STRATEGIC REVIEW OF RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND CENTRES AT THE

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE

May 2011

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STRATEGIC REVIEW OF RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND CENTRES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Executive Summary 6

Foreword 8

1. Overview 81.1 Background 12

1.2 Terms of Reference and Membership 12

1.3 Methodology 13

1.3.1 Submissions 13

1.3.2 Consultations 13

1.3.3 Internal Analysis 13

1.3.4 Comparative Analysis 13

2. Purpose and Rationale of Research Institutes and Centres at UWA 142.1 External Drivers 15

2.1.1. International competitiveness 15

2.1.2. National agenda for research 16

2.1.3. Service to Western Australia 16

2.1.4. Competitive Edge 16

2.1.5. Collaboration 16

2.2 Internal Drivers 17

2.2.1 Integration of Research 17

2.2.2 Responsiveness 17

2.2.3 Graduate Training 17

2.2.4 The Student Experience and the research/teaching nexus 17

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3 Institutes and centres at UWA 183.1 UWA Research Institutes 19

3.2 Affiliated Research Institute 21

3.3 Joint Venture Research Centre 22

3.4 UWA Research Centre 23

3.5 Research Institutes, Centres, Faculties and Schools at UWA 25

4 Establishment and Operation of Research Institutes and Centres 284.1 Guiding Principles for the Establishment and Operation of Research Institutes and

Centres 28

4.2 University Oversight 30

4.3 Establishment and Disestablishment 31

4.4 Governance 34

4.5 Accountability 36

4.6 Management and Staffing 37

4.7 Teaching 39

4.8 Research Training 41

4.9 Infrastructure and resources 42

4.9.1 Resourcing Institutes 42

4.9.2 Resourcing Centres 43

4.10 Accommodation 44

4.11 Engagement 45

4.11.1 IT 47

4.12 Other 47

5 Implications for the Faculty Funding Model (FFM) 485.1 The Faculty Funding Model 48

5.2 Commonwealth Funding Provisions 48

5.3 Recognised Funding tensions 49

6 Conclusion 51

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7 Principles of the Report 52

8 Recommendations of the Report 54

9 Appendices 62The Vice-Chancellor’s Discussion Paper on UWA institutes and centres 63

Terms of Reference 69

Membership of the Review Committee 70

UQ ResTeach: Funding to Support Teaching by Research Staff Guidelines 2011 71

DVC(R) Briefing Note 76

Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and Institutes/Centres at UWA (GISFSIC). 78

Draft Principles for Enrolment of HDR Students in Centres 81

10 Attachments 82A consolidated list of Research Institutes and Centres 82

List of Submissions to the Review 86

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STRATEGIC REVIEW OF RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND CENTRES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Executive SummaryThis report provides a blueprint for the future establishment and operation of UWA research institutes and centres. The report was drafted following the strategic review of research institutes and centres at The University of Western Australia, which was convened in response to the Vice-Chancellor’s February 2010 discussion paper on The University of Western Australia’s Research Institutes and Centres.

The report examines the role that research institutes and centres have played at UWA in the past, and offers a guide as to how research institutes and centres should contribute to UWA’s research endeavours in the future. The report also provides a series of recommendations on a range of issues in relation to the establishment, oversight, governance, funding arrangements and roles of research institutes and centres both within and affiliated to the University.

During the review process, the Committee confirmed the need to develop multi-disciplinary research teams to address many of the problems facing today’s society and saw the creation of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres as an important means of doing this, and as key mechanisms in lifting the performance and impact of UWA’s research. Nonetheless, the Committee recognised the key contribution made by Schools to the University’s research effort, and the need for this contribution to continue if the overall strategy is to succeed.

Throughout the review process, the Committee was committed to ensuring flexibility is provided, albeit with appropriate structure and procedures, to assist in the University’s nurturing of strategic areas of research growth. The Committee recognised that the University has four distinct types of institutes and centres that differ in scale of operation and governance arrangements – UWA Research Institutes, UWA Research Centres, Affiliated Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres.

The Committee formed the view that UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should only be formed at UWA if their existence will add significant value to the University in terms of performance, competitive advantage and institutional vitality. The Committee were of the opinion that UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should be self-sustaining in the medium to long term. The Committee highlighted that with the appropriate governance and financial arrangements in place for UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres, there will be a mutual obligation between Deans and Heads of Schools and Directors of Institutes/Centres to work on behalf of the University to increase the research performance and reputation of the University.

The Committee recognised that the University will continue to enter into collaborative arrangements to form future Affiliated Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres. The driver to enter into these collaborative research arrangements will be if such ventures address issues of

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major global, national or local importance and if such ventures add significant value to the University.

The Committee recognises that the recommendations listed in this document will require a substantial level of commitment from many sectors of the University. That said, the Committee believes that UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres can play a major part in boosting the University’s research performance and profile, at the local, national and international level.

Overall, the report argues that the grouping of researchers within research institutes and centres should be the mechanism by which UWA can bring together multi-disciplinary groups of researchers to focus on the important questions, problems and issues faced by society in the 21 st

century and beyond. Research institutes and centre will also be the major mechanism by which UWA lifts its overall research performance and collaboration.

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STRATEGIC REVIEW OF RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND CENTRES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE (April 2011)

ForewordThis report provides a blueprint for the future establishment and operation of UWA research institutes and centres. The report was drafted following the strategic review of research institutes and centres at The University of Western Australia, which was convened in response to the Vice-Chancellor’s February 2010 discussion paper on The University of Western Australia’s Research Institutes and Centres.

The report examines the role that research institutes and centres have played at UWA in the past, and offers a guide as to how research institutes and centres should contribute to UWA’s research endeavours in the future. The report also provides a series of recommendations on a range of issues in relation to the establishment, oversight, governance, funding arrangements and roles of research institutes and centres both within and affiliated to the University.

1. OverviewThroughout its deliberations, the Committee was conscious of the fact that the rationale for the establishment and maintenance of research institutes and centres at UWA needed to be at the forefront of this report. While research institutes and centres have a long history at UWA, the Committee was of the view that it was important not to assume they exist and should continue to exist simply as a result of that history. It is the opinion of the Committee that research institutes and centres should be the mechanism by which UWA can bring together multi-disciplinary groups of researchers to focus on the important questions, problems and issues faced by society in the 21st century and beyond, in a manner that would not generally be possible at the level of a School (see Boxes 1 and 2, below).

The Committee agreed that research institutes and centres at UWA should only exist if they add significant value to the University in three ways:

Value adding - performance: Research institutes and centres should have a positive impact on the University’s research performance in terms of the number of national and international competitive grants won; the number of top quality publications with above average citations produced; and the ability of the University to produce high quality PhD graduates. This impact should be measureable through mechanisms such as the ERA; general benchmarking (for example in relation to HDR student load); and, Compacts.

Value adding - competitive advantage: The profile of research institutes and centres should provide the University with an advantage when it seeks to recruit both research staff and HDR

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students. Additionally, research institutes and centres should also play a significant role in the University’s success in attracting research funding from the private sector. It is anticipated that the high profile of successful research institutes and centres would lead to a greater level of donations and bequests from members of the public and the private sector, interested in the research being produced at UWA.

Value adding – institutional vitality: The research emanating from research institutes and centres should be of such a calibre that it generates national and international interest. A key indicator of success will be the impact that research institutes and centres have upon the University’s level of collaboration with other universities, research institutes and research centres across the globe. The Committee believes that as technological advances continue to facilitate research collaboration, research institutes and centres should not work on discrete projects with limited interaction with the outside world, or indeed operate in isolation from the UWA community. The Committee is firmly of the opinion that research institutes and centres should be one of the major drivers of the University’s research collaboration.

The Committee recognised that many of the problems society faces in the 21 st century, at the local, national and international level, require a multi-disciplinary approach to assist in the development of solutions. The Committee views research institutes and centres as ideal facilitators of multi-disciplinary research, and considers it vital that the University’s policies towards research institutes and centres do everything possible to encourage multi-disciplinary research, scale, sustainability, and improved collaboration.

In considering the role that research institutes and centres should play at UWA, the Committee acknowledged that in recent years the University had already undertaken some strategic planning regarding UWA Research Institutes, with the development of the UWA Institute of Agriculture, the UWA Oceans Institute and the UWA Energy and Minerals Institute. The Committee endorsed the University’s policy of limiting the establishment of research institutes to those cases where a potential exists for large scale multi-disciplinary research.

Owing to the size and complexity of UWA Research Institutes (see Box 1), the Committee was of the view it was unlikely that the University would have a total of more than six UWA Research Institutes in development or operation at any one time and that each UWA Research Institute would generally be closely aligned to one or more of the University Strategic Research areas1. The Committee agreed with one submission to the Review that argued: ‘An Institute should only be established if it will achieve something a Centre cannot achieve. This needs to be clearly defined in the raison d’être for the Institute’.

1 See 3.3.2 Research Priority Areas in the UWA Operational Priorities Plan 2009-2013

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Box 1. An ideal UWA Research Institute

The ideal model of an Institute is a large-scale enterprise with significant breadth in research activities, external collaboration, and sources of finance. The Institute has a Director and small operational office, but it represents and facilitates the research activities of over 100 University staff and students across more than one Faculty and has a total annual operating and research budget greater than $10M. The Institute has a significant positive impact on the scale and quality of the University’s research performance, provides a competitive advantage in positioning the University in international and national affairs, excites prospective PhD students and leads to major new R&D collaborations and commercialisation opportunities for the University.

The Institute integrates UWA research across several Faculties, represents the major site of engagement by the University with relevant industry, government and community groups and is responsible for the coordination of communication regarding University research in the relevant sector. Many existing and new UWA Research Centres and Joint Venture Centres sit within or connect to the Institute. The headquarter office of the Institute adds value to the operation of Centres by connecting them to opportunities not otherwise available to the smaller business units.

The Institute is led by a distinguished Director supported by a small headquarters staff. The Institute has a high-powered Advisory Board chartered with strategic placement of the Institute’s research and outreach activities. Internally the Institute is governed in accordance with the OPP by a UWA Board comprising relevant Deans and chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) or her appointee.

The Institute has its own core staff funded centrally and most Institute members have positions in Schools, devoting a proportion of their time to Institute activities as determined by agreement between the School and Institute. Institutes receive funding through the University funding model via the support of the Board of the Institute (see Rec. 21 below), according to performance in research and graduate training.

The Committee agreed that UWA Research Centres should be a platform where a significant array of UWA’s cutting edge research could be showcased and felt it was important that the profile of research centres was increased at UWA (see Box 2). While the Committee acknowledged that the scope of research centres should be more focused than that of research institutes, it formed the opinion that centres should generally only be established in cases where their existence would add to the University’s research profile and performance in a manner which could not be achieved if researchers continued to operate solely in their School or Faculty. Further, new research centres should be able to demonstrate that they can obtain the critical mass of staff and funding necessary to ensure the research centre achieves its research goals. As one submission put it: ‘Centres should be established in emerging research areas and in areas where strategic opportunities were

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Box 2. An ideal UWA Research Centre

The ideal UWA Research Centre is a medium-scale enterprise, with research focused on a specific area of interest that is well defined at the creation of the Centre, and has a scope greater than a single discipline. The Centre has responsibilities for outreach, including the identification of commercialisable intellectual property. It will be nationally and internationally recognised for the excellence of its research outcomes and training, and for the service it provides to its communities.

At its inception the UWA Research Centre would have a minimum of 6 FTE academic staff members engaged in research and is expected to grow beyond this size through the appointment of research staff on grant funds and by attracting existing UWA staff to participate in the Centre. It is a beacon for research students with a strong reputation for the quality of its research training. The Centre has external research funds sufficient to support its activities and generally exists within the mandate of a single Faculty, School or Institute. The Centre will be responsible for its own governance and management, but with oversight from the Faculty/School/Institute.

The Centre is lead by a distinguished Director who is responsible for setting well defined research, service, teaching and financial goals. These will ensure that the Centre will be self-sustaining, with strategic plans and contingences to cover its future activities. Its performance, funding and alignment are significantly contributing to UWA’s institutional research strengths and opportunities.

presented to the University, so long as the University has the intellectual and financial capacity to take up the opportunity’.

The Committee affirmed that research would continue to remain one of the primary roles fulfilled by Schools (Box 3).

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Box 3. Research in Schools

Much of the research performed at UWA will continue to be done by staff within Schools, and there will be no disadvantage to staff wishing to continue managing their research within Schools. Some of the University’s highly successful researchers work in groups within Schools (e.g. the Organisational Behaviour group in the Business School and the School of Psychology; the Microelectronics Research Group in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering; the Frequency Standards and Metrology Group in the School of Physics; and researchers on plant ecophysiology in the School of Plant Biology) and it is expected that this will continue as the way to develop strong research disciplines. Schools will therefore continue to contribute directly to the quality of the University’s research performance and will continue to host and support the majority of the University’s Higher Degree by Research Students. Research by staff in Schools has and will continue to be the genesis of many successful bids for State and Commonwealth-funded Centres of Excellence.

The Committee examined the history of UWA Research and Training Centres, with particular focus on the Review of Centres at UWA held in 2000. The committee noted that following that review, a number of centres ceased to operate as they no longer met the minimum standards required to be classified as a UWA Centre. Given the time that has passed since that previous review and the changing focus and ambitions of UWA’s research platform, the Committee deemed it appropriate that the benchmark for classification as a UWA Research Centre again be raised.

The Committee determined that the four core elements for the successful operation of research institutes and centres within the UWA research environment should be clear, well-defined processes of governance and reporting, flexibility, particularly in terms of staff recruitment, development and alignment, transparent financial arrangements, and increased financial returns to Faculties and Schools.

Overall, the Committee viewed its main task as providing a set of guidelines with a series of specific recommendations to ensure that research institutes and centres are formed and continue to operate in a manner that best allows them to contribute to UWA’s pursuit of international excellence in research.

1.1 Background In late 2009 the Vice-Chancellor developed a discussion paper on the role institutes and centres could play at UWA and the challenge they presented for the University in optimising overall research delivery in a matrix structure, where institutes operate across faculties. This paper is at Appendix 1.

In February 2010 the Vice-Chancellor constituted a committee to conduct a strategic review of Research Institutes and Centres at The University of Western Australia. It met fourteen times over the period February 2010 to April 2011 to consider a range of issues in relation to the establishment, governance, funding arrangements and roles of institutes and centres within, and affiliated to, the University.

The Committee was charged with identifying recommendations that will assist in:

Improving the University’s research performance;

Developing the scale necessary to achieve the goal of being in the top 100 universities world-wide;

Providing the capacity to bring together interdisciplinary teams of researchers to address important issues facing humanity; and

Integrate the University’s research efforts to connect with the needs of society.

1.2 Terms of Reference and Membership

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In conducting its review, the Committee addressed the terms of reference listed at Appendix 2.

The Committee developed thirteen guiding principles to be applied to the establishment and governance of UWA research institutes and centres, and has made 51 recommendations in its report. Many of the recommendations in the report are directed at the ‘University’. In these instances it is assumed that the member of University Executive with prime responsibility for carriage of the recommendations is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).

A range of academic and professional staff from across the University were asked to participate in the Committee. A list of the members is at Appendix 3.

