The LAGB is invited to nominate people to participate in the various panels involved in REF 2021.  The bulk of these nominations were made in 2017, you may remember being invited to participate in that process. Now we are invited to make further nominations, but in a more restricted way: to help the sub-panels fill any gaps in their range of expertise.

The positions for which we can now make nominations are:

• Sub-Panel 27 (English Language and Literature): a sub-panel member who should be a practising researcher with expertise in linguistics (general)
• Sub-Panel 28 (Modern Languages and Linguistics):
• • an output assessor with expertise in British Sign Language / Deaf Studies
  • impact assessors with expertise in any of: the heritage sector, publishing, language policy, language education, professional use/users of language

Nominations are particularly encouraged of candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds, institution types and geographical region, and particularly nominations of candidates from under-represented groups, including people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds.

As before, any member of LAGB can propose a person (including themselves) for nomination who they think has the necessary expertise. Please send your nomination to office@lagb.org.uk and put “REF nomination” in the subject line. We will collate these nominations, contact nominees to obtain further information, if necessary search further in order to improve the range of nominees, and then send on the final list to the REF administration. This entire process has to be completed by 3^rd April, so any nominations need to be sent to the LAGB committee by 5pm on Tuesday 17^th March at the latest (and earlier would be most helpful).

If you are nominating someone, please indicate which of the above roles you are nominating them for, and give an indication (this can be brief at this point) of the basis for their expertise. It will be very helpful if you can check whether they are happy to be nominated; please indicate if you have done this. Also please be sure to include an email address for the nominee.

Anyone (including potential nominees) who would like more information about the nomination process, as well as dates of meetings of the sub-panels and the kind of further information we’ll need to request, can find it at https://www.ref.ac.uk/panels/nominating-panel-members/

There is no need to put forward names that were already put forward in 2017; the earlier nominations remain under consideration.

Caroline Heycock (President), for the LAGB committee