SOAS professors appointed to the Research Excellence Framework 2029
Professor Shane McCausland and Professor Naomi Hossain have been appointed to sub-panels for the Research Excellence Framework (REF 29), tasked with assessing the excellence of research in their field from higher education institutions across the UK.
Professor Shane McCausland will join sub-Panel 32, focused on Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory, while Professor Naomi Hossain will join sub-Panel 22, focused on research in Anthropology and Development Studies.
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of UK higher education research. Comprising four main panels and 34 subject-based sub-panels, the outcomes of this framework are used to inform the allocation of around £2 billion per year of public funding for universities’ research.
This work will take place over the course of the next five years, with findings set for publication in December 2029.
Wilson Chan, SOAS Research Excellence Manager, will also join the Research Excellence Framework Secretariat, providing high-quality, dedicated secretariat support and procedural guidance to the sub-panels under secondment.
As a small, specialist institution, the presence of our experts on panels of such national importance is testament to our expertise at SOAS.
Speaking about their appointment, Laura Hammond, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Knowledge Exchange at SOAS, said:
"We are delighted to see two of our academics appointed to Research Excellence Framework panels – as a small, specialist institution, the presence of our experts on panels of such national importance is testament to our expertise at SOAS. Wilson Chan has strong experience in managing REF preparations and we are sure his presence on the Secretariat will be highly valued. As we prepare for REF 2029 we are immensely grateful to Shane, Naomi and Wilson for their contributions in assessing the UK's world class research."
