibly by providers, but evidence isn’t readily available on how HEPS [higher education providers] strategically use their allocations”.

“Therefore, the pilot will meet a key commitment within Research England’s 2022-25 Strategic Delivery Plan to gather evidence on how SIRF is used by English HEPs,” it continues.

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The transparency study will “provide evidence on how flexible formula-based funds enable HEPs to: deliver their institutional strategies, address important challenges, and create impact and value from public investment that contributes to the research system, wider economy and society”, Research England writes. 

The start of the pilot programme comes after science minister Patrick Vallance announced a three-month pause in the REF at Universities UK’s annual conference last week. That pause will probably lead to a review of the people, culture and environment element of the REF – due to increase from 15 per cent to 25 per cent in REF 2029 – amid concerns over the diminished focus on quality in the form of submitted outputs (which falls from 60 per cent to 50 per cent).

There is also speculation that more radical reforms of the REF could be considered, with the pilot study taking place in 2025-26 described as a “first step to increase transparency and understanding of the value this funding delivers across the sector”.

“The data collected will be used to strengthen the case for SIRF funding to government,” Research England explains, adding that, “at the completion of the pilot, Research England will determine how and when the new process will be rolled out to all English HEPs annually to obtain better data and insights about SIRF”.

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Jessica Corner, executive chair for Research England, said: “The higher education sector is under increasing financial pressure, and demonstrating the value and importance of Research England's strategic institutional funding in underpinning research and innovation in universities is ever more important.”

“I strongly encourage all universities to participate in this important pilot as it will provide invaluable insights across the whole range of institutions we fund into how our Transparency Programme should be implemented for future years,” she added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com