Panel membership

The main and sub-panel chairs were appointed through an open recruitment process, and panel members were appointed through a nominations process. The appointment process and criteria are set out in 'Units of assessment and recruitment of expert panels'.  Some additional panel members and assessors were recruited during 2012. All new appointments are recorded in the REF panel membership lists, set out below:

The list of bodies invited to nominate candidates to be panel members is below.

Conflicts of interest

The REF is governed by the principles of equity, equality and transparency.  To ensure these principles are adhered to, we have set out arrangements for 'Managing conflicts of interest' at Annex D of the 'panel criteria'.

A list of the current declared major interests is provided. This list (published in April 2013) may not be complete. It will be updated and republished prior to the submission deadline, to include the major interests of the additional assessors recruited during 2013.

Additional assessors

During 2013, we will appoint additional assessors to extend the breadth and depth of the panels' expertise, for the assessment phase of the exercise. We will appoint both:

• Research users, to take part in assessing the impact elements of submissions.
• Practising researchers, to take part in assessing research outputs.

All nominations submitted have been retained and will be considered as potential assessors, including those made in the recent open call for research users. In addition, during 2013 we will approach the relevant bodies as necessary, to seek nominations for further assessors with specific areas of expertise.

Further information on the role and appointment of assessors is detailed in the 'panel criteria', paragraphs 28-34.

We will publish the names of appointed assessors in mid-2013, alongside the panel membership.