Universities urged to rule out submitting redundant staff to REF

This is a welcome move by Birkbeck but it does not really address the issue of universities appropriating the work of scholars even if they treated said scholars abysmally. In other words, not all academics who "left on bad terms" are actually made redundant. More often than not instead of being made formally redundant (with all the hassle that involves) academics are bullied and harassed by management (and usually HR) in order for them to voluntarily resign (and to move on to a different place if they are lucky). Consequently, the individual academic should decide whether she or he want the previous employer to use their work. If one left on good terms, one may assume that most academics would not object. I do not expect that to happen as it would actually provide academics with some degree of power which is clearly not in the interest of the managerial class that run universities in the UK.