REF 2021 Data Explorer

REF 2021 Data Explorer: Explore, analyse, and visualise REF 2021 research data

The REF 2021 Data Explorer is an interactive web platform developed to support transparent and insightful analysis of the UK’s 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) results. The REF is a national assessment of research quality across all UK universities, covering outputs, impact case studies, research income, and environment indicators across 34 subject-based units of assessment.

All underlying data is openly sourced from the official REF 2021 release and has been systematically processed to support robust analysis and visualisation. Processing steps included standardising formats, interpreting codes, fixing alignment issues, aggregating variables, and enhancing the structure for usability. The Python codebase used for processing is openly available, along with detailed logs for each dataset.

The site allows users to filter and compare across institutions and units of assessment, and to explore key indicators such as research outputs, doctoral degrees awarded, research income (including in-kind), and both institutional and unit-level environment submissions. It provides a user-friendly interface for researchers, analysts, and policymakers to engage meaningfully with the data that informs UK research funding and strategy.

ref2021explorer.azurewebsites.net

RSEs: Mihaela Duta, Abhishek Dasgupta

Open source code: https://github.com/Hidden-REF/REF-2021-data-explorer