REF 2029 Codes of Practices Approvals Survey

The information submitted here will be used to understand Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs) intentions regarding the submission of their Code of Practice (CoP) for approval for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029. This includes capturing which of the published submission windows HEIs intend to use and, if none are feasible, when an additional window would be useful.

This information includes:

• Institution name
• Contact name (the individual completing the survey)
• Intended CoP submission window selection
• Suggested alternative CoP submission window (if applicable)

We will process your information to facilitate the following, related to REF 2029 CoP planning:

• To inform planning for the assessment of CoPs by the UK funding bodies.
• To identify any potential need for additional submission windows to support HEIs.

The information is obtained by UKRI in their capacity as a public authority. Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information are ‘to provide services to carry out our public task’ and ‘explicit consent’ as outlined in the UK GDPR.

Collected data will be viewed by members of staff from UKRI (Research England), the Scottish Funding Council, Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland, and external colleagues employed to support this work.

Aggregate, anonymised information derived from the survey responses may be shared with relevant REF 2029 panels and stakeholders to inform broader policy development and operational planning. Individual institution-level data will not be publicly disclosed.

All personal data provided to UKRI in connection with this survey will be managed in line with the current UK data protection legislation.  The data collected through this survey will be deleted by 31 October 2026, or once the planning for CoP submission windows and their assessment is finalised, whichever is sooner.

Further information on how we use personal data, and how you can exercise your rights as a data subject, can be found in UKRI’s privacy notice.

To request further information on data processing related to this survey, please email admin@ref.ac.uk.