Professor Ben McFarlane appointed to REF 2029 Law sub-panel

Congratulations to Ben McFarlane, Professor of English Law and Fellow of St John’s College, who has been appointed to the Law sub-panel for the assessment phase of the 2029 Research Excellent Framework (REF).

Alongside fellow panel members, Professor McFarlane will assess REF submissions from higher education institutions across the country as part of the REF’s process of expert review. 

For the first time, panel members were appointed through an open application process rather than by nomination, with the aim of reducing barriers and attracting a broader, more inclusive pool of candidates.

Professor McFarlane said: “It’s important that REF panel members are drawn from a wide set of different specialisms and approaches. I was involved as an output assessor in REF 2021 and I enjoyed working with academics and other experts from across the UK. Reading widely across recently published legal scholarship was an interesting and rewarding experience, and I’m looking forward to being a panel member during the assessment phase of REF 2029.”

The REF is the UK’s system for assessing the excellence of research in UK higher education providers, with outcomes used to inform the allocation of around £2 billion per year of public funding for university research. Law is one of the subject areas – or ‘units of assessment’ – reviewed as part of the REF.