1.3 MethodologyThe approach taken by the Working Party in gathering information on which to make any judgments was as follows:

1.3.1 SubmissionsIn March the Vice-Chancellor wrote to all staff of the University inviting them to make submissions to the Committee. Over the period from March to May 2010 a total of 39 submissions were received. Some of the submissions were followed up by telephone interviews. The submissions significantly contributed to preparation of an Issues Paper that formed the basis for discussion by the Committee. The Issues Paper provided the framework for development of a draft report - Strategic Review of Research Institutes and Centres at The University of Western Australia November 2010 – the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) called for further submissions on the draft over the period November 2010-March 2011. A total of 24 additional submissions were received, and were used as a basis for a further refinement of the Report that was given a final review by the Committee in April 2011.

1.3.2 ConsultationsDuring 2010, the Chair of the Committee met with the Deans of Faculties to ascertain their views. Additionally Directors of existing institutes and centres were invited to attend a meeting with the Chair to provide further information to the Committee. There was a meeting with a group of leading researchers facilitated through the Office of Staff Development, and a meeting with a number of Deans and senior researchers to clarify particular issues, as well as numerous one-on-one meetings held throughout the period of the Review.

1.3.3 Internal Analysis The Committee examined the current array of institutes and centres operating under the UWA banner. A complete list of current UWA institutes and centres by category is attached (see Attachment 1).

1.3.4 Comparative AnalysisThe Committee also sought advice from other research-intensive universities on issues such as governance of research institutes and centres. The University of Alberta and the University of Queensland were especially helpful in this regard.

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2. Purpose and Rationale of Research Institutes and Centres at UWA

The Vision of the University, provided in the UWA Strategic Plan provides the appropriate internal context for this review. The University’s Vision Statement reads: ‘Achieving international excellence—The University will be recognized internationally for its excellence in teaching and research and as a leading intellectual and creative resource to the communities it serves’.

The UWA Strategic Plan provides a specific overall goal for Research and Research Training at UWA:

The University aims to enhance its standing as one of Australia's leading research universities and the premier research institution in Western Australia. There are two dimensions to this goal: first, the University is committed to the achievement of high quality research and research training, by international standards, across the whole spectrum of its disciplines; and additionally, to the development of special research concentrations in selected areas of particular strength, importance and opportunity.

The 2009-2013 Operational Priorities Plan (OPP) notes that despite the University’s long history and tradition of being a comprehensive, research-intensive university, there is a need, due in part to the University’s limited resources, to provide appropriate focus and direction to research activities. This guidance is necessary if the University wishes to ‘capitalise on its comparative advantage and achieve world–class research results in selected areas of strength, importance and opportunity’.

The University has decided to concentrate its strategic support on a limited number of considered research areas and a number of emerging and seed priority areas.

The current strategic research areas are:

Plants, Animals, Agriculture and Environment (including Management of Natural and Agricultural Systems)

Exploration, Production and Utilisation of Minerals, Oil and Gas Fundamental Bio-medical and Translational Approaches to Health Indigenous Knowledge Bio-engineering and Bio-imaging Neurosciences (including Psychology)

The current areas of emerging and seed priorities are:

Metrology and Measurement Educational Measurement Organisational Behaviour Medieval and Early Modern Studies Australian Literature Radio Astronomy Green Chemistry

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Social Policy, Public Policy and International Studies Marine and Ocean Studies Sensing systems

The OPP identifies that ‘Consistent with the University's commitment to quality, high-quality research in other areas will be supported and new themes may emerge. In particular, the emerging and seed priority areas will be reviewed from time to time and have the capability to join, or even displace, the strategic priority areas’. In late 2010 the Strategic Research Areas and Emerging and Seed priority areas were reviewed through consultation with Deans, and following a meeting of the UWA Senior Management Group in December 2010, the Vice-Chancellor has asked for a new version to be inserted in the OPP in 2011.

Research institutes and centres at UWA are central to the strategic research areas and emerging priorities as described in the OPP. Within the submissions it was noted: ‘ there is currently a significant level of diversity amongst the University’s institutes and centres, with a number of very small single-issue centres operating, some of which may not align well to the University’s agreed research priorities’. The possibility that some of the University’s strategic areas are too broad in scope for centres, if not institutes, was also raised.

One submission to this review argued that:

It is more attractive to award funds for large-scale research projects (e.g. $100M+) to a comprehensive research institute than to many various centres or individual researchers…. (It would be) easier to manage the research and finances, with higher confidence and probability of achieving successful “big science” research outcomes of inter/national impact through the establishment of large scale research institutes.

A variety of external and internal drivers are influencing the University’s approach to managing the organisation of research for greater performance and impact. The next section of this report considers how these drivers set the agenda for the University in consolidation of its research activities.

2.1 External Drivers

2.1.1. International competitivenessThe University’s vision is clearly focused on growing its reputation as an internationally renowned, research-intensive university. International excellence will continue to be the yardstick that will be applied to monitoring all of the University’s performance. UWA aims to be ranked within the top 100 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (formerly the Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Ranking of World Universities) by the time of the University’s centenary in 2013. The University has also set its sights on becoming one of the world’s top 50 universities by the year 2050. The University’s analysis of the attributes of the top 50 world universities has shown that research scale and concentration, and collaborations with other high-level R&D institutions and industry, are keys to positioning UWA in the highly competitive world of global research and

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postgraduate training. This provides one of the key drivers for UWA’s push to develop high level research institutes and better manage the creation, coordination and operation of research institutes and research centres.

2.1.2. National agenda for researchPresent and future Commonwealth Governments will continue the push for some form of ‘hubs and spokes’ model for research delivery under which there would be concentrations of research strength in particular fields at one location (hub) with ‘spoke’ connections to small areas of strength in the same field. This is meant to remove redundancies in the Australian innovation system. There is a similar focus on re-organising the sources of funding and arrangements for supporting R&D. The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) benchmarking exercise for Australian university research by discipline will continue to increase the focus on the areas of research strength at universities. In the light of such a national agenda it is important that UWA does everything that it can to enhance research concentration, integration and delivery. Commonwealth funding for research in the future will be much more targeted at concentrations of researchers, rather than the single academic.

2.1.3. Service to Western AustraliaThe University of Western Australia was established to serve the people of Western Australia. A major component of this role is undertaking research relevant to the long-term good of the State. As evidenced by the 2009 and 2011 In The Zone conferences, UWA can be central to the role that Western Australia also plays in the South East Asian region. UWA needs to be in a position to provide timely, cutting edge and highly relevant research for both the Government and the private sector during this period of strong economic growth, and to ensure that WA benefits to the full extent.

2.1.4. Competitive EdgeUWA needs to better integrate and focus areas of research excellence in order to define its areas of speciality, thus enhancing its edge when competing for national grant funding, graduate student enrolments and funding opportunities provided by the private sector. Recent examples illustrate how important the existence of cutting-edge Research Institutes and Centres are to growing the investments in UWA. The establishment of the UWA Institute of Agriculture has helped attract a significant new cohort of international MSc and PhD students in the School of Plant Biology and other Schools; The Lloyd's Register Educational Trust has supported a new Chair and other positions in UWA's Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems; and, establishment of the UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies in 2008 helped position the University for leadership in the successful bid for the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions in 2010.

2.1.5. CollaborationThe great universities of the world build their research profile through strategic collaborations. By engaging with highly ranked universities with recognised excellence in various fields of research, UWA will improve the profile and impact of its own research. UWA’s Research Institutes and Centres play a central role in national and international collaborations as well as industry linkages. In particular, UWA’s Research Institutes and Centres should play a leading role in strengthening

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our ties with our network partners in the Group of Eight (Go8), World Universities Network (WUN) and the Matariki Network.

2.2 Internal Drivers

2.2.1 Integration of ResearchModern societies face complex problems, and research solutions to these issues often require multidisciplinary approaches, or at least a multidisciplinary research context, to be relevant. UWA has had a long history of high research performance. However, in the current environment in which the University operates, reputation for excellence in research outcomes is very important. Recent moves to integrate and focus research (e.g. the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology; the UWA Institute of Agriculture; the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research; the UWA Energy and Minerals Institute) have been responsible for the University’s heightened prominence in the eyes of all stakeholders.

2.2.2 ResponsivenessConcentrating and integrating our research effort in research institutes and centres also allows a greater whole-of-UWA responsiveness to the needs of society, governments and industry when there is a need for research, and when opportunities arise for significant investments in research. Our world-class Directors of UWA Research Institutes and Centres play a pivotal role as a focus for collaboration, HDR student recruitment, ensuring international quality outcomes and attracting funding for research.

2.2.3 Graduate TrainingAs noted in the OPP, research training programs are a highly important part of the University’s mission and the high proportion of higher degree by research students within the student body distinguishes UWA from many other universities.

UWA research institutes and centres are central to graduate training at the University. As noted in a number of submissions, a large cohort of students, while enrolled in schools, undertake their research within institutes and centres. Likewise, a significant proportion of researchers, including adjunct staff, from research institutes and centres, are engaged in the supervision of higher degree by research students. Ensuring that HDR students have access to top flight researchers working within UWA’s research institutes and centres is a key priority of this review.

2.2.4 The Student Experience and the research/teaching nexusThe UWA 2009-2013 Operational Priorities Plan identifies that the University must take advantage of the Review of Course Structures to embed within the undergraduate programs a research experience.

Providing undergraduates with an opportunity to engage with researchers and to be exposed to the possibilities of postgraduate studies is an important driver for the development of concentrations of UWA research. The Committee received a number of submissions that highlighted the impact early exposure to research, through research institutes and centres, could have upon undergraduates. In June 2008, prior to the release of the Review of Course Structures,

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the then Deputy Vice Chancellor for Education, Professor Don Markwell, noted that the review’s working party on course structures had argued: ‘It is important that we articulate “research” as the essential survival skill of the 21st Century, enabling graduates to access, interpret and use new knowledge throughout their lives, rather than conceiving research as an elitist engagement in essentially very esoteric knowledge’.

The Committee is of the opinion that all UWA staff with an academic position should be provided with the opportunity to teach at the cycle 1, 2 and 3 level.

3 Institutes and centres at UWA Institutes and centres have traditionally played an important part in The University of Western Australia’s research profile. Currently institutes and centres may engage in one or more of the following types of activities:

Research (for example: The Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems) Teaching (for example: Centre for English Language Teaching) Training (for example: Centre for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning) Consultancy (for example: Eureka Archaeological Research and Consulting) Infrastructure support (for example: Australian National Fabrication Facility)

The Review Committee has confined itself to consideration of UWA research institutes and centres only, and recognised that they fell into one of four categories, depending on their governance arrangements, scale and partnerships:

UWA Research Institutes Affiliated Institutes Joint Venture Research Centres UWA Research Centres

Figure 1 provides a diagram highlighting the differences between these four categories of research institutes and centres at UWA. The Committee recognized that this organisation of our centres and institutes provides a structure for the evolution of research groups within Schools as they develop in terms of scale, research success, and external financial support.

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Figure 1 Relationships among types of UWA research institutes and centres

Each of these categories has different roles to play in the University’s research performance. Broad definitions of the four categories of UWA research institutes and centres are provided below.

3.1 UWA Research InstitutesFollowing the 2003 Review of Research Centres at UWA, on 26 November 2003, Academic Council determined the term Institute will be ‘restricted to large scale enterprises with significant breadth in terms of research activities, external collaboration, finances and duration’ (R147/03). The Committee noted that there are also a number of non-research focused institutes currently in operation at UWA, some of which pre-date the 2003 decision of Academic Council. For example the role of the Institute of Advanced Studies is to foster cross-disciplinary activities, as well as raise awareness and encourage debate on contemporary issues. The Confucius Institute is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of Chinese language teaching and learning, Chinese cultural awareness and strengthening Western Australia-China links across business, government and the broader community. These were deemed to fall outside the purview of the Committee.

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Since Academic Council’s 2003 determination on institutes, three new UWA Research Institutes, all of a multi-disciplinary scale larger than that expected from a UWA Research Centre, have been established, namely, the UWA Institute of Agriculture (originally established in 1936, and re-established in 2007); the UWA Oceans Institute (established 2009); and, the UWA Energy and Minerals Institute (established 2010). The Committee believes that while the 2003 definition provides a sound basic definition for UWA Research Institutes, has reduced the diffusion of the term institute at UWA, and has been useful in the establishment of the afore mentioned institutes, it is necessary to provide greater guidance on the requirements of a UWA Research Institute.

Building on from Academic Council’s 2003 ruling, the Committee determined it was appropriate that a UWA Research Institute be much broader in scope than a Research Centre and engage in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in a major area of interest to more than one faculty (see figure 2). As a guide for the establishment of UWA Research Institutes, the Committee’s view was that the institute should generally: involve at least 100 people (including staff and research students contributing through in-kind); receive a substantial level of external research funding to support its activities; and be governed through a formally constituted Board of Management chaired by a member of the University’s Research Executive or a Dean. The Committee envisages that an Institute would be initially constituted for a period of 10 years. It would be subject to annual performance reporting with continuation subject to performance, funding, and ongoing alignment with UWA research priorities.

Figure 2 model of an Institute at UWA

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3.2 Affiliated Research Institute An Affiliated Research Institute is created through a joint venture arrangement formally established under a legal agreement. In its examination of Affiliated Research Institutes, the Committee noted that, unlike UWA Research Institutes, which are managed and run within the University, Affiliated Research Institutes are managed by a Governing Board as defined in the joint venture agreement. While as a collaborating partner UWA generally has representation on that Board, it does not have control of the running of such institutes. UWA has a long history of involvement with Affiliated Research Institutes, such as the WA Institute of Medical Research (WAIMR).

An Affiliated Research Institute engages with UWA through a UWA Research Centre. For example, the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR) is an example of an Affiliated Institute and it engages with the University through the UWA Centre for Child Health Research (UWA CCHR). The committee noted that the level of interaction between an Affiliated Research Institute and the University involves significant flexibility. While UWA involvement in Institutes based interstate or overseas may be limited to research collaboration and a program providing an opportunity for visiting scholars, UWA tends to have a close working relationship with WA based Institutes, such as WAIMR, TICHR and the Lions’ Eye Institute.

UWA staff within Affiliated Research Institutes are supported by the University’s normal structures for grants, ethics approvals, research training etc. Honorary appointments, such as clinical and adjunct titles carry the following privileges:

access, subject to the Head of School’s approval, to school resources; UWA Campus Card and the use of the University Library on the same terms as a full-time

academic staff member; access to opportunities for personal and professional development by way of courses

offered through Organisational and Staff Development Services; UWA staff parking eligibility for UWA category membership of the University Club; and access to UWA corporate rates for QANTAS Club membership

The Committee determined that generally speaking, the process through which UWA becomes involved in Affiliated Research Institutes works well and did not require any significant overhaul, with the ongoing review of affiliate agreements. The Committee agreed that, as with a UWA Research Institute, Affiliated Research Institutes would normally be broader in scope than a Centre and engage in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in a major area of interest to one or more faculties. An Affiliated Research Institute should normally involve at least 30 people (including staff and research students) employed by UWA as well as other parties involved in the Institute. An Affiliated Research Institute would have substantial external funds to support its activities. Continued affiliation would be subject to annual performance reporting to the University.

