ERA Background Statements: some suggestions, the process and key dates

1. ERA Background Statements:some suggestions, the process and key dates Amberyn Thomas

2. The 2010 Guidelines….. • Contextualise at the 2 digit FoR relevant information about retrospective research performance (1 Jan 2003 – 31 Dec 2008) • Avoid repeating data that appears in the submission – refer evaluation guidelines for dashboard content • Identify anything that the RECS need to know • In addition to the submitted data • In support of the submitted data

3. Structure of Background Statements • Overview • Publication Profile • Capacity and Environment • Collaboration • Type • Other • 10,000 character limit (including spaces) • ~3 pages Times New Roman, 12 point font

4. Overview: Description of cohort of researchers (and research focus/foci) and the fields in which they work: • Collaboration within UQ and across FoRs • Where the 2 digit grouping for is an aggregation of fairly disparate 4 digit endeavours, it may be necessary to provide specific information at the 4 digit level.

5. Example: Engineering at UQ is a highly multidisciplinary and visible research strength at UQ that is tackling some of the world’s international challenges in Energy, Water, Fuel, Infrastructure, Resources and Food Supply. Engineering at UQ spans many faculties and research institutes including ……., ……… …..has extensive links with other research areas such as Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Architecture, Computational Sciences, Food Science and Maths. Prominent research centres in Engineering are the ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals, the ARC Centre of Excellence in…….. A visible example of the outstanding research in Engineering is UQ’s commitment to research infrastructure which has seen over $300M invested into three new buildings with state of the art research facilities in the past five years.

6. Publication Profile • May need explanation/contextualising • Type section - E.g. industry or professional focussed research focus - lower citation rates than pure basic research • major activity outside RJL– e.g. large numbers of articles in journals not on the ranked journal list – such as in professional journals/magazines – if important. • outstanding papers (e.g. by citation count) that fall outside the 2 digit grouping because of automatic RJL FoR code allocation, but that are actually within the 2 digit grouping (or, perhaps are not indexed by Scopus) • other “indicators of excellence”– e.g. publishers, or editorial roles in A* journals, outputs not recognised in ERA • Peer review – selection may require explanation

7. Examples: • This is a field is dominated by monographs and book chapters….The number of books published by international presses is a clear indicator of the quality of the discipline (Peter Lang, Cambridge, …), as is the publishing houses of the large number of book chapters (Cambridge UP x5, Cambridge Scholars, …). • Only one of the 4-digit codes, Zoology, has a large number of publications in journals with a local/regional focus in taxonomy and natural history, reflected in the rankings of the publications under this code. • the allocation of 4-digit FOR codes in the RJL necessitated placing papers under FOR codes which did not reflect the subject matter of the outputs. These included papers in Current Biology (44 papers) where works in the areas of ecology, genetics, zoology and evolution were required to be placed in 0601….

8. Capacity and Environment • Infrastructure investments e.g. NCRIS funding initiatives • Links to national ARC CoEs and CRCs • New UQ appointments, key recruitments as well as significant retirements/departures • Staffing profile: • RO vs T&R appointments • staffing anomalies which might impact on the perceived publication productivity e.g. large number of level A research assistants funded via grants

9. Continued….. • UQ’s strategic research strengths, emerging strengths etc • RHD and ECR support (scholarships, funding etc) and mentoring programs • ECR success in grant funding/fellowship • Industry funded HDRs • Number of submitted pubs co-authored by HDRs, number of patents involving HDRs as inventors • Success ECRs and HDRs have had in securing prestigious appointments after UQ. • Prizes and awards given to HDRs

10. Example: • Another research focus is structural biology with over $30M of world-class infrastructure, including: UQ ROCX an automated, remote-access, high-brilliance crystallisation/crystallography facility; a suite of high-end NMR machines including the only 900 MHz spectrometer in Australia; and the NANO cryo-electron microscopy facility, including Australia’s only automated SPA pipeline.

11. Collaboration • Collaborations with UQ researchers in other FoRs/disciplines/org units etc • Description of productive collaborations with external partners and evidence of outputs and/or outcomes – e.g. MoUs, patents, publications, grants, joint recipients of awards, co-supervision of HDRs • Publication and Grant collaborations – joint grants, jointly authored publications • LIEF, linkage grants, CRCs – industry collaboration

12. Examples: • UQ has fostered an internal collaborative environment through the development of focussed Centres including the IMB where molecular design, synthetic chemistry and structure determination interface with biology; the AIBN where polymer development and characterisation bridges nanotechnology and biological applications such as drug delivery; the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, where …. • Centres and individuals within the UQ Chemistry community have strong collaborations both nationally and internationally. E.g., COPE has participated in ….. Partnerships in the areas of ‘biological’ and ‘materials’ chemistry have included the Universities of Sydney, South Pacific, …, University of Oxford (UK), University of St Andrews (UK), and ETH-Zurich, and many others. • ….it is clear from the level of ARC Linkage and direct industrial funding that Chemistry has had close collaborations with industry. This has included……

13. Type • E.g. within a given 2 digit FoR there may be research groups with different research types • Translational research and evidence of such, including impact of research on policy and standards • Technology transfer - evidence that research has been commercialised. • ARC Linkage grant information. • CRC involvement.

14. Example • Research in ……spans basic to applied research areas. There are a large number of ARC grants and ARC Fellows in fundamental areas, as well as a significant effort in applied research as evidenced by our links with industry and commercial outcomes

15. Other • Smart State funding and fellowships • Other major awards/prizes/accolades • they are not ERA eligible esteem measures for the Cluster, but are prestigious e.g. discipline specific awards and prizes, prestigious editorial roles • these have been collected via ERAdactl – will be available in intERAct

16. The Process: Review and Readership Scheme There will be (up to) 25 2-digit Background Statements to Review, involving: • Peer readership – HoS, ADRs and others • ERA Team comments/feedback • Final Review Team

17. Key Dates and Stages • Draft BS submitted to ERA Team: • Peer Readership: • ERA Team feedback: • Final draft BS to ERA Team: • Final Review of BS: • Cluster Leader final check: • Preparation of BS for submission: • ERA BS submission: • 4 June • 4 June – 17 June • 4 June – 24 June • 2 July • 5 July – 12 July • 13 July • 15 July • 16 July Stage Dates