Following the ARMA REF Forum held in Manchester on Thursday 12 March 2026, recordings and slides from the keynote presentations by Rebecca Fairbairn (REF Director, Research England) and Professor Hugh McKenna (Chair, REF 2029 Research Diversity Advisory Panel) are available to view:

• Recording: Keynote Presentation – Rebecca Fairbairn
• Slide Deck: Keynote Presentation – Rebecca Fairbairn
• Recording: Keynote Presentation – Prof. Hugh McKenna
• Slide Deck: Keynote Presentation – Prof. Hugh McKenna

This project is a collaborative effort between The Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa – Research Management Programme in Africa (ReMPro Africa)  and ARMA. ReMPro aims to fill critical gaps in the African research ecosystem, to support a vibrant research culture and leadership at universities and research institutions. The overall aim is to transform research management at institutional level by addressing four key interconnected strand, namely, leadership, sustainability, standards and individual capacity development.

As a collaborative partner, ARMA is working with ReMPro on the individual capacity development strand by co-implementing two main activities,

1. The International Research Management Staff Development Programme – a practical skills and cultural learning programme for UK and African research managers focused on knowledge sharing between individuals and the development of tools and resources for the wider research management community. This programme was funded by ReMPro and the Wellcome Trust. Click on the link for more information on the programme and to access free research management tools and resources developed by the participants.

2. An Africa wide study on the research management ecosystem in research institutions – an Africa wide survey  mapping and identifying the strengths and gaps of African research institutions in specific core functions identified by ReMPro as critical for a robust research management support system. Results of the survey will be published in 2021.

Welcome to ARMA’s new project aimed at raising the profile of secondments and making it easier for secondments to happen! Click here to enter our microsite!

Research Ethics Support and Review in Research Organisations

Research Ethics Support and Review in Research Organisations – Summary version

Appendix 1 – REC review panel checklist for applications

Appendix 2 – Risk assessment matrix

Appendix 3: Audit tool aligned with core principles

Research Ethics Support and Review in Research Organisations guidance – Key Points:

https://ukrio.org/wp-content/uploads/Research-Ethics-Support-and-Review-in-Research-Organisations-guidance-key-points.pptx (powerpoint download)

https://ukrio.org/wp-content/uploads/Research-Ethics-Support-and-Review-in-Research-Organisations-guidance-key-points.pdf (PDF version)

Download the report, associated infographics, and the recording and slides from our public launch webinar

Brunswick Templates

ARMA Jobs Board

Professional Services CV Template

ARMA publishes Complex Collaborations – Efficiency, Equity, Quality and Security in International Research

Watch Complex Collaborations – Efficiency, Equity, Quality and Security in International Research – Report Launch webinar (3 March 2023)

ARMA secures Research England funding for next stage of the Due Diligence project: Efficiency, Equity, Quality and Security in International Research Collaboration’ (25 May 2022)

Watch the ‘Due diligence in international research project – findings and recommendations’ webinar (17 May 2021)

ARMA publishes findings of International Research Due Diligence report

Watch the ‘Introduction to the Consolidated Due Diligence Questionnaire’ Webinar (12 Jan 2021)

First Output: Due Diligence Questionnaire and Guidance

• Financial Sustainability of Research Survey Results
• Financial sustainability survey
• Update on financial sustainability survey
• Research at risk: Impacts of financial constraints on UK universities. Report produced in partnership with the Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) and Universities UK (UUK), published September 2025.

• Strategic Enablers of Financially Sustainable Research – Free ARMA Workshops
• Strategic Enablers of Financially Sustainable Research: Insights from workshop one

A Framework of Policies and Procedures for University Research Ethics Committees

In partnership with UKRIO, ‘A Framework of Policies and Procedures for University Research Ethics Committees’ was revised in 2020. Please see New Research Ethics Guide from ARMA and UKRIO (8 April 2020). 

Liverpool John Moores University RIS Organisation Chart 2019-20

University of Huddersfield Simple Organogram July 2020

SOAS Organogram – Library, Learning and Research Services

St George’s Joint Research and Enterprise Services – Organogram Aug 2020

Place Policy Review – Sep 2022

Place: Partnership, Impact and Funding Framework, and Checklist – Sep 2022

ARMA Virtual Research Culture Library

Press Release for ‘The ARMA Survey on Research Culture 2020’

The ARMA Survey on Research Culture 2020 – Report

The ARMA Survey on Research Culture 2020 – Survey Questions.

Want to run your own survey of the Research Culture experiences of Support Staff in your organisation?

At ARMA we are committed to open and reproduceable research, and as such, we are sharing the questions which we used in the landmark ARMA Research Culture Survey 2020.

These are open and free to anyone to use; all we ask is that you acknowledge ARMA’s (and Wellcome Trust’s) Research Culture Survey in your work.

If you have any questions about the survey please contact ARMA/hilary@constructivedisruption.co.uk

Research Administration as a Profession (RAAAP) is an international survey which seeks to identify the key skills, attitudes and behaviours of successful research management and administration (RMA) leaders. For details, click here.

Running from 2010 to 2017, Project Snowball and Snowball Metrics was established to look into whether a set of Key Performance Indicators could be developed to enable fair comparison of research and Knowledge Exchange activity across institutions regardless of their size and mission. The project delivered a wealth of useful findings in addition to three Recipe Books articulating the criteria that could be used for such benchmarking.

