'Victimised' academic says Cardiff University should not use his work in research excellence submission

Martin Shipton

A retired academic who believes he was victimised by Cardiff University says it would be unethical for the university to use his publications as part of its submission to be validated as an institution of research excellence.

Until earlier this year Dr James Whitley was a highly regarded Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology at Cardiff University, a post he had held since 2008.

As part of this year’s round of cuts, the university decided to close the School of Ancient History, and in May Mr Whitley accepted voluntary redundancy.

Retiring professors are often allowed to take the title professor emeritus as a mark of respect for their status, but Dr Whitley was refused the distinction. He was offered no explanation, but says he has no doubt the title was withheld spitefully because of his outspoken opposition to the cuts programme, which involved sending a letter of strong condemnation to the University Council.

Every few years Cardiff University submits examples of research for evaluation under the Research Excellence Framework (REF). The REF is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. It first took place in 2014 and 2021. The next exercise is planned for 2029.The REF outcomes are used to inform the allocation of around £2bn per year of public funding for universities’ research.

In a letter to the REF’s panel of assessors, Dr Whitley has now questioned the ethics of his work being included as part of Cardiff University’s next submission.

He states: “I am writing concerning an ethical matter relating to the REF, in relation to the next REF submission. I have been employed by Cardiff University for almost 35 years, from September 1990 to May 2025. I retired with the status of full professor, having been granted the title in 2008. My field of study is Classical Archaeology, and my REF publications have normally been submitted to the Archaeology rather than the Classics/Ancient History panel (normally on behalf of the School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University). If you look up my publications on Cardiff University's ORCA site (where all research publications — and therefore potential REF submissions — are posted) you will see that many publications are listed --101 in total.

“Of these, several published since 2021 were being considered as possible 'REF' submissions.

“When I retired in May 2025 I did so in the reasonable expectation that I would be granted emeritus status. This has been denied me for no good reason. Indeed there is good reason to believe that the motivation was nothing more than spite on the part of a particular Pro-Vice Chancellor.

“My question is this: is it ethical for an institution to submit publications on behalf of a unit of assessment, when one member of that unit (whose publications are being submitted as part of the REF submission) has been 'cancelled' in this way? I should add that I have not simply been robbed of a title, but also an institutional affiliation, access to the library (including online journals), to OneDrive and academic emails.”

Rules

We asked Dr Whitley whether he was sure the university planned to submit some of his research papers to the REF.

He responded: “I don't know - I'm trying to find out what the rules are. If I were an emeritus they would clearly be entitled to do so. That they have removed me from the list of 'honorary staff' while at the same time continuing to list my publications on ORCA suggests that they are at least considering this. My firm view is that this would be unethical - though that, of course, would not stop them.”

The REF administrators responded to say that guidance for the next round of submissions was currently underway.

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: "At this stage no decisions have been made about the University's submissions for REF 2029. As such, it would be inappropriate for us to comment. For clarity, ORCA is a digital repository of all of Cardiff University's research outputs to help make our research more widely and freely available. It includes, for example PhD theses, as well as peer-reviewed papers and academics are free to submit their work themselves."