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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.

Current signatories

Because there are so many signatories, only the most recent 500 are shown on this page.

• Antonia Mansel-Long
• Monica Moreno
• Sam Nicholson
• Dr Simon Kelly
• Kirsty Gowling-Afchain
• John Simpson Wedge
• Dr Karen Smith
• Dr Stacey Prickett
• Hallvard Lillehammer
• Jussi Parikka
• Cristina Massaccesi
• Adam Mosley
• Clara Paschini
• Nina Lübbren
• Susan Miller
• Nick Hewlett
• Katharine Hodgkin
• Milla Tiainen
• Nicholas Harris
• Dr Carol O'Sullivan
• Charlotte Faircloth
• David Corfield
• Lynn Turner
• Xan Ophis
• Laura Campbell
• Dr Gonçalo D. Santos
• Julia O'Connell Davidson
• Dr Mirna Solic
• Professor David Cohen
• Joanna Mary Firth
• Professor Andrew John Lockwood
• Julinda Nuri
• David Harvey
• Dr. Sharon Smith
• Savitri Hensman
• Luke Pitcher
• Evelyn Sweerts
• Dr Steve Wood
• John Lusty
• Julia Welland
• andrew mason
• Emma Kuwertz
• Kimberly Loh
• Sasha Millwood
• Dr Ian McIntosh
• Pekka Pitkanen
• Dr Michael Brady
• Dr Robert Bailey
• Ian David Kennedy
• Kevin Adamson
• Prof Sarah Annes Brown
• Vitali Liskevich
• Zeev Sobol
• Eleanor Paremain
• James Hunter
• Prof. Brian Bloomfield
• Daniel White
• Gareth Jones
• Andrew Hunt
• Professor Guy Halsall
• Christopher Rowe
• Aleisha Olson
• Dr Rachel Walton
• Dr. R. Dubrovka
• Oliver Jones
• R M Woods
• Christina Possel
• Martin Eve
• Silvia Panizza
• Lianne de Mello
• Ivan Pregnolato
• Heather Crawley
• Dr Heather Blurton
• Melissa Roddis
• Alex Chan
• Dr Rachel Moss
• Dr Gillian Piggott
• John Gibson
• Professor Penny Harvey
• Ross Clarke
• Fotini Kofidou
• Dr Stavros Brekoulakis
• Dr Rachel Gibbons
• Joeri Witteveen
• Dr Michal Polak
• Daniel Rourke
• Christopher Blunt
• Stefani Thrasyvoulou
• George Proudfoot
• Dr Karen Beckett
• paul rosenbloom
• Charles Hodgson
• Nicholas Cromarty
• Dr Simon Kohn
• Joe Meadway
• Dr. Dima Maneuski
• Kenneth Wraight
• Professor Paul Stewart
• Dr Scott Hames
• Emma J. Withers
• Bilal Baloch
• Guido Heldt
• ALex Thomas
• Joseph Chillingworth
• Professor Martyn Rady
• Brendan Larvor
• Philip Thonemann
• Catherine Belsey
• Sean Jennings
• Henry Lodge
• Clare Doyle
• Alexandros Tillas
• Ellen Boekee
• Neil Badmington
• Dr Sven L.M. Schroeder
• Alex Young
• Ruth Macrides
• Prof. David J. Benson
• Fergus Reid
• vasily gorbunov
• Thilo Rehren
• Mark Rush
• Dr Eleonora Belfiore
• Jaroslaw Kedra
• Stephen Barrell
• Frank Neumann
• Morgan Wild
• Adriana Eysler
• Shawn Baland
• Zain Shaikh
• Gareth Owen
• Sarah Roellinger
• Laura Jordan
• Kieran Pringle
• Richard Menary
• Jonathan Taylor
• Assaf Libman
• Rayna Coulson
• Emily Morgan
• Will Turner
• Alexey Sevastyanov
• Lloyd Strickland
• Sejong Park
• Simon Hardman
• Alice Obrecht
• David Ladyman
• RR Rockingham Gill
• Ellen Parkinson
• Rebecca Wragg Sykes
• Amanda Taylor
• Professor Cynthia Macdonald
• Daniel Adams
• Sam Wilkinson
• Professor Philip Percival
• Andrew Hirst
• Dr Catherine Keen
• Mark Cain
• Phil Hutchinson
• Rosemary Crawley
• Michael Wilde
• Richard Tamburro
• Simon Barker
• Lars Iyer
• Nigel Sabbarton-Leary
• Dr. Saladin Meckled-Garcia
• Professor Joanna Hodge, MA D. Phil.
