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Responsible Research Assessment

Learn about our updated principles of research assessment and management, and the training, guidance and support available to help you apply them.

Introduction

Research assessment happens every day, informing decisions on everything from recruitment and promotion, to funding and recognition.

As a signatory of the Declaration of Research Assessment (DORA), the University of Bath is committed to ensuring its research assessment practices are fair, transparent and inclusive. We've updated our principles of research assessment and management to reflect global trends in Responsible Research Assessment (RRA) and they form a key priority in our Research Culture Action Plan.

Watch our short video to learn more about Responsible Research Assessment and why it matters.

What’s new

Understand the changes at a glance

Guidance

The new guidance reflects our updated principles and provides practical support on designing and running assessments that focus on quality, and are robust, transparent, and fair.

Training

Online training is now available to everyone. It introduces the principles, offers practical steps for planning assessments, and includes examples of how to apply responsible research assessment in real contexts. In-person workshops will also be arranged.

Support

The new RRA Working Group will support departments and teams to review and update their local assessment practices, and ensure alignment with the institutional approach. From February, you'll be able to submit your own assessment processes for peer review, and seek advice on how to better align your processes.

What you need to do

If  you're involved in assessing research or supporting assessment processes

  • start using the new guidance in your decision making with immediate effect
  • review and update any assessment processes you manage or support to ensure they are fully aligned by January 2027

If you're a frequent assessor*

  • complete the mandatory online training as soon as possible (and no later than January 2027)
  • attend the in-person workshop for your faculty/committee

*Includes Heads of Department, Associate Deans for Research, Deans, and members of Academic Staff Committee

If your research is being assessed

  • read the new guidance to help you understand what to expect when your work is being assessed
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Integration

How we're embedding Responsible Research Assessment across the University

We're working closely with HR and the Academic Staff Committee to ensure central processes are updated consistently across the university. This means:

  • the Academic Staff Committee will begin using these principles in their decision making with immediate effect - this includes not considering JIF/ H-index etc as accepted forms of evidence
  • academic promotions processes (including the forms of evidence submitted) will be updated to reflect responsible research assessment by September 2026, when the new criteria come into effect
  • recruitment guidance will be updated to reflect responsible research assessment, including support for candidates 

Our Responsible Research Assessment Guidance

Read the full guidance or select shorter guides:

The full guidance is also available in an accessible Word document

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Training

You can now complete the online training on Moodle

This training provides an overview of RRA, and includes practical steps for assessment and scenario-based examples.

In-person workshops for each Faculty and the School will also be ready in the coming months.

Training is open to everyone but mandatory for frequent assessors (Heads of Department, Associate Deans for Research, Deans and members of Academic Staff Committee)

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Contact us

If you have any questions about responsible research assessment, please get in touch.