Originally available on the CASRAI website, the complete Snowball dossier can now be found here. 

Snowball Metrics Reports

Snowball Metrics Recipe Book, edition 3
Lisa Colledge, Snowball Metrics Program Director, Elsevier, on behalf of all the Snowball Metrics program partners (2017)

Snowball Metrics Recipe Book, edition 2
Lisa Colledge, Snowball Metrics Program Director, Elsevier, on behalf of all the Snowball Metrics program partners (2014)

Snowball Metrics Recipe Book
Their application in the United Kingdom (2012)

Snowball Metrics – Providing a Robust Methodology to Inform Research Strategy – but do they help?
Anna Clements, Peter Darroch and John Green, Procedia Computer Science, Volume 106, 2017, pages 11-18, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Current Research Information Systems, CRIS 2016. This article is open access and available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050917302715

Snowball Metrics and measuring Research Grant Applications Success Rate.
John Green and Peter Darroch on behalf of the Snowball Metrics program partners (2015)

A role for the library in awakening to the power and potential of institutional metrics for research
Prema Arasu, CEO and Vice Provost, Kansas State University Olathe (2014) http://libraryconnect.elsevier.com/articles/2014-12/role-library-awakening-power-and-potential-institutional-metrics-research

Snowball Metrics response to the HEFCE independent review of the role of metrics in research assessment
Dr John T. Green, Queens’ College, Cambridge, Chair of the Snowball Metrics Steering Committee (2014)

Snowball Metrics: no pinch of salt needed
©Times Higher Education (17 July 2014) This article is available at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/snowball-metrics-no-pinch-of-salt-needed/2014496.article

The Application of the CERIF Data Format to Snowball Metrics
Anna Clements, Brigitte Jörg, Grete Christina Lingjærde, Tomáš Chudlarský, Lisa Colledge, Procedia Computer Science, volume 33, 2014, Pages 297–300, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Current Research Information Systems, CRIS 2014. This article is open access, and available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050914008370

Evidence-based decision making in academic research: The “Snowball” effect
John Green, The Academic Executive Brief, issue 1 (2013)

Project Snowball – sharing data for cross-institutional benchmarking
Lisa Colledge, Anna Clements, M’hamed el Aisati and Scott Rutherford, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Current Research Information Systems, CRIS 2012

Project Snowball: benchmarking metrics for research performance
John Green, Research Global, issue 31 (2012)

The Snowball Project
An update of the initiative to define standard metrics for research information management (2011)

Research intelligence and performance management
Nick Fowler, John Green, Scott Rutherford and Thomas Turner, Research Global, issue 27 (2011)

Research information management
Developing tools to inform the management of research and translating existing good practice (2010) – A report funded by JISC and jointly conducted by Imperial College London and Elsevier

Related Reports

Measuring scientific performance for improved policy making
Science and Technology Options Assessment panel for the European Parliament (2014)

Moving towards the ideal way to manage research information in the United Kingdom: cross-sector workshops
Lisa Colledge (2013)

Comparative Benchmarking of European and US Research Collaboration and Researcher Mobility
A report prepared in collaboration between Science Europe and Elsevier’s SciVal Analytics (September 2013)

International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base – 2013
A report prepared by Elsevier for the UK’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (2013)

Research universities and research assessment
A report from LERU, the League of European Research Universities (May 2012)

The Current Health and Future Well-Being of the American Research University
A report from the Research Universities Futures Consortium (2012)

Measuring the impact of research – the context for metric development
A report from Australia’s Group of Eight (2011)

Knowledge, networks and nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century
A report from the UK’s Royal Society (2011)

Mapping Research Excellence: exploring the links between research excellence and research funding policy
A report from the UK’s 1994 group (2011)

Europe’s University-Based Research: Expert Group on Assessment of University-Based Research
A report from the European Commission (2010)

Professionalising research management
John Green and David Langley, Research Global (2009)

Professionalising Research Management: a study commissioned and jointly funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Medical Research Council (MRC)
David Langley and John Green (2009)

Best practice in using business intelligence to determine research strategy
John Green, Scott Rutherford and Thomas Turner, Perspectives, volume 13, number 2 (2009)

Implementation of Systems to Support the Management of Research: Commentary from a UK University Perspective
Scott Rutherford and David Langley, The Journal of Research Administration (2007)

Other documents from CASRAI

Baker, D., McCutcheon, V. , Spence, A.  and Kerridge, S. (2020)  A Framework for Agreeing Standard Terminology. Documentation. University of Glasgow.

Research Security

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NCSC Toolkit for Boards:  https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/board-toolkit

Trusted Research landing page: https://www.cpni.gov.uk/trusted-research

Senior leaders guide https://www.cpni.gov.uk/system/files/Trusted%20Research%20Guidance%20for%20Senior%20Leaders.pdf

Checklist for Academics: https://www.cpni.gov.uk/system/files/Trusted%20Research%20Checklist%20for%20Academia.pdf

Implementation guidance: https://www.cpni.gov.uk/system/files/Trusted%20Research%20Implementation%20Guide.pdf

Integrated Review: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/975077/Global_Britain_in_a_Competitive_Age-_the_Integrated_Review_of_Security__Defence__Development_and_Foreign_Policy.pdf

NSI HEI guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-security-and-investment-act-guidance-for-the-higher-education-and-research-intensive-sectors/national-security-and-investment-act-guidance-for-the-higher-education-and-research-intensive-sectors