The Higher Education Academy Hospitality Leisure Sport and Tourism Network has had a long standing interest in the interaction of research and teaching on the quality of student experience in the subjects. It follows therefore that it should be interested in the health of the research environment and the output quality of research in Hospitality Leisure Sport and Tourism. Without an equivalent "research HEA HLST" it is difficult to stay in touch with developments across the disparate research communities. The Research Excellence Framework of the four funding councils and led by HEFCE will provide indicators of research quality in 2014 and impact upon resource allocations for research. An extensive engagement with the sector on the REF is in progress and thus it presented an excellent opportunity for the HEA HLST to capture and better understand the present preoccupations and conditions for research in the HLST subjects.