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3.3 Joint Venture Research Centre A Joint Venture Research Centre engages in scholarship and research with a focus on a specific area of interest that is well defined at the creation of the Centre and which normally incorporates a commitment to conduct activities beyond the scope of a single discipline, but on a smaller scale to a Research Institute. There are two basic types of Joint Venture Research Centres.

The first type is established through joint venture arrangements towards a common research goal among partners, including UWA. These arrangements are underpinned by formal legal agreements. In these instances, there is often a large cash investment by a Government or industry partner as well as by university partners. Often the establishment of such Centres involves a Funding Agreement with the major funding agency or section of Government, and there is a separate Joint Venture Agreement that defines governance arrangements for a governing Board with an independent chair. In most cases, UWA has representation on the Board. However, where there are many partners, or where joint ventures are incorporated, or where there is a small skills-based Board, UWA may be a partner and not have Board representation. In this latter case, there is always a stakeholder or partners’ agreement and constitution that define the rights of the partners in setting centre goals and appointing Board members. Examples of this type of a Joint Venture Research Centre are the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) – whose governing board includes joint venture partners; and the Mining Cooperative Research Centre – which has a skills-based Board that does not include a UWA representative.

The second type of Joint Venture Research Centre often arises when the University is a partner in a successful bid for a Commonwealth Centre of Excellence. In these cases there are a number of university partners; while there is a Funding Agreement with the Commonwealth there is not a Governing Board, but an Advisory Board. Unlike a Governing Board, where joint-venture partners empower the Board to manage funds and research outcomes on their behalf, an Advisory Board does not have management responsibilities. Instead it serves to advise the centre Director on research strategy and networking. Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence are major examples of such joint venture research centres.

As with Affiliated Research Centres, the Committee viewed UWA’s current process for involvement in Joint Venture Research Centres to be well functioning, requiring little change. However, the Committee deemed it appropriate to provide a small level of guidance relating to the expectations of the size and structure of new Joint Venture Research Centres. In the Committee’s view, a Joint Venture Research Centre would normally involve more than 20 researchers, some possibly from outside UWA, for example in-house researchers from a partner company, at the time of establishment. A Joint Venture Research Centre would have external research funds to support its activities, and may sit within a School, Faculty, or across Faculties, depending on its focus and scope. Such centres are normally constituted for a period of up to 5 years or more, and renewal depends on funding, performance, and alignment with institutional research strengths or opportunities.

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3.4 UWA Research Centre A UWA Research Centre engages in scholarship and research with a focus on a specific area of interest that is well defined at the creation of the Centre and which normally incorporates a commitment to conduct activities beyond the scope of a single discipline. UWA Research Centres have long played an important part in the University’s research profile, and currently there are more than fifty UWA Research Centres in operation. At present, the establishment of UWA Research Centres is via application to the UWA Research Committee, which then makes a recommendation for establishment to the Academic Council. A UWA Research Centre is normally constituted for a period of up to 5 years and centres can apply for renewal. Centres currently exist within Schools and within Faculties. An example of a UWA Research Centre within a School is the Centre for Strategic Nano-Fabrication, which is located in the School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, while an example of a UWA Research Centre within a Faculty is the Centre for Energy in the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics.

The benefits of being a UWA Research Centre would include prominence on the UWA Research web-pages, access to central strategic funding, a clearly separate process of accounting funds and performance, and the possibility of independent research and professional training programmes (Cycle 2 and above).

In the case where external partners contribute significant funding towards a research centre, UWA staff should consider a Joint Venture Research Centre (see above), where a joint venture legal agreement sets the governance arrangements and intellectual property obligations of UWA and its partners.

Where there is a centre under either an Affiliated Research Institute or a UWA Research Institute predominately staffed by UWA employees (see Figure 3) it is strongly encouraged that the centre applies for UWA Research Centre status.

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Figure 3 Configurations of UWA Research Centres. UWA Research Centres are normally placed within Schools, or across Schools within a Faculty. Centres that sit across more than one Faculty might reasonably be placed within an appropriate Research Institute. Where the Centre sits within a School, governance should include the Head of School, who is also responsible for all line management and performance appraisal. Where a Centre sits across Schools within a Faculty, the Dean of the Faculty plays this role. Where a Centre sits within a Research Institute, the Director of the Institute plays this role and the Deans of the relevant faculties would sit on the governing board of the Institute.

The Committee noted that a review of UWA Research Centres had not been carried out since 2000, and that much had changed in both the national and the University’s research landscape since that time. The Committee formed the opinion that UWA Research Centres should be platforms from which an array of UWA’s cutting edge research could be showcased, and felt it was important that the profile of Research Centres was increased at UWA. While the Committee acknowledged that the scope of UWA Research Centres should be more focused than that of UWA Research Institutes, it formed the opinion that a Research Centre should generally only be established in cases where its existence would add to the University’s research profile and performance in a manner which could not be achieved if the researchers were to continue to simply operate in their School or Faculty. The Committee agreed that the requirements for the formation of a UWA Research Centre should be tightened and that new centres should be able to

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demonstrate that they were likely to obtain the critical mass necessary, in terms of both staff and funding, to ensure that the Research Centre would be able to achieve its research goals.

When establishing UWA Research Centres, the Committee was of the view that an effective Research Centre would have a minimum of 6 FTE staff members engaged in research, and would generally be expected to grow beyond this size. A UWA Research Centre would normally have external research funds to support activities or a strong case for gaining external funds in the near future, and would generally exist within the mandate of a single Faculty. Governance and management of the Centre would be the responsibility of the Faculty, even if the Centre includes external partners. The Committee felt it was appropriate that UWA Research Centres only be constituted when there is a case that it will be self-funding after an initial review period of 5 years. The 5 year review should concentrate on performance, funding and alignment with institutional research strengths and opportunities.

3.5 Research Institutes, Centres, Faculties and Schools at UWAThroughout the review process, the Committee was conscious of the fact that it would be necessary to illustrate how Research Institutes and Centres, particularly UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres, should fit within UWA’s current organisational structure. One of the key goals of the Committee when drafting this report was to ensure that the guiding principles and recommendations of the report provided an opportunity to increase the flexibility for staff seeking to work within UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres. Ultimately, the Committee envisaged a future in which the movement and split appointments of staff between UWA Research Institutes or UWA Research Centres and Schools could be viewed as near seamless.

In his discussion paper (Appendix 1) the Vice-Chancellor raised the issue of what structure was appropriate for UWA in the integration of the operations of Institutes and Faculties to optimize University performance. He provided two examples. The first was the matrix structure employed by the CSIRO in managing delivery of research on issues of national importance through CSIRO Flagships across the discipline base provided by the CSIRO Divisions.

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FIGURE 4 The CSIRO Matrix: In the early 2000s, the CSIRO realized that despite the excellence of research within its discipline focused divisions, the organization was not integrating all of its capabilities in its efforts to develop solutions to important national issues (such as water management). The CSIRO established Flagships to integrate research capability across divisions to build multi-disciplinary teams of a scale sufficient to address national-scale issues.

The Matrix Structure sees staff members associated with Schools/Faculties as well as Institutes, delivering benefits to both. Within a Matrix structure, many staff would be employed through the Schools, teaching within the Schools programmes, and undertaking research for both the School and an Institute. It would be expected that staff would specify the percentage of their time devoted to Institute activities, and this would determine how the University could measure Institute performance and appropriate flow of infrastructure funds. Some staff, on externally funded fellowships, may dedicate 100% of their time to Institute activities for the period of the fellowship, but all staff should have a nominated “home discipline” and be associated with a School. The home discipline provides teaching opportunities and long-term employment opportunities for researchers.

The other example provided by the Vice Chancellor is used at the University of Queensland, where Institute and Faculties run parallel to each other.

FIGURE 5 UQ INSTITUTES AND FACULTY STRUCTURE. Staff members are employed either in Institutes or Faculties.

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The Committee discussed the issue of structure in some detail, and formed the opinion that, given the four types of Research Institutes and Centres discussed above, a more flexible model would be required at UWA.

The Committee recognised that into the foreseeable future, a significant proportion of discipline-based research and teaching will continue to be encouraged and conducted at UWA through Faculties and Schools, as the schools offer the best platform for fostering that research, and for its dissemination through teaching, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. This research would be carried out by: staff not involved in a particular Research Institute or Research Centre; staff with partial appointments in a Research Institute or Research Centre; and, staff who had returned to their school after a Research Institute or Research Centre reached the end of its course.

The Committee affirmed the view put forward in a number of submissions, that UWA Research Centres should only be formed in cases where their existence would allow for an increase in research inputs and outputs of a high quality. The Committee also recognised the fact that there would be occasions where high level research was being carried out by staff within a School, but that the staff members would be unable to obtain the critical mass necessary to successfully launch a UWA Research Centre. The Committee felt it was appropriate that in such cases, small groups of researchers could apply to their Head of School and seek permission to be classified as research units. While there would be no formal arrangements made for research units (for example, the Committee did not view it necessary that research units be provided with additional administrative support, nor would research units use any form of special badging) the Committee noted that Schools could highlight the existence and work of the research units on their website. The Committee further noted that successful research units may ultimately be able to attract

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enough funding, through such things as the competitive grant process, to reach the critical mass necessary to be granted UWA Research Centre status.

4 Establishment and Operation of Research Institutes and Centres

The University requires appropriate governance and management arrangements to achieve its research ambitions. In many cases, and particularly where key research priorities and interdisciplinary issues are considered, the University will require new ways of ensuring the appropriate scale, focus and outcomes of research are achieved. The establishment, administration, organisation and oversight of Research Institutes and Centres are central to these new processes.

The Committee has developed thirteen Guiding Principles for the Establishment and Operation of UWA Research Institutes and Centres.

4.1 Guiding Principles for the Establishment and Operation of Research Institutes and Centres

1. The University recognises four different categories of research institutes and centres that operate at UWA –UWA Research Institutes, Affiliated Research Institutes, Joint Venture Research Centres and UWA Research Centres (see above).

2. The University will support the establishment and continuation of Research Institutes and Centres in areas aligned with its strategic focus as described in the Strategic Plan and Operational Priorities Plan.

3. The University will have clear processes for the establishment, oversight and success of Research Institutes and Centres.

4. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will adhere in the same way as Schools and Faculties to all University polices and procedures. It is acknowledged that Affiliated Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres may be governed by different procedures that are the responsibilities of the Governing Boards within the guidance provided by Joint Venture Agreements and Funding Agreements.

5. Quality leadership and management will be a high priority in the establishment of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

6. In recognition of the diversity of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres, governance arrangements will be flexible and adaptable to allow for fitness for purpose. However, UWA Research Institutes and very large UWA Research Centres with staff from

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across multiple faculties will include a board with external advisory participation where appropriate.

7. To assess the performance there will be an agreed set of criteria (KPIs) for all UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

8. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will increase financial returns to Schools and Faculties.

9. In general, resources will flow according to investment and output, whatever the designation of the organisational unit. In other words, all staff contributing to the University’s research effort and outcomes will have equity of access to research resources as part of the University’s reward structure.

10. There is a mutual obligation of Deans and Heads of School as well as Directors of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres to work towards a common goal of increasing the research performance and reputation of the University to a significant degree.

11. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will build a culture that supports postgraduates and gives opportunities to early career researchers.

12. Given that UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres are established to offer a high quality research experience to students, Schools will negotiate with UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres in good faith to ensure that this opportunity is available for students in their Honours year.

13. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will develop links to related institutes/centres at a local, national and international level.

In addition to the Guiding Principles for the Establishment and Operation of UWA Research Institutes and Centres, the Committee also developed a number of high-level recommendations regarding the rationale for the establishment of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

Rec 1. UWA Research Institutes should normally be established only when: there is a clear case for value-add; the research involves researchers from different Faculties; and, the scope of research is both interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary in nature.

Rec 2. UWA Research Centres should only exist if they add to the University’s research profile and performance in a manner that could not be achieved if the researchers involved within the Centre were to continue to simply operate in their School or Faculty. The Centre should be self-sustaining in the medium to long term.

Rec 3. Agreement to participate in an Affiliated Research Institute and a Joint Venture Research Centre should be a high level strategic decision undertaken by the University Executive and

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Faculty Deans. Only the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) can be signatories to such arrangements.

4.2 University Oversight When undertaking its comparative analysis of the function and governance of research institutes and centres at other universities, the Committee examined in some detail the processes utilised by UWA’s World University’s Network Partner, the University of Alberta. Of particular interest was Alberta’s use of a Centres, Institutes and External Academic Partnerships Committee, tasked with ensuring that all academic institutes and centres of the University of Alberta, or institutes and centres affiliated with the University of Alberta, have received appropriate approval and understand their obligations.

The Committee determined that a similar handling method could be established at UWA via the Research Committee.

Rec 4. The membership and role of the UWA Research Committee should be reviewed to allow it to:

o advise and make recommendations to the University Executive, Academic Council and/or other University bodies or officers, as appropriate, on matters, including policy advice, relating to the establishment, governance, operation and renewal of UWA Research Institutes and Centres;

o monitor and report to Academic Council on the performance of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres; and

o promulgate examples of best practice in all aspects of the establishment and operation of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

Rec 5. The UWA Research Committee should, through central administration services, take responsibility for the following tasks:

o Redrafting of the Guidelines for the Establishment and Review of UWA Centres (Guidelines), to incorporate the recommendations of this review;

o Drafting Guidelines for UWA Research Institutes including governance, reporting and HDR supervision;

o Drafting new web based application forms for UWA Research Centres; and

o Creating and maintaining a risk register for proposed and established UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

The Committee noted that following the 2000 Review of UWA Centres, a new set of Guidelines for the Establishment and Review of UWA Centres was established, and that in 2003, all existing UWA Centres were reviewed against the new Guidelines.

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Rec 6. Faculties should review all their existing research centres, within twelve months of issue of the redrafted Guidelines for the Establishment and Review of UWA Research Centres . Deans should make recommendations to the UWA Research Committee as to which centres should become UWA Research Centres and which should be reclassified as research groups.

Rec 7. The UWA Research Committee should be responsible for:

o Providing recommendations to the DVC-R on applications to establish a UWA Research Centre;

o Overseeing the annual performance of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres as outlined in Recommendation 15;

o Overseeing the final reporting and renewal process for UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres as outlined in Recommendation 15; and

o Periodically reviewing the Guidelines for the Establishment and Review of UWA Research Centres.

Rec 8. The DVC-R should co-opt experienced staff from research institutes and research centres to the Research Committee.

Rec 9. Central Administration Services should provide the Research Committee with administrative support to help with the additional workload that will result from its new responsibilities.

4.3 Establishment and Disestablishment The Committee determined that when establishing and renewing UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres in the future, the University, having established the need and benefit of the endeavour, should also ensure that the institute or centre is viable, with a clear view of its purpose, business plan, structure and governance. The Committee noted that a number of submissions appeared to agree with the statement that ‘it should not be easy to create a centre (or Institute)’.

The importance of research institutes and centres to the University’s research goals was recognised by the Committee, who considered it was vital that the impact of a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre on the University’s research performance be readily identifiable, via a business case and explicit measureable targets for research outputs and inputs.

The Committee felt that it was important to provide research institutes and centres with enough time to reach their maximum potential before the process of application for renewal was initiated.

