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There seem to be no guidelines from the RAE to indicate what constitutes "performance research" in performance departments. Would it not be preferable for performative elements to be followed up by published written articles? Furthermore, to submit "performance research" that consists of a piece of recorded music composed by a team of academics and "disseminated" to a class of music undergraduates, or a piece of student theatre directed by an academic, is to make a mockery of the whole exercise.

Surely in order to be RAE-able, performance research ought to be publicly disseminated, for example, a marketable CD or a production in a public theatre space, and available to be "bought" by an external audience.

It's time the RAE formulated guidelines to help departments submit quality performance research and to help assessment panels judge it.

Dimple Godiwala
St Cross College, Oxford