Annex 2

The College REF Equality Committee

Membership

Membership of this group are distinct from membership of the REF Strategy Group.

  • Assistant-Provost Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Chair)
  • Associate Professor of Economics, former Chair of the Business School Diversity Committee (2016-2019),
  • Head of Experimental Solid State Physics, former Consul for the Faculty of Natural Sciences (2016-2019)
  • Professor of Biofluid Mechanics & Director of the Graduate School, former Consul for the Faculty of Engineering and the Business School (2016-2019)
  • Professor of Experimental Medicine, Senior Consul for the College
  • Deputy Director Organisational Development and Inclusion (HR)
  • Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Centre (EDIC)

Terms of reference

The Equality Committee will undertake the following responsibilities to:

  • Ensure that all decisions are informed by current equalities legislation and good management practice in line with the College’s REF Code of Practice.
  • Oversee the implementation of the Code of Practice within the College and handle any equalities related issues if, and as, they arise.
  • Consider appeals raised by staff over decisions determining Research independence and advise the REF Strategy group accordingly.
  • Consider consistently and confidentially all cases where staff have disclosed circumstances constraining their ability to research productively across the REF reporting period (‘circumstances’); in light of equalities legislation, advice from the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre (EDIC), and Research England guidance to determine whether and how they may be handled.
  • Advise REF decision-makers on the number of staff who have disclosed circumstances in each submitting unit, and the reduction in outputs that may be applied for within that unit, including where less than the minimum of 1 output may be attributed to staff without penalty.
  • Oversee Equality Impact Assessments undertaken at key points throughout the REF submission process.

Meeting frequency

Approximately termly. More frequent meetings are likely to be scheduled as the REF deadline draws nearer.