Professor Dana Arnold appointment to prestigious REF 2029 role

Professor Dana Arnold, Manchester School of Architecture, has been appointed to a prestigious position with the Research Excellence Framework (REF) as deputy chair of its Research Diversity Advisory Panel (RDAP).

Prof Arnold will play a key role in shaping how REF 2029 – the UK’s national system for assessing higher education research – is developed and delivered to ensure that diverse research is embedded, assessment criteria are fair, and guidance is provided on panel recruitment and training.

The advisory panel will also focus on recognising different types of research and how they contribute to the UK’s research landscape.

This includes a variety of research practices, such as interdisciplinary work and practice-based research, diverse outputs such as videos, software, and datasets, and various forms of impact such as regional and civic engagement.

In addition to her new REF role, Dana will serve as Chair of the Programme Board of RICHeS (Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science) an £80 Million Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) initiative to create a distributed infrastructure of heritage science collections and equipment.

REF has also announced the membership of the People and Diversity Advisory Panel (PDAP), which will focus on ensuring that people from different roles, career paths, and backgrounds are fairly recognised in the REF process.

Nick Brook, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, said: 

“Dana Arnold’s appointment as Deputy Chair of RDAP is a significant achievement, both for her personally and for our University. Dana’s appointment highlights our growing influence in the research community and our commitment to fostering diversity and Inclusion as part of our Road to 2030 strategy. By embedding inclusion at every stage, the panels will help build a more resilient, innovative, and diverse research environment for the UK.”

Rebecca Fairbairn, REF Director, added: 

“Each REF exercise is an evolution from the last, and REF advisory panels play an important part in that. Our new advisory panels will embed knowledge and expertise on the diversity of people, approaches to, and forms of research that are essential to the vitality of the UK’s research base.”