In 2006, the United Kingdom announced its intention to reform the framework for assessing and funding research. After two rounds of consultations and pilot exercises, the Higher Education Funding Council for England announced the development of Research Excellence Framework (REF), which all UK higher education funding bodies used by 2014. The wider, non-academic impacts of an institution's research constituted 20% of its REF score.

The purpose of the REF is to produce assessment outcomes for each funding submission that institutions make, and to ensure expert review of these submissions. Each assessment is to provide accountability for public investment in research and produce evidence of the investment's benefits.

RAND Europe has a track record in research evaluation, such as work on the 'science of science' and examining the spillover benefits generated by basic research. In 2008, RAND researchers developed a survey tool for the UK-based Arthritis Research Campaign to examine the returns and benefits from ARC-funded biomedical research. The RAND Europe team has since amended the tool, now known as ImpactFinder, to make it applicable across all academic disciplines.

RAND Europe now supports universities in their efforts to identify and articulate the impact of their academic research. Our team provides workshops on site, with groups or individuals, to create the narrative of the impact pathways for specific projects or researchers' career paths; critical reviews of draft case studies written by researchers; and evidence gathering from stakeholders involved in the research.

For each department or institution the aim has been to capture an understanding of where and how the research has had benefits and impact for users, practitioners, policymakers and the private sector, to help it meet the demands of the REF.

Read the full article about scientific framework by Susan Gutherie at RAND Corporation.