The Research Excellence Framework is undertaken by the four UK higher education funding bodies to assess the quality and impact of research in UK higher education institutions. It was used to inform the selective allocation of £10.2bn of funding to institutions for 2015-21, provides benchmarking information and provides accountability for public investment in research. The next round of the REF is planned for 2021, with a consultation underway about proposed changes.

This briefing provides a summary of the REF2014 process and proposed changes in REF2021 of particular relevance to development research such as interdisciplinarity and definitions of impact.