While acknowledging the importance of the role of research institutes and centres in the University’s research performance, the Committee stressed that it was imperative that the process

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of creating and administering UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres conforms with all relevant university policies, unless an explicit exemption was provided.

Owing to the greater scale of UWA Research Institutes (FTEs and total budgets), their strategic intent and their links across multiple faculties, it is likely that the development of strategic and business cases for institutes will take far longer, and involve more people than for centres. Experience with the UWA Oceans Institute and the UWA Energy and Minerals Institute show that it takes between 3-5 years from the initial concept discussions until institutes are launched and operational. Under the current UWA governance arrangements, early discussions regarding the development of an institute usually involve research leaders, appropriate Deans and members of the Executive. Further development of a plan towards establishment of an UWA Research Institute is then managed by a senior UWA researcher or Dean reporting to the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research). It is the role of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) to facilitate integration of a proposed UWA Research Institute across faculties and to report on progress to the Executive.

When establishing a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre, the Committee has recommended the following:

Rec 10. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will have different pathways for establishment:

o UWA Research Institutes will be established on the recommendation of the UWA Executive to the UWA Research Committee, whose role will be to see that the proposed institute conforms to the required governance;

o UWA Research Centres will be established via existing procedures through application by proponents, via their Dean, to the UWA Research Committee, which will then make a recommendation to Academic Council.

Rec 11. UWA will only establish a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre if there is a case that it will be self-sustaining, excluding the provisions outlined in recommendation 42, after initial review periods of 10 and 5-years, respectively.

A number of submissions defined the broad types of key performance indicators (KPIs) in the establishment and review of institutes and centres:

The KPIs... should be focused on outputs related to the UWA Research Institute or Centre being nationally and internationally competitive plus their contribution to community service and research translation and creating a healthy and sustainable workplace.

The Committee determined that if UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres are to be successful, they would be well served by having a clearly defined set of goals at the time of their establishment. One submission to the Committee argued that:

Other than in exceptional circumstances one would expect a Centre’s constitution and business plan…along with its regular reports, to be a document widely

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accessible… Other colleagues should be able to inform themselves of what the centre is doing, why, and with what resources.

UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will be reviewed by the Research Committee and benchmarked against similar national and international bodies and FOR data from the ERA. Success of the institute or centre will be considered in terms of the value added by the centre to the University’s rating in the relevant fields of research, as measured by negotiated KPIs.

Rec 12. The creation of a UWA Research Institute or a UWA Research Centre should require both an academic case and a business plan with a clear indication of available resources, facilities, funding and negotiated KPIs, including targets for research training, grant income, and publication volume and quality, against which performance will be measured.

Rec 13. Human Resources should develop a mechanism for determining which UWA staff attribute their research work to Centres and Institutes, and the proportion of their workload allocated to the Centre/Institute.

Rec 14. The process for establishment of a new UWA Research Centre should identify the applicable fields of research (FOR) codes the Centre will be working in.

Effective financial management of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres requires that their finances can be clearly identified and readily disaggregated from the other activities of Schools and Faculties. UWA Research Institutes, Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres will be established as separate budget units. UWA Research Centres will also be provided the opportunity to be established as a separate budget unit. It is the responsibility of the Director of a UWA Research Centre to ensure that the centre’s financial information is properly maintained, with oversight from the Schools/Faculties.

Owing to their positioning across Faculty boundaries, the development of financial KPIs for UWA Research Institutes will require careful modelling.

Rec 15. The University should review its UWA Research Institutes every 7 years and its UWA Research Centres every 5 years. The format of the review, including templates for reports, will be prescribed in guidelines that will be produced under the direction of the Research Committee for endorsement by Academic Council. The cost of all reviews should be covered centrally.

o If a review panel recommends a UWA Research Centre not continue, the final decision should rest with the DVC-R, in consultation with the Executive and with the support of the Academic Council.

o If a review panel recommends a UWA Research Institute not continue, the final decision should rest with the Vice Chancellor following consultation with the DVC-R.

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o UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres not applying for renewal should produce a final report and key staff should meet with the DVC-R to discuss the outcomes of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre.

o The annual performance of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should be reported by Planning Services.

The Committee acknowledged that there would be exceptional occasions where the normal procedures for establishing a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre would not be appropriate or timely.

Rec 16. Where timeliness is of concern in the establishment of a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre seen to have significant strategic value to the University, the University Executive can give in-principle approval for establishment. If this is the case, the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre must normally seek formal approval for establishment through the usual processes within six months of obtaining in-principle support.

The Committee was mindful that there would be occasions where it was appropriate that a Research Institute or Centre be formed or continued to advance the university’s strategy to gain significant levels of external funding. The example of the establishment of the UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies in 2008 as a necessary step towards a successful bid for the UWA hosted Australian Research Council's Centre for Excellence in the History of Emotions, was raised as recent example of the type of strategic planning the committee envisaged.

Rec 17. Approval of proposals without guaranteed funding can also occur where the DVC-R has determined it to be strategic and where potential funding sources have been identified. In such circumstances the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre should submit annually a detailed report of its achievements and seek annual approval from the DVC-R until appropriate finances have been secured.

4.4 Governance The Committee believes it is imperative that from the outset, clear and robust governance arrangements are established for UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

Rec 18. All UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should have transparent governance arrangements, business plans, and provide regular reports to their Boards (see Rec. 21, below) or Deans, who will determine the extent of any further distribution of such documentation.

Given their size, scope and greater connections with the business, government and general research sector, the Committee believes it is appropriate that UWA Research Institutes are required to have additional governance structures and reporting responsibilities, as compared to UWA Research Centres. The Committee also concluded that it would be appropriate if leaders of Institutes were members of the Academic Council:

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Rec 19. Directors of UWA Research Institutes should be ex-officio members of Academic Council.

Rec 20. UWA Research

Institutes should have a Board chaired by the DVC-R or her nominee, and should include the Deans of the major Faculties involved in the Institute, the Institute Director, Business Manager, and a postgraduate student representative.

The purpose of the Board will be to:

o take responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the institute;

o set the key performance indicators of the institute; and

o take responsibility for the financial arrangements of the institute.

It is envisaged that the Board would meet at least twice yearly.

The Committee also felt it appropriate that UWA Research Institutes be provided with guidance on the external environment, with a focus on emerging strategic issues in industry, government and the general community, which may offer opportunities or pose threats to the Institute.

Rec 21. Each UWA Research Institute should have an External Advisory Committee. It is envisaged that the Advisory Committee would meet one to two times per year and report to the Board of the Institute.

FIGURE 6 GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS FOR UWA RESEARCH INSTITUTES: The Director of the Institute will be overseen by the Board of the Institute and receive advice from the external Advisory Board. Support for implementing the Institute's strategy will be provided to the Director by the Institute's Business Manager and Personal Assistant.

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Rec 22. UWA Research Institutes should produce an annual report suitable for external promotion and the communication purposes of both the Institute and the University. The report should include a list of all collaborating organisations, state its role and should include reports on all activities, success measured against key performance indicators and a financial statement.

The Committee noted that although Affiliated Research Institutes develop their own governance procedures, these types of institutes are generally overseen by a Governing Board. The Committee was of the opinion that in the case of Affiliated Research Institutes in which UWA has substantial involvement through UWA staff:

Rec 23. The University should be represented on the Governing Board of Affiliated Research Institutes. Legal joint venture agreements will establish the major business of the Affiliated Research Institute to be managed on behalf of the partners by the Governing Board.

The Committee further noted that traditionally a UWA Research Centre has been established as an interface between the University and an Affiliated Research Institutes. For example, the UWA Centre of Medical Research is the interface with the WA Institute of Medical Research (WAIMR). The Committee agreed that the establishment of a UWA Research Centre was an effective way of interfacing with Affiliated Institutes.

Rec 24. Depending on size and multidisciplinarity, and subject to successful application, the interface between UWA and an Affiliated Research Institute should either be a UWA Research Centre or a UWA Research Institute.

4.5 Accountability Within the submissions it was acknowledged that the governance arrangements of UWA Research Centres will necessarily vary depending upon the breadth of the Centre’s activities:

Centres under schools make sense when the Centre’s activity is a core activity of the school in question and the goals of the centre and school align.

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Centres under faculties makes sense when the Centre’s activities cross school boundaries, or (more likely in large schools) when the Centre’s activities are not core to the school’s interests.

Centres exclusively under institutes would only make sense if the relevant Institute had sufficient powers over space allocation, postgraduate student enrolment and funding.

The Committee determined that accountability needs to be delivered at both strategic and operational levels.

Rec 25. Where there is a centre under an Affiliated Research Institute predominately staffed by UWA employees it is expected that the centre applies for UWA Research Centre status if it meets scale and value-add criteria.

Rec 26. Directors of UWA Research Institutes should be members of the Board of their Institute and thus together with other Board members, be responsible for strategic and business planning and management for the Institute (see Rec 20, above).

Rec 27. Directors of UWA Research Centres should report to a Head of School, a Dean, or a Director of a UWA Research Institute, as appropriate. Directors of UWA Research Institutes should report to the Chair of their Board (the DVC-R or her nominee; see Rec 20, above).

Rec 28. UWA Research Centres should be managed through the existing structures of schools, faculties or UWA Research Institutes. UWA Research Centres may have Advisory Boards.

4.6 Management and Staffing To fulfil its strategic goals, a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre must aim to facilitate employment, development and retention of staff and students by adding value to the activities of Schools and Faculties.

One of the more complex issues that came to the Committee’s attention during the Review was that of staffing in UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres. In its submission to the Review, Human Resources noted: that there are already a number of HR issues related to Institutes and Centres, many of which are focused on the employment status of those working within Institutes and Centres. The issues revolve around staff members:

Employed by the University and managing non-UWA staff; Employed by the University and managed or supervised at least in part by non-UWA staff; Employed by the University and working in premises not operated by UWA; Not employed by the University but managed by UWA staff; Not employed by the University but working in premises operated by UWA; or Not employed by the University but accessing some services provided by UWA.

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The Committee noted that all staff employed in UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres are UWA staff, although their salary and on-costs may be allocated against a specific grant. UWA, as the employing agency, takes responsibility for issues such as insurance, accountability, etc., assuming both the risks of their employment as well as benefiting from their research.

The Committee agreed that it is important to reduce tension between Faculties, Schools, Institutes and Centres, in relation to staff members who have split appointments. One way to alleviate tensions is to ensure that on establishment of an UWA Research Institute or Centre the roles and responsibilities of positions are identified, clarified and documented.

For UWA Research Institutes, in most cases staff will remain members of their Schools and Faculties and Heads of School will allocate a portion or the whole of the staff member’s research time to the Institute in the School’s workload model. Staff members, in conjunction with their Head of School/Dean and the Director of their UWA Research Institute or Centre, must come to a formally recorded agreement on the partitioning of the individual’s time between the two.

Because institutes will add value in the way emphasised above, it is to the advantage of Heads of School to allocate their staff’s research time this way because the benefits (increased research income, increased HDR enrolments and completions and publications) will be returned to Faculties and Schools (see Rec. 44 ). In turn, excluding the provision outlined in Recommendation 42, the Faculties will provide the operating funds for the Institute each year from the increased net cash flow they generate – there is thus mutual obligation between Faculty and Institute and this should be reflected in the KPIs for Deans and Directors of UWA Research Institutes.

Rec 29. Staff with staff management responsibilities in UWA Research Institutes or UWA Research Centres should ensure that all participants in the research process have clearly negotiated expectations about outcomes and agreed funding arrangements.

Rec 30. All staff appointed to fixed-term fellowships within UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should nominate a home discipline/School for formal association.

Another issue raised in the submissions was that of staff members employed via a grant, whose salary contribution is less than the UWA level.

How will the top-up in salaries of research-only academics be managed?...One of my top performing post-doctoral fellows is to apply for a fellowship but the gap between her salary (i.e., research fellow) and the ONLY NHMRC post-doctoral fellowship for which she is eligible to apply, is $36,000 (even after the University’s 12% contribution is taken into account).

Currently, UWA staff members winning ARC or NHMRC Fellowships have their salaries supplemented with up to 12.5% where a deficit gap exists. Any remaining gap is the responsibility of the School/Faculty/Institute/Centre in which the fellow works.

Rec 31. Additional funding beyond that already provided by the Central Research Allocation for the supplementation of fellowship salaries for staff employed on NHMRC and ARC grants and

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the like, should be provided by UWA Research Institute, UWA Research Centre or Faculty/School funds as appropriate, depending on where the fellow undertakes additional duties, if and as allowed by the fellowship.

The Committee recognised that the “salary gap” issue is real and impacts on all universities. The Committee felt that it was outside the terms of reference of this review to solve the salary-gap problem, but recommends that the University Senior Management team address how the University deals with the salary-gap, as the issue is one of strategic importance in building our competitive position within Australia, particularly in the life sciences area.

The Committee noted that in the case of Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres, the salaries and conditions may vary from those offered by UWA. In some instances these are more attractive, due to the not-for-profit (NFP) tax status of the Affiliated Research Institute/Joint Venture Research Centres in the medical area and can lead to perceptions of ‘cherry picking’. This competition needs to be managed carefully in the best interests of the University as a whole. The Committee agreed that any changes to NFP FBT concessions should be monitored with a view to the impact on Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres.

During the Review the Committee was made aware of the fact that a number of institute and centre staff feel somewhat isolated from the rest of the University community. This was particularly the case for employees working in Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres.

Rec 32. All UWA staff in Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres should be encouraged to take advantage of development and other opportunities to support their careers, as determined in the affiliation agreement.

4.7 TeachingOne of the most significant issues addressed by this review is that of the role played by UWA Research Institute and UWA Research Centre staff in teaching. A number of submissions addressed the issue of teaching:

Research Centres should not become divorced from the University’s teaching activities. Not only is it poor practice from UWA’s point of view not to benefit from its top researchers when teaching undergraduates, but it’s detrimental to the Centres to have little contact with undergraduates – teaching coursework remains by far the best means to attract students to start a career in research, and the best way to inform them about the hottest projects to work on… Therefore, whatever governance mechanisms are put in place, they should ensure that:

Centre researchers that wish to teach undergraduate courses can do so; and Centre researchers have every opportunity to attract local Honours and PhD

students to their labs.

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The Committee noted the Operational Priorities Plan operational objective ED4, which aims to ‘further develop the links between teaching, learning and research’ (OPP 2009-13, ED4, p. 14) . The Committee developed a series of principles relating to undergraduate teaching, which then led to the formation of a number of recommendations.

Principles:

Cycle 1 coursework teaching will only be conducted in schools/faculties. Student load in undergraduate coursework programmes will therefore only be recorded against faculties/schools. Furthermore it is expected that school staff members with a formal requirement to teach some or all of a unit would have some of their FTE recorded against the School in which the teaching is to be conducted. This arrangement would not preclude giving staff working solely in a UWA Research Institute or Centre the opportunity to contribute to the undergraduate teaching of a school;

Staff in UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should be given every opportunity to engage in undergraduate teaching;

Engagement by Institute staff in the undergraduate teaching program will serve to enhance the Teaching/Research nexus and strengthen their academic discipline; and

Individuals associated with Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres may undertake some teaching in undergraduate programs in the same way as is described for the UWA Institutes.

