FAQs

The ACRF Steering Group provides oversight of the ACRF Programme and is chaired by Professor Freya Johnston (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Education). Its membership includes divisional representation (both academic and administrative leadership roles) and collegiate representation. The group reports to University committees (People, Education, Research, Planning and Resource Allocation) and Council and to the Conference of Colleges.  

The University is rethinking how it structures academic roles, recognises contributions and enables career growth. The framework aims to be a transformative proposal, designed to enhance transparency, support academic progression and align Oxford’s practices with those of its peer institutions. 

The ACRF programme emerged from a recognition that Oxford’s existing academic pay and promotion mechanisms do not fully support the needs of our workforce, as they lack transparency and do not always reflect the complex balance of responsibilities encompassed by academic roles. Additionally, the Pay and Conditions Review highlighted challenges faced by academic staff balancing high workloads with expectations of excellence across research and education, and it revealed an appetite for greater clarity around training, promotion and development opportunities.

Following an extensive programme of staff engagement in 2024-25, the intention is to present the framework for formal consultation in Hilary and Trinity terms 2026, with a view to an implementation timeline being finalised and communicated in Michaelmas term 2026, with implementation starting in 2027-2028. 

Staff will be kept informed about the progress of this work through updates via all available, appropriate channels, including the University Bulletin, the Cascade and People News, as well as on the ACRF website and at relevant meetings and events.

The initial phase of implementation will apply to staff with academic employment function at grade 9 and above, with the intention that future phases will incorporate staff at grade 8 and below. It is anticipated that clinicians, and other staff groups, will come into scope in future phases.

Yes, the scope of the framework covers research and academic roles, regardless of contract type (fixed-term, open-ended, permanent) or funding source (core or externally funded). It is hoped that the new framework will also give staff a clearer sense of options and progression once a particular contract or grant comes to an end.

Yes, but not in the first phase of implementation. All staff with teaching and/or research responsibilities across the University, including staff on joint appointments between the University and Oxford Colleges, are in scope. There will be a phased approach to considering how the framework applies to different groups of staff.

This programme aims to produce a single framework for academic careers that could potentially be applied across the collegiate university. Since each of the colleges is and independent employer, with its own terms and conditions of employment and governance structures, it will be for the colleges to decide whether or not to implement the framework for college-only staff and for the college-specific aspects of joint appointments. The Conference of Colleges is being kept informed about the development of the framework, several of the colleges are represented on the Steering Group and a Conference of Colleges ACRF Working Group has been established. In addition, a joint University and college working group is being formed to focus on workload.

The Researcher Careers Concordat was signed by the University in April 2021 and is accompanied by a three-year action plan to improve support for research staff on fixed-term contracts. The ACRF programme supports our Concordat commitments by offering clear and transparent processes and criteria for career progression.

The ACRF programme preceded the Pay & Conditions Review but the scope of the two projects intersect, with the ACRF drawing on the academic pay and reward benchmarking carried out as part of the review and insight gathered on academic workload and wellbeing.

Work including proposals for restructuring salary scales and more in-depth international pay benchmarking, was taken forward as part of the ACRF project (see Pay & Conditions: Action on Pay) together with action on non-pay priorities such as reward and recognition, professional development opportunities and addressing workload pressures for academics.

The ACRF programme team, subject matter experts and Steering Group members have led an extensive programme of engagement with colleges and divisions. Staff have contributed to discussions so far through divisional boards, trade union and staff focus groups and the varied activities of the cross-University project group leading on this ambitious and complex programme. 

The ACRF Programme team and subject matter experts have coordinated an extensive programme of engagement including over 70 meetings, during which more than 400 staff across the collegiate university have informed the framework's development. Discussions with subject-matter experts in both academic and professional services roles continue.

The framework aimed to deliver relief of workload stress for academics. Workload research conducted by the ACRF Programme Team and subject matter experts involved data gathering and analysis including benchmarking employment terms and responsibilities/duties of academics, particularly associate professors, and the balance of college and University duties. The research conducted resulted in an agreement that the issue of workload is predominantly related to associate professors and therefore that the University and colleges will establish a joint working group to address the workload issue.

Reviewing the University’s current teaching model is not within the ACRF’s remit. Ss a result of research conducted as part of the framework’s development, a joint University and college working group is being established to consider the workload requirements of the existing model. 

Over the summer of 2023, an in-depth review of existing career and reward approaches for academic staff at other Higher Education Institutions was carried out to benchmark the University’s existing model. The findings of this analysis were mapped onto the University’s own needs to inform the initial development of a draft framework for consultation and development. The aim has been to ensure that the University’s framework is informed by best practice and aligned with the wider sector.

If you would like to share comments or questions for consideration by the Academic Career and Reward Framework programme team or Steering Group, please email academic.framework@admin.ox.ac.uk

The 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) highlighted the strength and research quality of peer institutions; our current preparations for REF 2029 will provide a focus around which we can redouble our ambition for the originality and significance of our research outputs. For many colleagues, that involves collaborating with others across specialisms, sectors and geographies to make bold and transformative changes in understanding or impact. The framework will enable us to recruit to and explicitly recognise the new and varied roles that this level of ambition and these modalities of research require.

By replacing Recognition of Distinction, Professorial Merit Pay and recruitment and retention supplements with individualised exercises in determining an academic’s ‘value’ against sets of standardised criteria, progression through the career stages of the framework will be based entirely on merit, fair, transparent and role-specific.

Whilst the University is aware of inconsistencies resulting from the system of college-based allowances, these are not within the scope of this project and are a matter for the Conference of Colleges. 

Individuals would be able to move between job families on request, subject to the move meeting the strategic objectives of the department. For those with joint appointments, the move would require joint authorisation from department and college, due to the resourcing impact. Individuals would be required to demonstrate that they could meet the criteria of the new job family at the career stage they are currently at. Promotions would not be permitted at the time of switching. 

The framework reflects the fact that not everyone in an Education and Research post will spend the same percentages of time on education and research (e.g. APTF vs. taught Masters). For this reason, the 'principles' of the criteria will be set across the university, but guidance on their specific application will be agreed at divisional level. Although the criteria are fixed, they are sufficiently nuanced to ensure applicability across divisions. 

The University employs a significant percentage of the UK’s research staff, resulting in high researcher numbers in relation to the number of permanent contracts available. This is outside of the ACRF’s remit, however, because promotion under the framework relies on successful assessment against standardised criteria ie recruitment and promotion based on merit alone, this may have the effect of widening the field of candidates being considered for permanent posts.