This page provides guidance for external collaborators and stakeholders who are contributing testimonials and/or evidence to support the development of Impact Case Studies for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) at King’s.

The Research Excellence Framework is the system for assessing the excellence of research in UK higher education institutions. It is run by Research England on behalf of the UK Government. REF is used by the Government to allocate billions of pounds in research funding to UK universities. The exercise takes place approximately every seven years: universities will submit to the next assessment (REF 2029) in autumn 2028.

The REF is assessed in three parts: through the submission of research outputs (e.g. journal articles, conference proceedings); through the submission of data and narrative regarding an institution’s research strategy, research culture and environment for research, and by the submission of Impact Case Studies (ICS).

REF defines Impact as ‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’.

ICS are descriptions of the wider societal benefits that have been created by one or more pieces of underpinning research. King’s College London must provide evidence of the impacts that we claim as part of each Impact Case Study.

These REF Impact Case Studies are assessed in terms of their ‘reach’ (i.e. the extent and/or diversity of the beneficiaries of the impact, not geography or location) and ‘significance’ (i.e. the degree to which the impact has enabled change, either positive or negative).

Each REF Impact Case Study must describe impacts that have occurred between 1 August 2020 and 31 July 2028.

Institutions must provide evidence of the reach and significance of the impact claimed as part of each case study for REF, and evidence alongside the case study that can corroborate specific claims made. This evidence may be reviewed in the event of audit.

The evidence may consist of a wide range of data types, including qualitative, quantitative and tangible outputs, such as patents or products.

Many external partners work closely with, or are involved in projects with, academics at Kings: your experiences and data from working with Kings’ academics can be an integral source of information when we develop Impact Case Studies for REF. By sharing your experience or data, you are helping the university show how collaborative research translates into meaningful change beyond academia. Your perspective is vital in making the case for continued investment in research that delivers tangible benefits.

You may be contacted for an interview by a researcher or a member of King’s Professional Services staff to ensure your testimonial is rich with valuable insights.

You may also be asked to provide your written testimony directly to the researcher or Professional Services representative.

You will be asked to provide evidence ahead of submission in autumn 2028, to ensure that evidence is collected in a timely manner, and close to when impact was achieved. You may be asked to review or revise the evidence closer to submission. If you are no longer at the company or organisation where impact was reported, a representative may be asked to review the evidence in your place.

The most common method of providing evidence for REF Impact Case Studies is in the form of qualitative testimonies.

Testimonies provided to King’s as corroborating evidence for Impact Case Studies should be factual statements that corroborate the specific impact claims made in the case study. There are some occasions where opinion-based testimonials may be appropriate, e.g. where impact is on public understanding of an issue. The following checklist provides a guide for developing the content of testimonies. This list should be used flexibly and is not exhaustive:

• Where possible, please provide the testimony on headed paper with a signature. Include your name, role, organisation and contact details.
• Include specific details of the names, roles and institutions of the researchers that you have engaged with as well as specific details of their research that you have engaged with (e.g. titles of research outputs and dates of publication).
• Provide an explanation of the context for your engagement with the researchers and their research. What was the issue? What was the input you sought? How did you engage with the researchers/research?
• Describe the contribution the researchers and their research made. E.g. did they provide expert advice? Did they provide a specific piece of research? Did they synthesise existing research? Did they develop a new output or product?
• Describe the impact this research had. How did their contributions create change? To what extent did the research influence change (i.e. was it the main piece of evidence or one of many)? What specifically changed as a result of the research, and who benefited? What was the timeframe for changes? What was the reach and significance of the changes?

Where possible, you may also wish to include some or all of the following in your testimony:

• Quantitative evidence of the impact to accompany the qualitative testimony (for example, company financial reports or sales figures; project reports with numbers of beneficiaries)
• References to any related impact assessments

A rough guide is two sides of A4 (no more than 1,000 words).

Other forms of evidence (in addition to testimonials) are highly valuable in Impact Case Studies as they provide objective validation of the claims being made. While testimonials offer personal perspectives and insight into how research has made a difference, supporting materials such as performance data, policy documents and internal reports help to substantiate these narratives with measurable outcomes and independent verification. These types of evidence can demonstrate reach, significance and attribution of impact in a more quantifiable way, helping to build a stronger, more credible case

These are typically more formal, structured documents, or numerical and may include:

• Business of service performance data (e.g. profits, uptake rates, sales of product/services).
• Employment figures, jobs created or protected.
• Evidence of improved clinical outcome, improved wellbeing, enhancement of patient/user experience.
• Internal reports showing the application of research.
• Policy documents referencing the research.
• Emails, memos, or minutes documenting decisions influence by research.
• Contracts or agreements (e.g funded collaborations, licensing).

Corroborating evidence can be submitted to REF 2029 in any language.

Further information on the different types of impact and associated indicators of reach and significance, and examples of evidence relevant to different research areas (i.e. impacts on health, commerce, public policy etc), can be found here. This is from REF2021. We will update this to the latest REF2029 document as soon as it is released by Research England. 