• Liz McKinnell
• Ruth Burch
• Jagruti Dave
• Stuart Crutchfield
• Simon Bowes
• Stephen de Wijze
• Scott Campbell
• Jonathan Salisbury
• Ceri Davies
• Michael Gillan Peckitt
• Lasse Thomassen
• Sarah Toulalan
• Alex Broadbent
• Michela Massimi
• Angus Cameron Ross
• Darian Meacham
• Dr David Bennett
• simone duca
• Harry Adamson
• Amber Carpenter
• David J. Allen
• Eleanor Robson
• Dr Ian Helm
• Angela Crawley
• Dr Christina Skott
• Edward Jones
• Isabel Rivers
• Kian Woo
• Robert Gillett
• Achim Edelmann
• Nicholas Alexander Joll
• Stacie Friend
• Alyssa Alexandra Bandow
• Will McMorran
• Ezra Macdonald
• Nicholas Evans
• Charles Batty
• Pól Ó Dochartaigh
• Kerry McKenzie
• Joe Flatman
• Antony Paddle
• Greta Hawes
• Joey Whitfield
• Francesco Messineo
• Dr Lars Peter Laamann
• David Brookshaw
• Laura Slater
• Thomas Green
• Alexander Oldemeier
• Natalie Gold
• Claudia Gremler
• Prof. John Divers
• Katy Price
• Dr Graham Dyer
• Helen Bellamy
• Dr Christine Achinger
• James Agar
• R.A.H.King
• Mandy Harrison
• Brian George
• Aidan Wightman
• Daniel Watts
• Michael Bramley
• Alexander Daniel Carruth
• Tristam Barrett
• Dr Felix Boecking
• Dr Andreas Freise
• Professor Ralf Kaiser
• Enzo Rossi
• Mary Ainscough
• Dr Stephen Forcer
• Machiko Nissanke
• Dr. Cosimo Zene
• Prof. Mashood Baderin
• Tony Mann
• Jonathan Davies
• Virginia Davis
• Dr Richard Saull
• Katie Fleming
• Michael Moriarty
• David Colclough
• Guy Fletcher
• Ralph Penny
• Thomas Karshan
• Dr Rachael Gilmour
• Andrea Brady
• Shushma Malik
• Christophe Dupin
• Professor Jenny Cheshire
• Moya Lloyd
• Justin Watkins
• chris gutkind
• Silvia Ranawake
• simon moore
• Christopher Powell
• Dr Rosemary Dixon
• Catherine Jenkins
• Dr Paulo L dos Santos
• Dr Emilia Onyema
• Mirja Holst
• Leonard Olschner
• Professor Mark Hobart
• Susanne Frane
• Dr. Makeen Makeen
• Konrad Hirschler
• Anna Portisch
• Yorgos Dedes
• Owen Miller
• Daniel Wilkins
• Mehmet C. Izbudak
• Dr. Dominic Johnson
• Murray D Robertson
• Jonathan Darlington
• Jocelyn Chatterton
• Tim Mannveille
• Thomas Young
• Cornelia Cook
• Aaron Meskin
• Alfred Hiatt
• Rudiger Gorner
• Colin Rennie
• Prof. G.R.Hawting
• Dr Peter Catterall
• Anders Karlsson
• Lucas D. Introna
• Dr Gina Potts
• Alexander Nicoll
• Eilidh Macdonald
• Elizabeth Toon
• Mike Humphrey
• Zoe Davis
• Graham Thomas
• Rosemarie Dias
• Barry Pearson
• Marian Hobson Jeanneret
• Galia Kollectiv
• Pil Kollectiv
• Danielle Kelly
• Prof Elza Adamowicz
• Tara McCormack
• Prof. Angela Leighton
• Dr Stephen Skinner
• Andrew Rear
• Donald Sassoon
• Eva Knopp
• Prof. Adrian Parker
• Luis Perdigao
• Amanda Beech
• Myshele Goldberg
• Alexei Lisitsa
• Samantha Alsbury
• Dr Neil Foxlee
• Dr John Davey
• Renate Thome
• Ruth Davies
• Dr Johan Siebers
• Sumi David
• Steven Shakespeare
• Meriel Patrick
• Dr Martin Luck
• Jim Hamlyn
• Harriet Palfreyman
• Professor Phillip John
• Emilie Sibbesson
• Serena Trowbridge
• charlotte unsworth
• Stefan Weigert
