This field records whether or not the member of staff is a research assistant

All staff where any (Contract.ACEMPFUN is coded 2 and Contract.TERMS is coded 1 or 2).

Person.RESAST records whether or not the member of staff was a research assistant and is not solely for the purposes of REF.

Research assistants are defined in the Assessment framework and guidance on submissions pages 17-21.

Where a staff member holds more than one contract where Contract.ACEMPFUN = 2 in a reporting period, Person.RESAST should only be completed as 1 if all contracts where Contract.ACEMPFUN = 2 are Research Assistant posts.

All staff who are selected for the 2014 REF should be coded 0 in Person.RESAST. This will apply to staff whose contracts state they are a research assistant but who nevertheless meet the criteria to be selected as category A staff.

Worked examples

Example 1 – All contracts where Contract.ACEMPFUN = 2 are Research Assistant posts.

A staff member had two consecutive contracts during the reporting year, where contract 1 was coded as Contract.ACEMPFUN = 2 and was as a Research Assistant, and contract 2 was not coded Contract.ACEMPFUN = 2 and was not as a Research Assistant. Person.RESAST should be completed as 1.

Example 2 – All contracts where Contract.ACEMPFUN = 2 are not Research Assistant posts.

A staff had two consecutive contracts during the reporting year, both of which were coded asContract.ACEMPFUN = 2. Contract 1 was not as a Research Assistant and contract 2 was not as a Research Assistant. Person.RESAST should be completed as 0.

Further information relating to HESA's Publication of contextual data to the Research Excellence Framework 2014 is available under the 'Further guidance' section of the manual.

Any queries that relate to the REF should be addressed to [email protected], which will be monitored by HEFCE throughout 2014.

To support the Research Excellence Framework (REF)