King's lawful basis under GDPR for collecting and using personal data

The processing of personal data for the development of REF Impact Case Studies is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR).

As a leading public research institution, it is imperative that we fully engage with the REF exercises and provide submissions that demonstrate the impact of our work beyond academia.

As well as informing the allocation of funding for research, this helps to provide accountability for public investment in research and produce evidence of the benefits of this investment.

Full details on the ways in which we use, store, and share the data provided by external parties for the purposes of REF can be found in this Impact Evidence Data Collection document.

If you have any questions or for further information please contact REFSupport@kcl.ac.uk.

I have confidential information that I do not want published

The REF 2029 guidance recognises that some evidence used in Impact Case Studies may be of a confidential or sensitive nature. Providing evidence is an important and necessary component of Impact Case Studies for REF 2029.

However, there are arrangements in place to enable institutions to submit Impact Case Studies that include confidential information, with the agreement of the relevant organisations.

If you think that your data is sensitive or should be kept confidential, and you have not yet discussed this with your academic contact, please contact the REF Team.

No confidential, sensitive, or identifiable personal data will be inputted into any Large Language Model (LLM) AI tools.

1. Lawful, fair and transparent processing

Who will King's share your information with?

In 2028, King’s will submit the Impact Case Studies for assessment in REF2029, including any data provided as corroborating evidence. The REF is managed by a team based at Research England (RE), on behalf of the four UK higher education funding bodies. RE is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Once with UKRI, any case study, or parts of it, may be passed to the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland (DfE), the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, Wales (Medr) or Scottish Funding Council (SFC) who may need data to inform the selective distribution of public funds for research and to carry out their statutory functions connected with funding higher education and analyse and monitor REF2029.

This may result in case studies (but not corroborating evidence) being released to other users including academic researchers or consultants (commissioned by the funding bodies), to carry out research or analysis, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679). Where information not previously published is released to third parties, this will be anonymised where practicable.

UKRI will require that anyone who has access to your data, held in UKRI’s records, paper or electronic, to respect its confidentiality and will only process it in accordance with instructions issued for the purposes specified by UKRI.

2. Specified, explicit and legitimate purposes

Any information you choose to provide to King’s will be used as corroborating evidence in an impact case study. This data will initially be stored on a King’s secure server which will only be accessible by necessary members of staff. Only one copy of the data will be stored and all versions in email form deleted once information is filed.

All case studies, unless marked with a redaction option, will be published by Research England in 2029 and made available on the REF website. If you do not wish the information you provide to be made available in this way, please choose a redaction option (see below) and discuss your requirements with your King’s partner.

King’s may also use the case studies and corroborating evidence to showcase the impact of research through a range of mediums including online and in print, again respecting redaction options.

3. Adequate, relevant, not excessive

When you provide corroborating evidence, your data will be used in the body of an impact case and appended in case of audit. Impact case studies will not normally be submitted with personal information, except for your job title and/or organisation which may be included.

In all King’s processes to develop the final case study, appropriate levels of data redaction will be respected. If you choose to provide personal and contact information for corroboration purposes this will be stored securely and will only be used in audit circumstances. More information on REF audit processes for 2021 can be found here. This link will be updated when Research England published their audit guidance for REF2029.

REF 2021 allowed for different types of case study submission, if any part of the corroborating evidence is sensitive, each allowing for differing levels of confidentiality. These ranged from processes which catered for the inclusion of security sensitive information, to redaction of business sensitive material. Full details of these options can be found below. Details of options available for REF 2029 will be published once the full guidance is released.

If you feel that your case contains sensitive information, needs any kind of redaction or you would like to discuss further options please contact your King’s partner and/or the REF Team.

4. Accurate

Sharing third party personal data with King's

Please ensure that if you are sharing any third-party personal data (that is any identifiable information that is not your own) with King’s, you have the necessary consent to do so. If you do not have consent, you must be able to demonstrate your other GDPR lawful basis for sharing and have informed the individuals concerned. If you cannot meet these requirements, please anonymise the information before sharing it with King’s.

Accessing your personal data through REF

To find out more about how the university deals with your personal information, including your rights and who to contact if you have a concern.

For any further questions please contact REFsupport@kcl.ac.uk.

Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations

As a public authority, King’s is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. This means that anybody is entitled to make a request to King’s for any information that we hold in a recorded form, and we must disclose it unless a relevant exemption applies. In the unlikely event that we receive a request for impact evidence that we hold, we will take into account the redaction options selected at submission and apply relevant exemptions where available.

5. Retention

Both King’s and UKRI will securely store data relating to impact case studies until six months after the REF2029 results are published (June 2030) then securely dispose of all material.

6. Security

Further information on King’s strict confidentiality and privacy principles can be found here

The table below will help you to understand what level of security should be applied to ensure that sensitive information remains confidential. These are the redaction options used for REF 2021. Confirmation of options available for REF 2029 will be published once full guidance is released.

If you would like to discuss your redaction options in more depth, please send us an email.