 |
 |
Dear all, The petition below can only be signed by UK residents only and is drafted by James Ladyman and Steve French protesting against plans to fund UK research based on impact rather than on academic excellence. Please forward to other lists. Dave. ********************************************************************************** Dear arts and humanities academics There is now a petition on the no.10 website about impact. Please consider signing it and forwarding it to your colleagues in the rest of the arts and humanities. http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/REFandimpact/ The petition reads: We request the reversal of the Research Councils and HEFCE policy to direct funds to projects whose outcomes are determined to have a significant ‘impact’. The arts and humanities do have such an impact, but it is typically difficult if not impossible to judge this in the short-term. Academic excellence is the best predictor of impact in the longer term, and it is on academic excellence alone that research should be judged. ‘Users’ who are not academic experts are not fit to judge the academic excellence of research any more than employers are fit to mark student essays. The UK is renowned for its creative industries. But the roots of creativity in the intellectual life of the nation need sustained support and evaluations based on short-term impact will lead to less impact in the long-term. We also request the abandonment of plans to merge subject panels based on spurious claims of disciplinary and methodological similarities. Merging panels in most cases would undermine both methodological integrity and disciplinary identities and undermine the world class research that the UK currently produces. Best wishes James Professor James Ladyman Department of Philosophy University of Bristol 9 Woodland Road Bristol BS81TB 0117 9287609 [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> This email was independently scanned for viruses by McAfee anti-virus software and none were found