The Committee examined the ResTeach scheme, currently in use at the University of Queensland, which ‘provides funding to encourage and facilitate schools to utilise, in a limited fashion, some of the large numbers of research staff who are at UQ. The scheme is designed to remove a frequently stated impediment to utilising research staff, namely resource allocation, and thereby:

expose students to key researchers, who hopefully can convey the excitement of their field;

improve the student: teacher ratio in an effective and efficient manner; provide an opportunity for interested researchers to expand their portfolio; strengthen the relationship between research and teaching to improve the student

learning experience, and reduce the teaching loads of existing T&R academics.

Further details of the scheme are available at Appendix 4.

Rec 33. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should receive funding for Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 teaching and supervision undertaken by staff paid by the institute or centre.

Rec 34. UWA should explore the possible implementation of UQ’s ResTeach fund (Appendix 4).

Rec 35. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres can appoint Teaching and Research academic staff for approved Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 programs that generate income sufficient to support the cost of these staff.

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All other Teaching and Research Academic staff will be associated with Faculties and Schools and paid for from the Operating Grant, research grants or contracts. Teaching and Research staff appointed by UWA Research Institutes will have an affiliation with at least one School. All Institute staff appointments will be subject to approval by the Board of the Institute.

Rec 36. Faculty Deans should have KPIs addressing the extent their Faculty facilitates teaching opportunities for UWA Research Institute and Centre staff. Likewise, all Directors of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should have KPIs addressing how the UWA Research Institute’s/Centre’s activities enhance the research outcomes of the University’s faculties and schools.

4.8 Research TrainingCentral to the discussions held by the Committee as well as the submissions to the Review was the issue of higher degree by research (HDR) training. While some submissions (mainly from institute and centres) advocated enrolment of HDR students in UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres, others (mainly Heads and Deans) argued that Schools are best placed to oversee the candidature of HDR students and it is unfair to expect Schools to undertake the early years of training via the undergraduate program only to have UWA Research Institute and UWA Research Centres lure the best students away. One submission advocating HDR enrolments in Centres noted that:

We lose some of the top students because we have no control over the timing or outcome of ranking decisions, and they prefer (unsurprisingly) to go to other top universities that are willing and able to make firm guarantees of a place quickly.

The principle concern of the Committee in relation to HDR training was ensuring that students receive the best possible postgraduate experience.

It was noted that over the last decade the University has undertaken significant reform in the administration and oversight of the HDR programme, and the Graduate Research School now had in place a series of robust processes to ensure that the candidature of HDR students was properly monitored, and that processes had been established to deal in an effective manner with any issues a student might have.

The Committee noted that a significant number of HDR students were already housed in Institutes and Centres and had minimal contact with their School throughout their candidature. The Committee also noted that while traditionally HDR students have been enrolled in schools, there was no reason why enrolment of HDR students could not be through UWA Research Institutes and very large UWA Research Centres. The Committee understood that drawing HDR enrolments away from Schools could have potentially devastating affects on the revenue stream of Schools that depend on high HDR enrolments, and thus their ability to pay staff salaries. Thus, great care would need to be taken in implementation of such enrolments.

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Rec 37. The majority of HDR students will continue to be enrolled in Schools/Faculties. However, provision should be made for Institutes/Centres to be accredited (through the Board of the Graduate Research School) as independent research training units. The Board of the GRS should draw up the specifications for accreditation of research institutes and centres as independent research training units, taking into consideration the following:

o The scale of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre;

o The capacity of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre to put together advisory teams of supervisors with a track record of successful supervision and with up-to-date supervisor training;

o The UWA Research Institute’s or UWA Research Centre’s resources for supporting research training (financial and infrastructure, including accommodation);

o The number of graduate research students it would train, to ensure that an appropriate size cohort is established;

o A curriculum for the graduate program, including advanced level coursework (if appropriate), training in writing of papers and grant applications, ethics, IP, OH&S, and other related issues; and

o Resolution of how income derived by UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres through HDR enrolments would be used to cover a component of staff salaries in Schools.

Rec 38. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres enrolling HDR students should provide a Graduate Research Coordinator. The Graduate Research Coordinator must not be the Director of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre.

Rec 39. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres enrolling HDR students must meet all of the guidelines and requirements issued by the Graduate Research School in relation to HDR training and reapply for accreditation as part of the process to renew UWA Research Institute or Centre status.

Rec 40. UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre supervisors must undertake regular supervisor training to remain up to date with local and national policies relating to research training, ethics and scholarships.

Rec 41. Normally, research training funds should be allocated to the Schools and UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres proportional to their contributions to their support for the student, in accordance with the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and UWA Research Institutes and Centres at UWA (see Appendix 6).

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4.9 Infrastructure and resources During the Review, the Committee acknowledged that the issue of infrastructure and resourcing, including accommodation, was a serious issue for some Research Institutes/Centres as well as Schools and Faculties.

The Committee recognised that resourcing was one area in which there can be significant discrepancies between the situation faced by centres and that faced by institutes. Thus, the following section of this report makes a distinction between UWA Research Institutes and Centres.

4.9.1 Resourcing InstitutesOne submission posed the question:

What support structures will be put in place to facilitate this type of multi-disciplinary multi-sector endeavour? This takes time and requires high level administrative support.

The Committee felt that one of the major differences between Institutes and Centres is the increased breadth and scope of the research carried out by Institutes. The Committee determined that, as Institutes will be driving very high performing research agendas and because they will be aligned with the strategic priorities of the University, it is expected that strategic funding will be available to leverage external funds in their growth.

Rec 42. UWA Faculties and Research Institutes should receive central funding for the salaries of the Secretariat (the Dean or Director, a Business Manager, and a PA). Salaries for staff other than the core Secretariat will need to be covered by the earnings of the Faculty/Institute.

UWA Research Institutes must add value to the prestige, responsiveness and international competitiveness of the University. The Committee notes that the value-proposition for Institutes also relates to financial growth for the University (see Rec. 12, above). The Committee was aware that Deans and Heads of School would not be supportive of the development of Institutes if they served to be a financial burden on Schools and Faculties.

4.9.2 Resourcing CentresOne submission extolled the virtues of the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Schools and Institutes/Centres, which have been in use in ‘the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences for a number of years now. It has worked well for determining infrastructure sharing for research grants etc within the Faculty’. Within the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Schools and Institutes/Centres, the distribution of funds is determined by the level of support provided by the School and UWA Research Institute or Centre to relevant staff members. Support is defined as:

Salary Travel Administration Infrastructure Contribution to teaching

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The Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Schools and Institutes/Centres provide five recommended models for the distribution of funds, depending upon how a researcher’s time is split between a School and a UWA Research Institute or Centre. While the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Schools and Institutes/Centres include a suggested breakdown of fund distribution, they also allow the flexibility for negotiation. The Committee formed the opinion that in order to reduce the level of debate over the distribution of infrastructure funds, a version of the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Schools and Institutes/Centres should be adapted for rollout across the University. While the Committee acknowledged that uniformity of the distribution of infrastructure funds was inappropriate, it was agreed that guidance was required to ensure a fair method of fund distribution was in place. The Committee has drafted the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and Institutes/Centres at UWA (GISFSIC), which it believes should be used in all future negotiations regarding the distribution of infrastructure funds (see Appendix 6).

Rec 43. The Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and Institutes/Centres at UWA (GISFSIC, Appendix 6) should be followed.

Rec 44. UWA Research Centres will operate with a combination of external funds and internal FFM funds.

o Operating costs of UWA Research Centres will primarily be funded through external research funds.

o Faculties and Schools should negotiate and pass on a proportion of research infrastructure funds generated from activities by staff in the Centres in accordance with the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and Institutes/Centres at UWA (GISFSIC).

o A UWA Research Centre within a School can apply for strategic funding provided by the School and Faculty, while a UWA Research Centre in a Faculty would normally access Faculty strategic funding only.

4.10 Accommodation There is a body of literature on establishing successful trans-disciplinary research teams. One factor that appears to be important is co-location of groups. A review of the trans-disciplinary research literature would appear to be important for this review to consider, with a view to taking advantage of lessons derived from other trans-disciplinary programs.

Institutes can greatly facilitate synergy between related Centres, especially by providing opportunities to co-locate research staff within the same building/s, via an Education Investment Fund (EIF) bid for example. Currently it is difficult even for Centres within Schools or Faculties to achieve the required synergy to

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propose/receive grand-challenge research projects on national/international significance, because the research staff are too dispersed within school/faculty/discipline silos.

Planning for co-location as part of the establishment of an Institute needs to be part of the Strategic and Business cases developed by the proponents of an Institute. As early as possible in the process of developing a plan for an Institute, accommodation issues need to be brought to the attention of the UWA Research and Teaching Facilities Reference Group whose members include the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research).

The Committee noted that Affiliated Research Institutes were expected to provide and organise their own accommodation and infrastructure, although UWA has contributed substantial funding to the Affiliated Institutes over the years. UWA staff associated with an Affiliated Research Institute and the interface centre will normally have UWA employment with a School and could be accommodated by that School during teaching periods, and other such times where the staff member’s presence was required in the School.

Principles relating to Accommodation:

As far as possible, members of UWA Research Institutes should be co-located or at least have common spaces for regular meetings.

Wherever possible, large scale institutionally shared infrastructure should be centrally housed and run, e.g. libraries, high performance computing facilities, microscopy, animal services, etc.

All Board Rooms and Meeting Rooms should be managed centrally and added to the venues booking site www.timetable.uwa.edu.au/

The Committee noted that where UWA funds have been used (e.g. Research Matching Funds) for the purchase of equipment or other infrastructure, usage rights and inclusion on the asset register needs to be determined. The Committee felt it would be appropriate for access to resources to be determined, as far as possible, in the UWA Research Institute or Centre proposal. Likewise, disputes over access could be handled by the Research Committee.

Accommodation for Centres has long been a problem at UWA, as elsewhere. The 2000 Review of UWA Centres found that:

Physical accommodation commonly seems to be a problem for the larger collaborative Centres, and is another source of tension between the centre and its cognate department(s) (schools). It is probably more of a problem than the normal accommodation difficulties that occur with departments as Centres emerge and change in size relatively rapidly (Review of UWA Centres May 2000).

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4.11 EngagementThe Committee found that UWA Research Institutes and Centres play a significant role in building the reputation of the University at local, national and international levels, and that it is important to ensure the relationship of a UWA Research Institute or Centre to the University is recognised on all three levels. The Committee acknowledged that it is important UWA Research Institutes and Centres operate within the framework for external communication established by Public Affairs.

In at least one submission, however, concerns were expressed that the current structural arrangements, particularly as reflected in nomenclature and web presence, did not effectively demonstrate to the external world the University’s research strengths and the work of its key research staff.

The Committee recognised the tension between researchers wanting to highlight their UWA Research Institute or Centre and the current branding requirements as defined by Public Affairs. The Committee determined:

UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres, excluding externally funded centres, such as ARC Centres of Excellence, will be named within an agreed nomenclature framework which includes the term UWA.

All existing UWA Research Institutes and Centres should be renamed to ensure their association to UWA is made clear.

UWA staff, including those with adjunct appointments in UWA Research Institutes and Centres and Affiliated UWA Research Institutes and Centres, must use the UWA by-line on all publications.

Staff of UWA Research Institutes or UWA Research Centres should ensure their business cards also reflect this relationship, either directly on the business card or through the use of double-sided business cards. This will not be expected of Affiliated Research Institutes or Joint Venture Research Centres, where badging is determined by their Boards and/or agreements with the Commonwealth or other funding bodies.

Rec 45. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should acknowledge their relationship to the University by using the UWA logo in all of their materials.

Rec 46. All UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should develop an externally focussed public communication strategy and should comply with UWA policies and procedures regarding public comment.

o Public Affairs should be involved in developing the public communication strategy of a new UWA Research Institute or Centre.

o Public Affairs should conduct training sessions throughout the year on procedures regarding public comment and general strategies for public communication for institute and centre staff.

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The Committee also found that the UWA research website (www.research.uwa.edu.au) does not adequately showcase the research strengths of the University’s Research Institutes and Centres. The Committee believes it is vitally important that potential collaborators, be they from other universities or research groups, or from the government or private sector, need to be able to easily indentify UWA’s Research Institutes and Centres, the work they carry out, the staff involved and their successes. The Committee noted the recent improvements to the UWA homepage, which now provides a direct link to the UWA Institutes, other institutes and the UWA Research and Training Centres page.

While the Committee recognised the underlying policy of the Web Office in regard to the UWA website, it felt that a greater degree of flexibility was required for the UWA Institutes and Centres web pages, if the site was to function in a manner that would enhance the profile of research at UWA.

Rec 47. The University Web Office should work with UWA’s Research Institutes and Centres to ensure that their web-pages promote the content and value of their work to optimize the University’s research agenda.

4.11.1 ITThe submission from Information Technology Services discussed the variety of IT services currently being provided to UWA Research Institutes and Centres, and noted that due to the differences in the formation and structure of UWA Research Institutes and Centres:

…their IT has been set up very differently and there is significant variety in the management of IT, responsibilities, procurement and software licensing.

Rec 48. Information Technology Services to develop a series of IT Guidelines in consultation with the research committee for research institutes and centres. The Guidelines should:

o Define the minimum levels of IT and the standards and policies that apply;

o Outline best practice in IT;

o Clarify the rules, responsibilities and software implications that are tied to UWA license agreements with vendors, including issues such as UWA staff employment status to ensure usage does not contravene the agreements; and

o Be flexible enough to meet the minimum IT needs of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres yet allow for specialised computing environments as appropriate to the research.

4.12 Other The Committee received a number of detailed submissions from administrative divisions, regarding the current arrangements for UWA Research Institutes and Centres, and detailing areas of risk where additional reforms were required to ensure the University met best practice

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standards. The Committee noted that all UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will have access to central administrative services such as Research Services, Human Resources, Legal Services, the Office of Industry and Innovation, Financial Services, Student Services, Facilities Management, the Safety Net scheme, Research Matching Funds, and the Library.

Rec 49. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should adhere to all University policies and procedures, including those related to human resources; intellectual property; and, Archives and Records Management. In some cases, Administrative Divisions will need to create specific guidelines for UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

5 Implications for the Faculty Funding Model (FFM)The University’s budget model is a devolved process that provides funds to faculties and academic service areas who then allocate financial resources to schools/divisions according to their individual circumstances.

5.1 The Faculty Funding ModelAt UWA funds are distributed to the faculties via the Faculty Funding Model, which is based on three main components:

Domestic Coursework Teaching (CWT) International Coursework Students Research and Research Training (R&RT)

The Faculties control the distribution of income to Schools, with each Faculty responsible for determining the appropriate method or formulae for distribution. However faculties are required to ensure that distributions take into account the student enrolment levels, and the required staff support necessary for teaching and research.

5.2 Commonwealth Funding ProvisionsThe Commonwealth Government provides universities with block grants for the funding of research and research training. The apportionment of these funds is in part determined by the University’s research performance, which includes publications, external grant income received and the completion rate of HDR students.

The flow of Commonwealth research and research training block grants to UWA in 2010 included the Research Infrastructure Block Grant ($14.1 million), the Joint Research Engagement scheme ($16.8 million), the Sustainable Research Excellence scheme ($3.9 million) and the Research Training Scheme ($32.4 million). In total UWA received $67.3 million of research and research

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training block grant funding in 2010, with $44.9 million of this being returned directly to the faculties via the Research and Research Training component of the Faculty Funding Model. A further $18.8 million of this funding was withheld centrally to fund related research activities and initiatives, including the Central Research Allocation ($14.1 million), the Research Matching Fund ($2 million), and University Facilities ($2.6 million).

