Re: Identify! (An Australian Perspective) Jonathan 10 May 1994 18:28 EST
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