REF 2021 Code of Practice: Equality

Equality and Diversity

  1. The REF2021Code of Practice has been drafted in partnership with the University’s Equality and Diversity (E&D) Office and developed in accordance with the aims and objectives of the University’s Equality and Diversity Strategy 2016 – 2021.  Its development has been informed by the Equality Analysis of REF2014 conducted in 2015. The early involvement of the University’s E&D Office and the staged process for monitoring compliance with University policies is in response to a key recommendation of the equality analysis. 
     
  2. The University’s commitment to equality and diversity is based on strong foundations of institutional policy and resource commitment, legal compliance, specific objectives and senior engagement. This commitment is further evidenced by the University’s Athena SWAN University Silver Award, its forthcoming application for a Race Equality Charter Award in 2019, and membership of diversity organisations such as the Stonewall Diversity Champions and Business Disability Forum.
     
  3. In accordance with University policy all staff with strategic and/or operational oversight of the University’s REF2021 preparations, including those on committees listed under paragraph 11, must undergo mandatory training in equality and diversity and unconscious bias. Unit of Assessment Committee members should undergo additional training to identify and mitigate any unconscious bias that may be inherent in decision-making for REF2021 to support the process of staff identification and output selection. The bespoke ‘Embedding equality and mitigating bias in REF 2021’ training session aims to enable Chairs, E&D leads and REF administrators to consider and recognise the importance of ED&I issues throughout the REF process.  Completion of this training will be monitored and reported in the equality analysis submitted as Appendix B. The Equality lead on each Unit of Assessment Committee will have a role in ensuring the application of equality principles in all Unit of Assessment-level decision-making.
  4. The Equality Analysis for the REF2021 will be reviewed and updated at key stages of the REF process: 

Stage 1

An initial Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was undertaken as part of the development of the Code of Practice and the analysis of this is included as Appendix B.  This assessed the process for creating the Unit of Assessment Committees and the analysis of the membership. The results of this assessment will feed into the development of the processes for staff identification and output selection in order to be better able to conduct equality assessment of the results in Stage 2. Analysis of staff identification outcomes will be made at Unit of Assessment level with reference to baseline data, and reviewed again at subsequent stages.


Stage 2

This will consist of a review of the outcomes of the University mock REF2021 submission in July 2019.  Feedback will be presented to Units of Assessment at the Submission Review Meetings in autumn 2019 and appropriate action taken.  A summary report will be provided to the REF Project Board at the Lent Term 2020 meeting with an action plan to govern final preparation of the submission.

Stage 3

An Equality Impact Assessment will be undertaken as part of the preparation for the final submission