The newest block funding scheme, the Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE) initiative, was announced by the Australian Government in the 2009-10 Budget as part of a suite of measures to enhance university research. Over the four years 2009-10 to 2012-13, $510 million will be provided under the SRE program to support universities in meeting the indirect costs of their Australian Competitive Grant (ACG) research activities. It is expected that the SRE allocation to UWA in 2011 will be an additional $6.4 million ramping up to around $16 million by 2013-14. In contrast, there is no expected increase in other Commonwealth block funding schemes over this same period.

The UWA SRE allocation of $6.4 million in 2011 has already been committed through the 2010 budget planning process. However, any further increase in SRE grant over and above this amount (likely to be around $10 million annually in steady state) is still the focus of discussion. The only restriction on the use of this funding is that the grant "must be used to fund activity related to the indirect costs of ACG research". The Committee noted that there were three possible scenarios for the distribution of the SRE funding:

a) The additional SRE funding flows into the top of the budget and is distributed by the Research and Research Training component of the Faculty Funding model;

b) The additional SRE funding is withheld and allocated by some other central process to support the indirect costs of ACG research; or

c) A proportion of the additional SRE funding is distributed via the Faculty Funding model, while the remainder is held centrally and used for the University’s strategic endeavours.

5.3 Recognised Funding tensionsThroughout the Review the Committee was conscious of the tensions over funding for UWA Research Institutes and Centres, and the implications that any changes to the structure of the University in terms of the position of Institutes and Centres would have upon the FFM. A significant proportion of the submissions to the Committee also addressed the issue of funding, with a focus on funding for Centres, particularly those associated with Schools. While some submissions argued that Centres should fall under the auspices of Schools:

Centres should lie within Schools, with the salaries for their core staff continuing to be funded by the School via returns from the centre activities via the FFM (rather than being funded off the top of the UWA budget). Centres should be expected to attract external funding to hire additional

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research staff in addition to the core funded by the School. Any off-the-top funding for the centre should be used to bring in new staff rather than pay for the salaries of existing continuing staff in Schools. School-funded staff in the centre should be considered research intensive and carry minimal undergraduate teaching loads, but be expected to carry significant postgraduate loads.

Others argued that:

Our centre operates as an independent business unit reporting directly to the Dean, and this management structure permits us to make rapid and effective decisions focussed entirely on achieving research excellence. We strongly believe that the added bureaucratic complexity and inertia resulting from embedding a Research centre within a School severely compromises its ability to operate effectively.

Financial commitment to the centre from the University should be established only after due consultation with Schools and Faculties and clear arrangements should be in place to provide due support to the centre activities for the duration of the centre.

A simpler, fairer and consistent ‘Centre funding model’ should be developed, which would give Directors a transparent basis for planning and development. Current arrangements within the FFM result in the law of diminishing returns.

The Committee recognised that the University’s budget model would essentially continue to use the same drivers to allocate resources, except that the research and research training component would be allocated directly to faculties, schools, institutes and centres that have independent budget units. Funds for teaching would continue to be allocated via each faculty essentially in proportion to weighted student loads.

The Committee also recognised that as the University strives to reach its research goals, additional funding would be required to encourage the development of research strengths.

Rec 50. The Executive and Planning and Budget Committee should allocate a proportion of the additional Sustainable Research Excellence income to Faculties and Institutes based on performance.

Rec 51. The Faculty Funding Model (FFM) should be reviewed over the next few years to explore the possibility of directly funding UWA Research Institutes.

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6 Conclusion

The grouping of researchers within research institutes and centres should be the mechanism by which UWA can bring together multi-disciplinary groups of researchers to focus on the important questions, problems and issues faced by society in the 21st century and beyond. They will also be the major mechanism by which UWA will lift its overall research performance and collaboration. The intent of this review has been to establish a series of guidelines and recommendations to allow the University to develop a robust process for the establishment and operation of UWA Research Institutes and Centres. Simultaneously, the Committee was committed to ensuring flexibility is provided to assist in the University’s nurturing of strategic areas of research growth. The Committee recognised that the University has four distinct types of institutes and centres that differ in scale of operation and governance arrangements – UWA Research Institutes, UWA Research Centres, Affiliated Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres

The Committee recognised that as issues of a multi-disciplinary nature drive the need for better integration of research across the University it will be necessary to form UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres that could bring together a variety of researchers who would normally not be working together. Throughout the review, the Committee was mindful of the level of research carried out within Schools, and recognised that a significant amount of UWA research output would continue to be generated at the School level. However, it is the view of the Committee that UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres are a key mechanism in lifting the performance and impact of UWA’s research. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should only be formed at UWA if their existence will add significant value to the University in terms of performance, competitive advantage and institutional vitality. The Committee highlighted that with the appropriate governance and financial arrangements in place for UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres, there will be a mutual obligation between Deans and Heads of Schools and Directors of institutes/centres to work on behalf of the University to increase the research performance and reputation of the University.

The Committee recognised that the University will continue to enter into collaborative arrangements to form future Affiliated Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres. The driver to enter into these collaborative research arrangements will be if such ventures address issues of major global, national or local importance and if such ventures add significant value to the University.

The Committee recognises that the recommendations listed in this document will require a significant level of commitment from many sectors of the University. That said, the Committee believes that UWA Research Institutes and Centres can play a major part in boosting the University’s research performance and profile, at the local, national and international level. Further, UWA Research Institutes and Centres will be important contributors to the University’s efforts to attain its strategic research goals in the future.

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7 Principles of the Report

7.1 Guiding Principles

1 The University recognises four different categories of research institutes and centres that operate at UWA –UWA Research Institutes, Affiliated Research Institutes, Joint Venture Research Centres and UWA Research Centres (see above).

2 The University will support the establishment and continuation of Research Institutes and Centres in areas aligned with its strategic focus as described in the Strategic Plan and Operational Priorities Plan.

3 The University will have clear processes for the establishment, oversight and success of Research Institutes and Centres.

4 UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will adhere in the same way as Schools and Faculties to all University polices and procedures. It is acknowledged that Affiliated Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres may be governed by different procedures that are the responsibilities of the Governing Boards within the guidance provided by Joint Venture Agreements and Funding Agreements.

5 Quality leadership and management will be a high priority in the establishment of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

6 In recognition of the diversity of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres, governance arrangements will be flexible and adaptable to allow for fitness for purpose. However, UWA Research Institutes and very large UWA Research Centres with staff from across multiple faculties will include a board with external advisory participation where appropriate.

7 To assess the performance there will be an agreed set of criteria (KPIs) for all UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

8 UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will increase financial returns to Schools and Faculties.

9 In general, resources will flow according to investment and output, whatever the designation of the organisational unit. In other words, all staff contributing to the University’s research effort and outcomes will have equity of access to research resources as part of the University’s reward structure.

10 There is a mutual obligation of Deans and Heads of School as well as Directors of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres to work towards a common goal of increasing the research performance and reputation of the University to a significant degree.

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11 UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will build a culture that supports postgraduates and gives opportunities to early career researchers.

12 Given that UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres are established to offer a high quality research experience to students, Schools will negotiate with UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres in good faith to ensure that this opportunity is available for students in their Honours year.

13 UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will develop links to related institutes/centres at a local, national and international level.

7.2 Principles relating to undergraduate teaching:

Cycle 1 coursework teaching will only be conducted in schools/faculties. Student load in undergraduate coursework programmes will therefore only be recorded against faculties/schools. Furthermore it is expected that school staff members with a formal requirement to teach some or all of a unit would have some of their FTE recorded against the School in which the teaching is to be conducted. This arrangement would not preclude giving staff working solely in a UWA Research Institute or Centre the opportunity to contribute to the undergraduate teaching of a school;

Staff in UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should be given every opportunity to engage in undergraduate teaching;

Engagement by Institute staff in the undergraduate teaching program will serve to enhance the Teaching/Research nexus and strengthen their academic discipline; and

Individuals associated with Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres may undertake some teaching in undergraduate programs in the same way as is described for the UWA Institutes.

7.3 Principles relating to Accommodation:

As far as possible, members of UWA Research Institutes should be co-located or at least have common spaces for regular meetings.

Wherever possible, large scale institutionally shared infrastructure should be centrally housed and run, e.g. libraries, high performance computing facilities, microscopy, animal services, etc.

All Board Rooms and Meeting Rooms should be managed centrally and added to the venues booking site www.timetable.uwa.edu.au/

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8 Recommendations of the Report

Rec 1. UWA Research Institutes should normally be established only when: there is a clear case for value-add; the research involves researchers from different Faculties; and, the scope of research is both interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary in nature.

Rec 2. UWA Research Centres should only exist if they add to the University’s research profile and performance in a manner that could not be achieved if the researchers involved within the Centre were to continue to simply operate in their School or Faculty. The Centre should be self-sustaining in the medium to long term.

Rec 3. Agreement to participate in an Affiliated Research Institute and a Joint Venture Research Centre should be a high level strategic decision undertaken by the University Executive and Faculty Deans. Only the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) can be signatories to such arrangements.

University Oversight Rec 4. The membership and role of the UWA Research Committee should be reviewed to allow it

to:

o advise and make recommendations to the University Executive, Academic Council and/or other University bodies or officers, as appropriate, on matters, including policy advice, relating to the establishment, governance, operation and renewal of UWA Research Institutes and Centres;

o monitor and report to Academic Council on the performance of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres; and

o promulgate examples of best practice in all aspects of the establishment and operation of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

Rec 5. The UWA Research Committee should, through central administration services, take responsibility for the following tasks:

o Redrafting of the Guidelines for the Establishment and Review of UWA Centres (Guidelines), to incorporate the recommendations of this review;

o Drafting Guidelines for UWA Research Institutes including governance, reporting and HDR supervision;

o Drafting new web based application forms for UWA Research Centres; and

o Creating and maintaining a risk register for proposed and established UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

Rec 6. Faculties should review all their existing research centres, within twelve months of issue of the redrafted Guidelines for the Establishment and Review of UWA Research Centres .

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Deans should make recommendations to the UWA Research Committee as to which centres should become UWA Research Centres and which should be reclassified as research groups.

Rec 7. The UWA Research Committee should be responsible for:

a. Providing recommendations to the DVC-R on applications to establish a UWA Research Centre;

b. Overseeing the annual performance of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres as outlined in Recommendation 15;

c. Overseeing the final reporting and renewal process for UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres as outlined in Recommendation 15; and

d. Periodically reviewing the Guidelines for the Establishment and Review of UWA Research Centres.

Rec 8. The DVC-R should co-opt experienced staff from research institutes and research centres to the Research Committee.

Rec 9. Central Administration Services should provide the Research Committee with administrative support to help with the additional workload that will result from its new responsibilities.

Establishment and Disestablishment Rec 10. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres will have different pathways for

establishment:

o UWA Research Institutes will be established on the recommendation of the UWA Executive to the UWA Research Committee, whose role will be to see that the proposed institute conforms to the required governance;

o UWA Research Centres will be established via existing procedures through application by proponents, via their Dean, to the UWA Research Committee, which will then make a recommendation to Academic Council.

Rec 11. UWA will only establish a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre if there is a case that it will be self-sustaining, excluding the provisions outlined in recommendation 42, after initial review periods of 10 and 5-years, respectively.

Rec 12. The creation of a UWA Research Institute or a UWA Research Centre should require both an academic case and a business plan with a clear indication of available resources, facilities, funding and negotiated KPIs, including targets for research training, grant income, and publication volume and quality, against which performance will be measured.

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Rec 13. Human Resources should develop a mechanism for determining which UWA staff attribute their research work to Centres and Institutes, and the proportion of their workload allocated to the Centre/Institute.

Rec 14. The process for establishment of a new UWA Research Centre should identify the applicable fields of research (FOR) codes the Centre will be working in.

Rec 15. The University should review its UWA Research Institutes every 7 years and its UWA Research Centres every 5 years. The format of the review, including templates for reports, will be prescribed in guidelines that will be produced under the direction of the Research Committee for endorsement by Academic Council. The cost of all reviews should be covered centrally.

o If a review panel recommends a UWA Research Centre not continue, the final decision should rest with the DVC-R, in consultation with the Executive and with the support of the Academic Council.

o If a review panel recommends a UWA Research Institute not continue, the final decision should rest with the Vice Chancellor following consultation with the DVC-R.

o UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres not applying for renewal should produce a final report and key staff should meet with the DVC-R to discuss the outcomes of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre.

o The annual performance of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should be reported by Planning Services.

Rec 16. Where timeliness is of concern in the establishment of a UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre seen to have significant strategic value to the University, the University Executive can give in-principle approval for establishment. If this is the case, the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre must normally seek formal approval for establishment through the usual processes within six months of obtaining in-principle support.

Rec 17. Approval of proposals without guaranteed funding can also occur where the DVC-R has determined it to be strategic and where potential funding sources have been identified. In such circumstances the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre should submit annually a detailed report of its achievements and seek annual approval from the DVC-R until appropriate finances have been secured.

Governance Rec 18. All UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should have transparent

governance arrangements, business plans, and provide regular reports to their Boards (see Rec. 21, below) or Deans, who will determine the extent of any further distribution of such documentation.

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Rec 19. Directors of UWA Research Institutes should be ex-officio members of Academic Council.

Rec 20. UWA Research Institutes should have a Board chaired by the DVC-R or her nominee, and should include the Deans of the major Faculties involved in the Institute, the Institute Director, Business Manager, and a postgraduate student representative.

The purpose of the Board will be to:

o take responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the institute;

o set the key performance indicators of the institute; and

o take responsibility for the financial arrangements of the institute.

It is envisaged that the Board would meet at least twice yearly.

Rec 21. Each UWA Research Institute should have an External Advisory Committee. It is envisaged that the Advisory Committee would meet one to two times per year and report to the Board of the Institute.

Rec 22. UWA Research Institutes should produce an annual report suitable for external promotion and the communication purposes of both the Institute and the University. The report should include a list of all collaborating organisations, state its role and should include reports on all activities, success measured against key performance indicators and a financial statement.

Rec 23. The University should be represented on the Governing Board of Affiliated Research Institutes. Legal joint venture agreements will establish the major business of the Affiliated Research Institute to be managed on behalf of the partners by the Governing Board.

Rec 24. Depending on size and multidisciplinarity, and subject to successful application, the interface between UWA and an Affiliated Research Institute should either be a UWA Research Centre or a UWA Research Institute.

Accountability Rec 25. Where there is a centre under an Affiliated Research Institute predominately staffed by

UWA employees it is expected that the centre applies for UWA Research Centre status if it meets scale and value-add criteria.

Rec 26. Directors of UWA Research Institutes should be members of the Board of their Institute and thus together with other Board members, be responsible for strategic and business planning and management for the Institute (see Rec 20, above).

Rec 27. Directors of UWA Research Centres should report to a Head of School, a Dean, or a Director of a UWA Research Institute, as appropriate. Directors of UWA Research Institutes should report to the Chair of their Board (the DVC-R or her nominee; see Rec 20, above).

