Between 19 December 2022 and 24 February 2023, the SRG consulted on a range of issues relating to Technical Matters. These included:

• the proposed role of the Platform of Research – Contextual Summary component
• proposed Research Output request and supply processes
• feedback on Evidence Portfolio (EP) guidance, reflecting changes made to date
• feedback on implementation of types and descriptors for research outputs, activities and Contributions to the Research Environment (CREs).

Between 24 March and 25 May 2023, the SRG consulted on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included two proposed options:

• a stand-alone COVID-19 impact provision
• COVID-19 impacts included in the Researcher Circumstances provision under the new Force Majeure

The SRG made recommendations to the TEC on Technical Matters and on recognising the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic after these consultation periods across the sector. For full details of the TEC’s in-principle decisions, along with summaries of the consultation feedback received, see SRG Consultation Papers 2026.

These in-principle decisions will inform the SRG’s recommendations on the remaining issues it will consider, and will be reflected in the Quality Evaluation 2026 Guidelines.

The SRG is operating between September 2021 and the publication of the final Quality Evaluation 2026 Guidelines in November 2023.

For information on Quality Evaluation 2026 and the SRG, see Sector Reference Group (SRG) 2026.