To reduce inequalities in research evaluation, give researchers a universal basic income for research impact

As the review of REF2021 begins, Mark Reed proposes that rather than allocating impact funding to a small number of high performing institutions, funding should be allocated more broadly to individual researchers. He argues that not only would this limit the over-concentration of resources in particular institutions, but would also benefit the wider culture of research impact by limiting zero-sum competition between institutions for impact and enabling researchers to pursue, or choose not to pursue, more intrinsically motivated forms of research impact.