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Rec 28. UWA Research Centres should be managed through the existing structures of schools, faculties or UWA Research Institutes. UWA Research Centres may have Advisory Boards.

Management and Staffing Rec 29. Staff with staff management responsibilities in UWA Research Institutes or UWA Research

Centres should ensure that all participants in the research process have clearly negotiated expectations about outcomes and agreed funding arrangements.

Rec 30. All staff appointed to fixed-term fellowships within UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should nominate a home discipline/School for formal association.

Rec 31. Additional funding beyond that already provided by the Central Research Allocation for the supplementation of fellowship salaries for staff employed on NHMRC and ARC grants and the like, should be provided by UWA Research Institute, UWA Research Centre or Faculty/School funds as appropriate, depending on where the fellow undertakes additional duties, if and as allowed by the fellowship.

Rec 32. All UWA staff in Affiliated Research Institutes and Joint Venture Research Centres should be encouraged to take advantage of development and other opportunities to support their careers, as determined in the affiliation agreement.

TeachingRec 33. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should receive funding for Cycle 2

and Cycle 3 teaching and supervision undertaken by staff paid by the institute or centre.

Rec 34. UWA should explore the possible implementation of UQ’s ResTeach fund (Appendix 4).

Rec 35. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres can appoint Teaching and Research academic staff for approved Cycle 2 and Cycle 3 programs that generate income sufficient to support the cost of these staff.

Rec 36. Faculty Deans should have KPIs addressing the extent their Faculty facilitates teaching opportunities for UWA Research Institute and Centre staff. Likewise, all Directors of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should have KPIs addressing how the UWA Research Institute’s/Centre’s activities enhance the research outcomes of the University’s faculties and schools.

Research TrainingRec 37. The majority of HDR students will continue to be enrolled in Schools/Faculties. However,

provision should be made for Institutes/Centres to be accredited (through the Board of the Graduate Research School) as independent research training units. The Board of the GRS should draw up the specifications for accreditation of research institutes and centres as independent research training units, taking into consideration the following:

a. The scale of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre;

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b. The capacity of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre to put together advisory teams of supervisors with a track record of successful supervision and with up-to-date supervisor training;

c. The UWA Research Institute’s or UWA Research Centre’s resources for supporting research training (financial and infrastructure, including accommodation);

d. The number of graduate research students it would train, to ensure that an appropriate size cohort is established;

e. A curriculum for the graduate program, including advanced level coursework (if appropriate), training in writing of papers and grant applications, ethics, IP, OH&S, and other related issues; and

f. Resolution of how income derived by UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres through HDR enrolments would be used to cover a component of staff salaries in Schools.

Rec 38. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres enrolling HDR students should provide a Graduate Research Coordinator. The Graduate Research Coordinator must not be the Director of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre.

Rec 39. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres enrolling HDR students must meet all of the guidelines and requirements issued by the Graduate Research School in relation to HDR training and reapply for accreditation as part of the process to renew UWA Research Institute or Centre status.

Rec 40. UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre supervisors must undertake regular supervisor training to remain up to date with local and national policies relating to research training, ethics and scholarships.

Rec 41. Normally, research training funds should be allocated to the Schools and UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres proportional to their contributions to their support for the student, in accordance with the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and UWA Research Institutes and Centres at UWA (see Appendix 6).

Infrastructure and resources Rec 42. UWA Faculties and Research Institutes should receive central funding for the salaries of

the Secretariat (the Dean or Director, a Business Manager, and a PA). Salaries for staff other than the core Secretariat will need to be covered by the earnings of the Faculty/Institute.

Rec 43. The Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and Institutes/Centres at UWA (GISFSIC, Appendix 6) should be followed.

Rec 44. UWA Research Centres will operate with a combination of external funds and internal FFM funds.

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o Operating costs of UWA Research Centres will primarily be funded through external research funds.

o Faculties and Schools should negotiate and pass on a proportion of research infrastructure funds generated from activities by staff in the Centres in accordance with the Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and Institutes/Centres at UWA (GISFSIC).

o A UWA Research Centre within a School can apply for strategic funding provided by the School and Faculty, while a UWA Research Centre in a Faculty would normally access Faculty strategic funding only.

EngagementRec 45. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should acknowledge their

relationship to the University by using the UWA logo in all of their materials.

Rec 46. All UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should develop an externally focussed public communication strategy and should comply with UWA policies and procedures regarding public comment.

o Public Affairs should be involved in developing the public communication strategy of a new UWA Research Institute or Centre.

o Public Affairs should conduct training sessions throughout the year on procedures regarding public comment and general strategies for public communication for institute and centre staff.

Rec 47. The University Web Office should work with UWA’s Research Institutes and Centres to ensure that their web-pages promote the content and value of their work to optimize the University’s research agenda.

ITRec 48. Information Technology Services to develop a series of IT Guidelines in consultation with

the research committee for research institutes and centres. The Guidelines should:

a. Define the minimum levels of IT and the standards and policies that apply;

b. Outline best practice in IT;

c. Clarify the rules, responsibilities and software implications that are tied to UWA license agreements with vendors, including issues such as UWA staff employment status to ensure usage does not contravene the agreements; and

d. Be flexible enough to meet the minimum IT needs of UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres yet allow for specialised computing environments as appropriate to the research.

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Other Rec 49. UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres should adhere to all University

policies and procedures, including those related to human resources; intellectual property; and, Archives and Records Management. In some cases, Administrative Divisions will need to create specific guidelines for UWA Research Institutes and UWA Research Centres.

Implications for the Faculty Funding Model (FFM)Rec 50. The Executive and Planning and Budget Committee should allocate a proportion of the

additional Sustainable Research Excellence income to Faculties and Institutes based on performance.

Rec 51. The Faculty Funding Model (FFM) should be reviewed over the next few years to explore the possibility of directly funding UWA Research Institutes.

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9 Appendices Appendix 1

Our ref: F29906 (RO/2460)

19 February 2010

Dear Colleagues

Late last year, I developed a short paper on the roles of Institutes, Centres, Faculties and Schools within the University (attached). I have used this paper as impetus to establish the Vice-Chancellor’s Strategic Review of UWA institutes and centres that is being chaired by Professor Robyn Owens, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research). I have asked Robyn to have a final report to me by 1 July 2010. The Terms of Reference for the Review are attached.

This will be an extremely important review for the University. UWA has decided to:

concentrate on a limited number of broad strategic research areas and a limited number of emerging and seed research priorities, and

develop several institutes and initiatives that cut across faculties. It is important that we have in place the right governance structures and funding mechanisms to make this work.

I would like to say clearly to all of you that the University is doing this in order to:

1. Increase our research performance;

2. Develop the scale necessary to achieve our challenging goal of being in the top 100 universities world-wide;

3. Have the ability to bring interdisciplinary teams of researchers together to address the important issues facing the human population; and

4. Integrate our research efforts to achieve connection with the needs of society.

I would like to invite thoughtful submissions that address the Terms of Reference from all staff or staff groups. Please send submissions to dvcr@admin.uwa.edu.au by Friday 19 March 2010.

Alan Robson

Vice-Chancellor

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OFFICE OF THE VICE-CHANCELLORVICE-CHANCELLORProfessor Alan Robson AM, CitWABAgrSc Melb., PhD W.Aust., FTSE, FAIASHackett Professor of Agriculture

The Vice-Chancellor’s Discussion Paper on UWA institutes and centres

1. Current Situation

The University has decided to concentrate on a limited number of strategic research areas

and a limited number of emerging and seed priorities (see Operational Priorities Plan, p7).

Furthermore, a priority has been identified to focus our research activities within a matrix

structure so that the University is more successful in achieving critical mass and more

successful in securing major research centres.

Within the University the budget units are Faculties and Schools. However there are a large

number of centres. These centres are generally located entirely within a school, occasionally

within a Faculty and rarely as an independent unit within the University. Recently the

University has established the Institute of Agriculture, the Oceans Institute and the Energy

and Minerals Initiative which are units that operate across several faculties. Additionally,

several independent medical research institutes (for example Lions Eye Institute, Telethon

Institute for Child Health Research, Western Australian Institute for Medical Research) have

affiliated with The University of Western Australia through the formation of centres within

the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science. For these centres there is an

affiliation agreement that indicates the flow of Institutional Block Grants and Research

Infrastructure Block Grants from the University to the centre. Additionally, there has been

developed a set of rules which governs the flow of funding associated with PhD enrolments

within the affiliated research institute. Currently the general policy is that postgraduate

students can only enrol through a school. In relation to the affiliated medical research

institutes there are issues surrounding the employment of staff. Because many institutes

are listed as charities staff can receive benefits without the need for the same fringe

benefits tax to be paid. Hence employment by institutes registered as charitable

foundations is more attractive than employment by the University. However many of those

staff not employed by the University are adjunct or clinical staff of the University and many

of these staff supervise PhD students with often nominal UWA staff as co-supervisors.

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The UWA staff are required to sign off on annual reports, the nomination of examiners and

to take legal responsibility for ethics. Indeed UWA provides the Ethics Committees for some

of these Institutes. There is a clear need to tighten up rights and responsibilities around

adjunct and clinical appointments in relation to address for publications, address for grant

applications.

How do we achieve the benefits of the affiliation without compromising the autonomy of

the affiliated medical research units on the legitimate approaches of the University to

maximise its income and reputation?

For ARC Centres of Excellence it has been agreed that these can be a budget unit while the

Centre is receiving ARC funding.

There is confusion on nomenclature – as well as the Institute of Agriculture and the Oceans

Institute we have an Energy and Minerals Initiative, an Institute of Regional Development (in

reality a teaching and research centre largely within a single school), a Confucius Institute (a

joint centre with Zhejiang University, Hanban and UWA to promote Chinese languages skills

and Chinese culture) and an Institute of Advanced Studies (a University centre established

to enhance the research profile of the University through the fostering of cross-disciplinary

activities).

Among our centres we have a teaching activity (Rural Clinical School) consulting activities

(Engineering Design and Consultancy Centre, Eureka Archaeological Research and

Consulting Centre, Statistical Consulting Group), centres for University infrastructure

(Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, Western Australian Supercomputing

Program), Western Australian Centres of Excellence (at least nine (9) centres), nodes of ARC

Centre of Excellence (one centre), base of an ARC Centre of Excellence (one centre), centres

built around Premier’s Fellows, Federation Fellows and Laureate Fellows, many of which are

State Centres of Excellence. There are also centres which are research themes within

single-school Faculties (particularly in the Law and Business Schools) and Co-operative

Research Centres.

2. Models Elsewhere

The University of Melbourne has established three virtual institutes – the Melbourne Energy

Institute, The Melbourne Institute of Materials and the Melbourne Sustainable Societies

Institute. These virtual institutes have been established “to make connections where none

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exist, to enhance fledgling connections and to provide leadership and co-ordination when

responding to challenges that transcend individual disciplines” (Refining Our Strategy, The

University of Melbourne, p. 22).

Melbourne has concluded that “Institute leaders need to be our very best cross discipline

and cross-section communicators” and “virtual cross-disciplinary institutes require a level of

governance than can create meaningful interfaculty programs”. Two models are presented

– first, the establishment of an over-arching structure to maximise benefits from the

individual institutes, second, the formation of an internal advisory panel.

The Melbourne institutes will be funded from a discretionary fund apart from the normal

budget flow. In Melbourne University it is not clear to whom the Directors of the virtual

institutes report. The institutes do not appear to be budget units.

The University of Queensland has a completely different approach to institutes (see

attached organisation chart). Six institutes have been established alongside seven Faculties.

The Institute Directors report to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and the Deans

report to the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The institutes are budget units. There are

centres within both institutes and Faculties. At the University of Queensland there are

Institute Centres, Faculty Centres and School Centres.

The CSIRO established Flagship Programs in 2003. These programs are multi disciplinary

research partnerships to tackle national priorities. The Flagships cut across the traditional

divisions and themes within CSIRO. Each Flagship has an external advisory committee and

the Flagship programs are managed at the Executive level by a Flagship Overview

Committee chaired by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

In a recent external review of the Flagships program one recommendation was “CSIRO

completes the move of the organisation to matrix management and specifically that –

CSIRO continues to give appropriate leadership, resources and management focus to

Flagship theme portfolios designed to impact issues of significant national importance

Divisional Chiefs are responsible in the development of specialised scientific capability

aligned with the evolving needs of the whole organisation”.

3. Issues for Resolution

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Institutes can have several different forms. The institutes can be virtual or budget units.

Institutes can be co-located or dispersed. Institutes can be research only organisations or

can also present coursework either at the undergraduate or postgraduate levels.

If institutes are research organisations and most of the teaching is conducted by schools,

how do we maintain the teaching - research nexus if we do not have a matrix model? How

do we divide the responsibilities of staff who research within institutes but teach within

schools?

Should we have an Institute for each of our designated strategic research areas – if we did

this would mean at least six Institutes? Should we have centres for each of our emerging

and seed priorities? Currently there are centres covering Organisational Behaviour,

Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Radioastronomy, but not Australian Literature;

Metrology and Measurements; Educational Measurement; Green Chemistry; Social Policy,

Public Policy and International Studies. Additionally we have an Institute of Agriculture and

an Oceans Institute which are part of the strategic research area Plants, Animals, Agriculture

and the Environment. There is an Energy and Minerals Initiative that covers the strategic

research area Exploration, Production and Utilisation.

There are three major medical research institutes (CEI, WAIMR, TICHR) affiliated with UWA

that cover the Fundamental Biomedical and Translational Approaches to Health with the

centres within UWA (Centre for Medical Research, Centre for Paediatric Research, Centre

for Ophthalmology and Vision Science). With Indigenous knowledge we have a School of

Indigenous Studies, a Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health and areas in the fine

arts and anthropology. In the area of Bioengineering and Bioimaging there is the Centre for

Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis as well as scientists in mechanical engineering,

medicine, surgery and sports science.

In the area of Neurosciences there are the Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry,

the Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorder, the Western Australian Centre for

Health and Aging, the Child Study Centre as well as neuroscientists in the School of Animal

Biology, Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences and Analysing and Human Biology.

Should we establish institutes in all six strategic areas? Should central funding be provided

for the employment of an Institute Director, and Institute Manager and secretarial

assistance?

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Is a matrix system the most appropriate with Schools and Faculties in the vertical and

institutes in the horizontal? In a matrix model there is a need for a clear view of funding in

relation to overheads, the extent of teaching, who meets the marketing costs, and support

costs and the setting of targets for staff employed within schools but working at least partly

within Institutes.

Where institutes are within a single Faculty the Institute could be a cost centre within the

Faculty and the Director would report to the Dean. Where institutes are across several

Faculties the Institute would need to be a cost centre within the University and the Director

would then report to a member of the extended Executive. In the main staff would be

appointed within schools and faculties except for the Institute Director, Institute Manager

and secretarial assistance in multi-Faculty Institutes. Where institutes win significant

external research funding and staff are employed there is the question as to whether the

staff are employed within the Institute or within the most appropriate school. Should

graduate students be permitted to enrol within institutes or Centres? How should research

infrastructure and funding associated with graduate students be distributed?

What is the appropriate governance model for Institutes? Do all institutes have to have the

same governance model? The Institute of Agriculture has an External Advisory Board with

15 external members, the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and the

Director of the Institute. The Institute has five research programs each led by a Program

Leader and a management committee which includes the Deans and the Heads of the form

schools. Is this the appropriate governance for all our Institutes?

