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[aropax]

Hi all,

I'm mid-career outside of the UK, and looking for a move to the UK in the next year or two for personal reasons. I'm research productive and have some experience working in the UK.

I'm currently seeing jobs in the UK that are attractive to me, probably within my reach, and advertise that they are hiring to boost REF 2014 impact (among other reasons).

My question has to do with timing of the jobs focused on REF 2014. I'd prefer to be applying for jobs with a Sept. 2013 start, not 2012, but the jobs I've seen in the last few weeks are pretty good... just a year premature. I don't know how REF impact is calculated: will there likely be a continued focus on advertising for people with REF impact in a year's time?

Hope this is clear; I guess I'm wondering about the cycle of "REF hiring" and if it peaks now, or if next year might bring another cluster of positions (that is, if the UK economy doesn't tail off too badly).

[empyrean_aisles]

What level are you looking to come in at? Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, Professor? That makes a difference. In a related sub-field to mine there was a flurry of professor-level hiring a few months before the RAE deadline closed, last time round. The more junior posts were filled slightly earlier, but I think most of the excitement was still within a year of the deadline.

YMMV so I will be interested to hear others' responses.

[aropax]

Possibly Reader, but hopefully professor since (posted) Reader salaries aren't great.

BTW, I've seen "Chair" as a rank, and it's differentiated from Head of Department... does Chair always imply admin duties, like it might in the U.S.?

Also, is it true that Oxford has dumped in-between ranks? I see Lecturer (with wide pay range) and Professor, with nothing in between, at least where I looked.

[totoro]

I would assume that chair = professor. But I could be wrong.

[scotia]

Possibly Reader, but hopefully professor since (posted) Reader salaries aren't great.

BTW, I've seen "Chair" as a rank, and it's differentiated from Head of Department... does Chair always imply admin duties, like it might in the U.S.?

Also, is it true that Oxford has dumped in-between ranks? I see Lecturer (with wide pay range) and Professor, with nothing in between, at least where I looked.

Chair = professor. Head of Department is something else entirely.

At most universities professors are expected to take a share in administration, just like everyone else, and as a professor you are usually expected to take a more senior role in a department/university eg director of research, director of teaching.

I know a number of universities that no longer have the rank of Reader. Readers are often (always?) paid on the Senior Lecturer (Principal Lecturer at a post-92) scale so there is no salary advantage over SL.

Also, do you really mean 'impact' when talking about the REF? For the REF it has a very particular meaning, which is not necessarily directly related to publications.

[drspouse]

At SpouseU, anyone from SL and up can be Head of Department, though people do tend to call them Professor.

[onelime]

REF submissions, at my U, are calculated as items that are (or will be) ready to submit by the end of 2013, which means, already in print. You will probably need 4 such items, with no significant overlap in content. Where they appear is not supposed to matter, but probably does. And they need to be of high quality. Your cover letter, whenever you apply, should state that you are REF-ready in regard to these standards. "Impact" is about conveying your work to non-academics, or, as one bureaucrat-head tried to sell to us, "all you have to do is go and give a talk to the local amateur group in your field." But tv/radio exposure, having a popular website, stuff in the newspapers etc. all count. "Knowledge Transfer" is the part that still confounds me. Hope this helps.

[science_expat]

"Impact" in the context of the REF is a demonstrable difference outside academia and will primarily be judged by case studies although there will be an impact statement as well.

The stuff listed in the previous post might contribute to the impact statement but would not form the basis of a strong case study.

Note that impact as defined above remains with the institution and hence no-one would be hired to contribute to this in REF 2014.

More information on the HEFCE website: www.hefce.ac.uk/ref

[johnsem]

OP: the last I read, the cutoff date for including a staff for REF is Oct 2013 and the census date is from Jan 2008 to Dec 2013. This means that unis need to have their staff appointed way before oct 2013 so 6 months to a year before that date should intuitively be the hottest period for recruitment.

[mingus]

Apply now; there is no guarantee that such jobs will be available next year. 

[aropax]

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses. I will certainly apply for at least one of the jobs currently offered in the UK right now, and consider others over the next year or two. In my field, the job ads have exploded (esp. in the U.S.) in the last month...  really remarkable change compared to last couple of years.

I see in the UK York is offering a number (20?) of discipline non-specific positions (50th Anniversary chairs or something) which looks interesting. I know York has a reasonable reputation, and I like the city and region.