• Professor N J Cutland
• Charlotte Ladyman
• Alex Daletskii
• Stephen Daniels
• Bo Wang
• Alex Woolf
• Frances Andrews
• Dr Chris Wood
• Philip Goff
• Alastair Wilson
• John D Robertson
• Peter Kerrigan
• Pam Blundell
• Francis Eastaugh
• Katja Stuerzenhofecker
• Dr. Marta de Magalhaes
• Jean-Baptiste Combes
• Dita Wickins-Drazilova
• Alice Tyrell
• Lesley Abrams
• Prof. James Connelly
• Philip Welch
• Philip de Bary
• Prof. Rolf-Dietmar Herzberg
• lynsey Berrecloth
• Regina Nickel
• Brian Hill
• Laura Mitchell
• Adrian Machiraju
• Dr Kaihsu Tai
• Paul Tipper
• Dona van Bloemen
• Alex Evans
• Heather Hearn
• Daniele Malerba
• Jude Ewing
• Dr W.J. Clegg
• Thomas Rickard
• Phoebe Luckyn-Malone
• Prof. Michael Wheeler
• Guido Bacciagaluppi
• Sarah Rawlins
• Harold J. Cook
• Dr. Hua Lu
• Jarred Davies
• Dr Hartley Dean
• Martin Ward
• Dr Keith Benedict
• Dr Mark Crankshaw
• Paul Glover
• Samir Okasha
• Anthony Ashmore
• Stephen Wattam
• Sabina Lovibond
• Dr, Peter McDonald
• Dr John Watts
• Ben Jackson
• Dr Stuart Watt
• david de meza
• Richard Baron
• Dr Tony Vann
• Dr Sebastian P. Brock
• Ian Finlayson
• Christopher Day
• Lauren Stewart
• Jimmi Nielsen
• Vania Ranjbar
• Kayt Armstrong
• Caoilfhionn Ni Mhuiri
• Naomi Guppy
• Steve Read
• Marie Christine Dussault
• Richard Katz
• Samuel Lebens
• Takayuki Miura
• Robert Pollack
• Robin Faichney
• Sophie Jones
• Katherine Neustadt
• Emma Gordon
• Rhona Alcorn
• Trevor Sharp
• Sharmin Ahammad
• Rebecca Bennett
• Inna Kupreeva
• Christopher Jones
• Christopher Travers
• Emma McKinley
• Samantha Smart
• Rowan Mackay
• Dr James Morris
• Dr Ian Forrest
• Hannah Dingwall
• Matthew Lodder
• Alexander Economides
• Dr A E Lawrence
• Kostas Tsagkaridis
• Nicholas Shea
• Paul Reid-Bowen
• Jennifer Sullivan
• Kate E. Tunstall
• Dr Stephen Bradshaw
• Sonia Cala-Lesina
• Alan Fielden
• steph price
• Ginevra House
• Holly Welham
• Alexander Hoban
• Dr Michael Smith
• Max Neunhoeffer
• David Cornell
• Dr. Michelle St. Clair
• Benedetta Bassetti
• Tim Cawkwell
• Sam Leyden
• Professor John Worrall
• s greenwood
• Deborah Smart
• Cliff Laine
• Antony Bastiani
• Nicholas Dean
• Emilie Crossley
• Dr Neil McNair
• Tim Unwin
• David McHale
• Dr Nick Megoran
• Lee Durbin
• Edmund Cannon
• Julian Evans
• Stefano Ferrari
• Herminio Martins
• Bridget Fowler (Emeritus Prof.)
• Fabiola Coxon
• Dave Kimber
• Jonathan Harbourne
• martin jones
• Laurie Marks
• Valerie Brown
• L Chilvers
• Mark Cock
• Marie Anne Polo de Beaulieu
• Martin Lascelles
• David Sterratt
• Mark Johnson
• Andrew Garbett
• Peter G. Hancock
• Dr Andrew Jones
• Dr Sam Barrett
• Ruth Davis
• Darren Bradshaw
• Jeremy Thurlow
• Theresa Hague
• Mike Biddulph
• Josh Allen
• J McNeill
• Christian Bohm
• Robert Grey de Villiers
• James Dibb-Simkin
• Nichola Collinge
• Trish Stewart
• Nicholas Marston
• Rowan Moore
• Vincent Bell
• matthew helsby
• Adam Bowering
• Nina Curtis
• Kuang-Hsu Chiang

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