The Academy of Social Sciences and many of its member learned societies have joined forces to advocate for a change to the Strategy, People and Research Environment (SPRE) component of REF 2029.
SPRE replaces what was proposed as the People, Culture and Environment (PCE) component and asks institutions and Units of Assessment (UoA) to show how their strategies contribute towards the development of people and good research environments. For REF 2029, the SPRE element will make up 20% of the overall unit quality profile and consists of an institution-level statement (ILS, weighting 60% of the SPRE score) and a unit-level statement (ULS, weighting 40% of the SPRE score).
The Academy, working in tandem with its member learned societies, has written to the Chair of SPRE and of Main Panel C of REF 2029, Professor Jane Falkingham FAcSS, copied to the Chair of Main Panel D, outlining concerns at the ratio of the weightings of the two statements and proposing it should be changed to 40% institutional-level and 60% unit-level to make the process fairer for all and to give a more appropriate weight to the ULS in Sub-Panel assessments.