1996 RAE - Definition of Research for all panels:
“original investigation undertaken in order to gain knowledge and understanding.”
“includes work of direct relevance to the needs of commerce and industry as well as to the public and voluntary sectors; scholarship; the invention and generation of ideas, images, performances and artefacts including design, where these lead to new or substantially improved insights; and the use of existing knowledge in experimental development to produce new or substantially improved materials, devices, products and processes, including design and construction.”