I am one of the Australians on this group.  I suspect there are at least
two others.

While some of the acronyms here are confusing, most of the content is
useful.  Australian granting bodies are beginning to experiment with
electronic submissions, for example.  The discussion of proposal editing
assistance showed that (in that area) there was very little difference
between the mission of our respective offices.

I have included below a brief description of our system vs your system
and a short biography.  If people have specific questions, please give me
a call.

Australia has about thirty-two universities, almost all government
funded.  Every one has a research office, although the responsibilities
vary from university to university.  For example, the office at RMIT has
responsibility for postgraduate scholarships, but nothing else to do with
postgrads.  Many universities in Australia also have seperate
commercial arms, which may deal with intellectual property concerns.

Our government research granting schemes seem similar to yours,
except that there doesn't seem to be as much money at the State level.

We are not as well serviced in regard to professional associations as
you seem to be.  There has been talk of setting up a group, but...
Research administrators currently get together formally in two ways:

+       once a year, our major research funding body (your equilivant of the
NSF) organises a meeting to discuss changes and matters of concern.

+       a moderated mailing list is used to exchange information across all
university research offices.

Two major differences that I have noticed between Australia and the US
are Alumni offices and post-award conditions.

+       Australia does not have the tradition of alumni and community support
that US universities seem to enjoy.  Most universities have only set up
offices for this area in the last five years.

+       I keep hearing horror stories of the amount of post-award work you
people have to contend with.  Australian funding agencies require
progress reports, final reports and audited financial reports.  There
doesn't seem to be the level of government scrutiny that you have.  This
is reflected in the fact that many offices here make no distinction
between pre-award and post-award officers, which I understand some
offices over there do.  Looking in from my perspective, the workload
appears onerous.

Since about 1992, I have been a member of the Society of Research
Administrators.  I find the journal and newsletter interesting.  Funnily
enough, I don't attend meetings.

 Please find below a half page biographical sketch.  It was prepared for
Herb Wylen's _Submission Writing_ workshop, which he runs over the
internet.
Has anyone else on this list participated in this course?
What did you think?  I found it useful, and would recommend it to
interested academics.
Does anyone know of other relevant courses run over the net?

=================================================================
Jonathan O'Donnell
Project Officer
Research Development Unit
RMIT Faculty of Business

 Getting started: In 1985, I worked for the Australian Research Grants
Committee (ARC) for one grant round (about a year).  For the US
participants, the ARC is  equilivant to the NSF.  I really enjoyed the job
and it gave me an excellent introduction to the workings of a granting
agency.

 Since 1988, I have been working for the RMIT Research Coordination
Office.  I have had to do everything from chasing final reports to
tracking down funding sources and helping people write applications
(which is why I'm here).

 Currently: A year ago, I was seconded to work for the Faculty of
Business, on the Research Enhancement and Management Project.  This
project is trying to get whole departments (or schools) started on the
research track.  Australia has recently reformed it's higher education
system and some former teaching departments now find themselves
needing to get up to speed quickly.

 Areas of interest: I am interested in the percieved gap between the
researcher and the practitioner ('answering questions' vs 'solving
problems').  Making research more effective is a holy grail for me.

 I'm interested in developing an action research program in these areas.
As an administrator, I'm looking for a program that will have as much or
more benefits for the participants as for me.  Ideally, I'm looking for
something '...responsive enough to be used to bring about change, rigorous
enough to allow publication, and economical enough for practitioners...'
(Bob Dick, 1994).

Jonathan O'Donnell
Research Development Unit
RMIT Faculty of Business
xxxxxx@RMIT.edu.au