Recognising Hidden Roles in Research (Episode 80) – Sarah reports from the 2025 Festival of Hidden REF
For this episode of the Research Adjacent podcast Sarah reports from the Festival of Hidden REF held in Birmingham on 7 and 8 October 2025. Hidden REF is a campaign seeking to celebrate all research outputs and everyone involved in creating them. It began as a competition which ran alongside the 2021 REF and has gathered momentum ever since.
Celebrating all research outputs and everyone involved in creating them
For anyone not working in a UK university, REF stands for Research Excellence Framework. REF is an assesment exercise which evaluates the quality of research in UK universities and determines funding allocations. Although the exact details of what REF evaluates have changed over time, it still mainly judges research quality through the proxy of traditional publications written by academics.
Hidden REF, like this podcast, is working to challenge this status quo. Their mission is to uncover and celebrate the huge breadth of people and less conventional outputs that are also part of producing and sharing excellent research. The Festival of Hidden REF is the latest step on this journey.
Creating a community for change
The Festival was about community building and also gathering suggestions to feed into the REF. The day I attended included a variety of talks and workshops. I spoke to organisers Simon Hettrick and James Baker to understand the story behind the event and what they are trying to achieve.
“So we opened this out as an open event for two days to come along and just help us as a group to campaign in this area, to improve our work through that kind of bottom-up community emphasis.”
James Baker, Hidden REF
A key part of Hidden REF is their competition which celebrates people doing hidden roles (what I call research-adjacent) and non-traditional outputs. I interviewed two previous winners who spoke at the event – Laura Henderson and Lorraine van Blerk. Laura was recognised for her work in research development at Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals. Lorraine was speaking on behalf of a group of 18 homeless children in Africa who worked as peer researchers for the Growing up on the Streets project. Both were recognised as being great examples of people who are not typically acknowledged in exercises like REF.
I also spoke to Elisa Collado who gave a lightning talk on the role of PRISMs (Professional Research Investment and Strategy Managers). You can listen to the story behind the PRISM Network in episode 18 of the Research Adjacent podcast which features network founder Anja Roeding. And previous podcast guest Nick Sheppard introduced me to colleagues Emily Ennis, Jo Williams and Alix Brodie-Wray from the University of Leeds who shared their thoughts on the day.
Why is it all about outputs?
Both Elisa and Emily highlighted the fact that although research-adjacent roles are being more widely recognised, they are still being judged on the basis of tangible outputs. The reality is that a considerable amount of the work in this space is relational and operational – work that will never result in any kind of output, traditional or otherwise.
“As much as certain funders have made an effort to be more inclusive and include a diversity of roles, at the end of the day they ask you about research outputs.”
Elisa Collado, PRISM Network
Clearly progress is being made but there is still so much to do. Just as well we have the Hidden REF team on the case. Hidden REF are sharing their updates, plus the politics and gossip behind the REF in their podcast What the REF?! It’s definitely worth checking out if you want a deep dive into all things REF.
Find out more
- Connect with guests Simon Hettrick, James Baker, Laura Henderson, Lorraine van Blerk, Elisa Collado, Emily Ennis, Jo Williams and Alix Brodie-Wray or Nick Sheppard
- Find out more about Hidden REF on their website or follow them on LinkedIn. You can find the list of hidden roles that Simon mentions here.
- Listen to the What the REF?! podcast
Theme music by Lemon Music Studios from Pixabay
