Research

Pro-Vice-Chancellor appointed to chair a research excellence panel

Published 15 July 2010

The university's Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Bruce Brown, has been appointed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) as chair of one of the four main panels in the forthcoming Research Excellence Framework (REF).

Building on the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the REF will assess the quality of UK research through a process of peer review managed by HEFCE working on behalf of all the funding bodies. Bruce, who is a Professor of Design, will head up Main Panel D, responsible for the assessment of research across the arts and humanities. The assessments will be undertaken by 30–40 sub-panels working under the guidance of the four main panel chairs.

Bruce said: "I look forward to working with colleagues over the next few years to ensure that the REF delivers a sound and fair process recognising excellence in all types and forms of research wherever it is produced."

Bruce specialises in the social and cultural effects of visual memory. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Art. Bruce currently chairs the Portuguese government's research grants panel (Arts) for the Fundação para a Ciência ea Tecnologia and was chair of Main Panel O (Arts) in the 2008 RAE.

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