4. Some Suggestions

Institutes should only engage in research and research training.

Institutes should align with the key strategic areas identified in the Operational Priorities Plan.

Centres should align with emerging or seed priorities.

Centres can be Institute Centres, School Centres, Faculty Centres or University Centres. Research centres should be differentiated from centres established for other purposes.

Funding should be directed through Faculties and Schools to institutes and centres on an agreed set of rules.

Institutes do not all need to be of the same type. For example, the Institute of Agriculture is a virtual Institute whereas the Oceans Institute is mainly a collocated Institute.

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Each Institute should have an Institute Director and appropriate administrative support.

Alan Robson

December 2009

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APPENDIX 2

Terms of Reference

1. To clarify the definitions of institutes and centres.

2. To establish guidelines for the governance and management of institutes and centres, including resolving issues around:

teaching Centres versus Research Centres; the range of types of Centres including Centres under faculties, under schools

and Centres under Institutes; the implementation of the University funding model; and, managing the performance of Institutes, Centres and their staff.

3. To establish clear rules around research training and the funding of research training within institutes and centres.

4. To establish guidelines for the participation of UWA staff employed by institutes and centres in undergraduate and postgraduate coursework teaching.

5. To clarify the arrangements of affiliation of UWA institutes and centres with joint venture entities, including the affiliated medical research institutes.

6. To consider issues relating to virtual organisation and physical co-location.

7. To determine conditions relating to the establishment of new institutes and centres and the disestablishment of existing institutes and centres.

8. To report to the Vice-Chancellor by mid-2010.

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APPENDIX 3

Membership of the Committee for the Strategic Review of UWA Research Institutes and Centres at The University of Western Australia

Professor Robyn Owens, Chair Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

W/Professor Mark Cassidy Director Centre for Offshore Foundations Systems

Professor Peter Klinken Director WAIMR

Professor Peter Leedman Acting Director WAIMR (alternate to Professor Klinken)

W/Professor Carmen Lawrence School of Psychology

Mr Robert McCormack Director, Planning Services

W/Professor Tony O’Donnell Dean, Natural and Agricultural Sciences

W/Professor Ian Puddey Dean, Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

W/Professor David Smith Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics.

Professor Alistar Robertson Pro Vice Chancellor (Research)

W/Professor Kadambot Siddique Director Institute of Agriculture

W/Professor Karen Simmer Chair Academic Board

Professor Jim Whelan ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology

Jan Stuart Executive Officer

Diane Christensen Executive Officer

Natalie Mast Executive Officer

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APPENDIX 4

ResTeach: Funding to Support Teaching by Research Staff Guidelines 2011

Summary ResTeach funding aims to encourage and facilitate schools to utilise, in a limited fashion, some of the large numbers of research staff who are at UQ. A large majority of these staff currently have little formal contact with undergraduate or postgraduate coursework students. The scheme is designed to:

expose students to key researchers, who hopefully can convey the excitement of their field;

improve the student: teacher ratio in an effective and efficient manner; provide an opportunity for interested researchers to expand their portfolio; strengthen the relationship between research and teaching to improve the

student learning experience, and reduce the teaching loads of existing T&R academics.

The primary purpose of ResTeach is to improve the learning experience of students, not to be a prime source of funds for centres or institutes or the operating budgets of schools.

Initiation of Proposal Proposals should be initiated by schools with responsibility for specific teaching programs. Researchers who are interested in teaching should discuss with their supervisor and the relevant Head of School how they might be able to contribute to the teaching program.

Eligibility ResTeach is available to support research academic staff at any level in schools, in institutes and in centres, provided that:

- the staff member’s contractual obligations do not exclude the possibility of limited teaching (see Annexure A)

- Academic staff already employed on a ‘Teaching & Research’ or ‘Teaching Focussed’ appointment are not eligible.

- If the staff member is recorded as a Teaching & Research appointment only as result of previous ResTeach funding,

A list of common research grants and the minimum research requirement is attached as Annex A. Staff should check with the Research and Innovation Division if they are unclear whether limited teaching duties are permitted under their grant conditions.

In addition, the ResTeach funds may be used to support a limited number of positions for appropriate individuals who are not employed by UQ.

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Level of Teaching Commitment ResTeach is available to fund a commitment of 10% to 20% of a FTE position. 4-Year Postdoctoral Fellows may submit an application for up to 25% FTE.

Following is an approximate guide to the teaching commitment expected from each fractional appointment. Local factors will mean these requirements may vary.

- 20%: coordination and delivery of one 2 unit course annually to a moderately size class.

- 10%: teaching 50% of one 2 unit course annually with some grading, but otherwise minimal organisational responsibilities.

The fractional appointment applied for should represent the entire contribution over the year ie 20% application is 20% teaching for the entire year, not each semester.

Level and Duration of Funding - ResTeach funding will be equivalent to the researcher’s fractional base salary plus

on-costs. - ResTeach will be available for periods ranging from 1-3 years to be determined by

the school who has ultimate responsibility for the course. - As a rule, staff members should not apply for funding past the end date of their

contract unless there are exceptional circumstances where all parties agree the substantive research position will continue past the current fixed term appointment.

- If an appointment is approved for duration of more than one year, a 3% increase will be applied for each subsequent year.

Faculty Rankings, Criteria and Selection Only applications approved by the school/centre in which the teaching is undertaken and faculty are to be forwarded to the Office of the DVC (Academic).

In the event that the number of supported applications exceeds the funding available, the DVC (Academic) will select successful applications based on rankings. Faculties should provide rankings based on advice from schools/centres on their identified teaching needs and the following key criteria:

demonstration that the introduction of a particular researcher into a specific teaching role will add value to the teaching program in a particular discipline;

demonstration that the specific initiative forms part of a broader framework to improve the learning experience of the relevant students (i.e. programs which are innovative in structure and delivery will be preferred); and

demonstration that the appointment will lead to an improved student:teacher ratio.

Expenditure of Funds These funds will be available for use as described in the application and agreed between the researcher, researcher’s supervisor, Head of School/Institute Director and Executive Dean.

Ways in which the ResTeach funds may be used include:

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1. Fund the researcher’s salary for the proportion of teaching undertaken. In this event: - The money saved by payment for the fractional affiliate appointment can be

expended on the research project(s) concerned in accordance with the usual guidelines and controls on such expenditure.

2. ResTeach funds will be available for use at the discretion of the researcher and researcher’s supervisor, as outlined in the approved proposal and approved by the Head of School/Institute Director and Executive Dean. - A broad indication of the proposed expenditure should be detailed in the application

– eg student salaries, travel, equipment etc

A combination of option 1 or 2 is possible – eg use half of 20% funding for salary the other half for other expenditure

3. In the case of non-UQ staff only, subject to a special case being made, the ResTeach funds will be available for use at the discretion of the researcher and researcher’s supervisor, as outlined in the approved proposal. Alternatively, all or part of the ResTeach funding, could be paid at casual rates for teaching.

ResTeach funding is NOT permitted to be paid in addition to normal salary for hours worked teaching for full-time staff members. However, a part-time staff member may take ResTeach as additional salary providing the total FTE does not exceed 100%.

When to Apply Applications for 2011 are due in the Office of the DVC (Academic) via the Executive Dean by Friday 19 November 2010.

Only one round of funding will be offered each year.

How to Apply A proposal using the template at Annex B, should be submitted.

The Office of the DVC (Academic) will only accept applications with all levels of approval. The ODVCA will regard applications received from the Faculty as correct and agreed upon between relevant parties with regard to:

- Fractional teaching loads - Duration of support - Proposed courses for teaching - Proposed expenditure of funding

The application must be signed and approved by: - Researcher - Researcher’s supervisor - Substantive unit Head of School/Centre Director/Institute Director - Head of School where teaching will be undertaken (if different to substantive

unit where the researcher is employed) - Executive Dean of the Faculty where teaching will be undertaken

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Prior to sign-off by the Executive Dean, the Faculty HR Consultant where the teaching will be undertaken will check eligibility against the employment conditions for the applicant.

The Executive Dean should indicate the Faculty rankings, informed by school rankings, and forward the proposal/s under covering memo to the DVC (Academic). Faculties will rank applications from staff wishing to teach into schools within that faculty, ie including staff from substantive units outside the Faculty.

Teaching Evaluations A condition of funding is that teaching evaluations must be undertaken in each course the ResTeach staff member teaches into.

Implementation of ResTeach Arrangements An approved ResTeach arrangement is to be implemented with a variation to the academic staff member’s contract of employment by means of an Offer of ResTeach Appointment issued by Faculty/Institute Human Resources Division that formalises the arrangement as an affiliate appointment. Accordingly, the following will occur:

The Office of the DVC (Academic) will send a letter of approval for ResTeach proposals to the Executive Dean, and Faculty/Institute HR and Finance Consultants. The Faculty/Institute HR Consultant will confirm details with the relevant Head of School or Centre Director to formalise the affiliate contract of employment, including the academic level of appointment in the School.

The Office of the DVC (Academic) will also send letters to Heads of School/Centres and Institutes for their information.

The Faculty/Institute HR Consultant will produce an Offer of ResTeach Appointment letter to go to the staff member to confirm the affiliate ResTeach appointment. This letter will set out the terms of the ResTeach arrangement, including the commencement and cessation dates, FTE, academic level of appointment and organisational unit where teaching is undertaken. It will specify that the teaching duties are to be performed as directed by the Head of School and that the appointment is held in conjunction with the substantive placement in the home organisation unit and may be rescinded if the existing appointment changes or performance is not satisfactory.

The Aurion HR system will record the new ResTeach appointment as a separate, unpaid affiliate placement, flagged with a Job Type of ResTeach. The existing research only placement will be updated to reflect the employee’s change in function to Teaching and Research for DEEWR reporting purposes. Note that details of the ResTeach appointment will not be reported separately externally to DEEWR, but placement data on ResTeach appointments will be available through the data warehouse for internal reporting purposes.

The Office of the DVC (Academic) will liaise with Faculty Finance consultants regarding the transfer of ResTeach funding. Funding for the calendar year will be

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transferred in January/early February 2010 to chart string distributions advised by the Faculty.

If any changes to the distribution of a researcher’s salary is to be made, the research position costing will be adjusted in the Aurion HR system by the Faculty/Institute HR Consultant.

If, in the case of part-time employees, the researcher is approved to be paid for additional hours worked, the payment will be processed in the Aurion HR system and subject to normal income tax arrangements.

It should be noted that ResTeach funding is approved based on the application submitted for an individual. Funding is not approved for a position, program, course or organisational unit. Therefore if the individual who is approved the funding leaves UQ, the Faculty must contact the Office of the DVC (Academic) regarding the return of funding. A case may be put forward at that time to appoint another staff member to this funding.

Faculties will be requested to provide a yearly report to the Office of the DVCA confirming continuing ResTeach appointments and that the year’s teaching commitments have been undertaken.

Mentoring of ResTeach Appointees Schools and centres where teaching is to be undertaken are expected to provide mentoring to ResTeach appointees in matters of, but not limited to, good assessment practice and UQ teaching and learning policy.

Annexes A. Grant Research Requirements (www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning/index.html?page=92623&pid=56478)

B. ResTeach Application Form (www.uq.edu.au/teaching-learning/index.html?page=92623&pid=56478)

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APPENDIX 5

DVC(R) Briefing Note

Research Infrastructure Funding1. Research infrastructure is defined under UWA policy as existing facilities and equipment (including laboratory and office space); existing research support staff (including UWA-funded research assistants and technical officers); administrative support; and other indirect research infrastructure and support services such as libraries, computer services, telecommunications, power and lighting, and building maintenance and cleaning. The UWA policy can be found at:www.research.uwa.edu.au/staff/appying-for-funding/budget/costs-policy

2. Recovery of research infrastructure costs can be built into the budget of research grants and consultancies, and the UWA policy above advises how this can be done either as the imputed cost of staff time or by including a flat rate against all the direct costs of the project. The research infrastructure recovered in this way is entirely discretionary and is distributed 68% to the school and 32% to central services, although the quantum of funding is rather small at about $3.35 million per annum.

3. A much larger quanta of funding is provided for research infrastructure through the block grant allocations to the University. However, there are restrictions on the use of this funding as outlined in their Conditions of Award as described below.

4. The Research Infrastructure Block Grant (RIBG) allocation to UWA is around $14 million per annum and is based on the amount of Australian Competitive Grant income UWA has won over the previous two years. There RIBG can only be used for one or more of the following purposes:

i. non-capital aspects of facilities such as libraries, laboratories, computing centres, animal houses, herbaria, experimental farms;

ii. equipment purchase, installation, maintenance, hire and lease;

iii. salaries of research support staff (including research assistants; accounting and administrative staff; and technicians) employed to provide general support activity in a given area (e.g. a research assistant providing support for a number of research projects but not a research assistant dedicated to a particular project);

iv. provide for travel costs to allow participation in international consortia.

The RIBG Grant must not be used for:

i. capital works (i.e. construction of buildings);

ii. rental of accommodation;

iii. salaries of teaching and research, and research-only academic staff (including the cost of 'buying time' to free such staff to do more research);

iv. salaries of staff supporting research at the institutional level (e.g. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Research Grants Officer);

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v. stipends of postgraduate research students; or

vi. travel costs directly associated with individual projects with the exception of travel costs to allow participation in international consortia.

5. The new Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE) allocation to UWA is expected to be in the order of an additional $16 million per annum by 2013 and is based on the amount of Australian Competitive Grants funding UWA has won moderated by quality (ERA) and indirect costs drivers (transparent costing). The SRE is made to support Australian Competitive Grants and under the Conditions of Award the recipient has discretion in the way it is used to fund any activity related to the indirect costs of Australian Competitive Grant research.

6. The new Joint Research Engagement (JRE) allocation to UWA is expected to be $17 million per annum to UWA and is based on the amount of Category 2, 3 and 4 research income that UWA has won in the previous two years. The JRE is made to support research and research training activities and under the Conditions of Award the recipient has discretion is the way it is used to fund any activity related to research.

7. The Research Training Scheme (RTS) allocation to UWA is $32 million per annum and is based on UWA's percentage share of HDR student completions (50%), % share of Category 1, 2, 3 and 4 research income (30%), and % share of HERDC A 1, B1, C1 and E1 publications (10%). The RTS is made only to assistant RTS students in accordance with the entitlement criteria as set out in the Conditions of Award.

8. Finally the WA Government's Medical and Health Research Infrastructure Fund (MHRIF) has allocated a total of $49.6 million since 1997 to support medical and health researchers in this State. In 2009/2010 more than $1.4 million was allocated to UWA, with a further $2.75 million allocated to affiliated medical institutes. The MHRIF was implemented to promote excellence in Health and Medical Research (HMR) in WA by providing medical and health researchers with funds for infrastructure costs such as research equipment, general support staff, computers and common office services which are not usually a component of competitive research grants.

Campbell Thomson

24 August 2010

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APPENDIX 6

Guidelines for Infrastructure sharing between Faculties/Schools and Institutes/Centres at UWA (GISFSIC).

Background on Research Infrastructure

Research infrastructure is defined under UWA policy as existing facilities and equipment (including laboratory and office space); existing research support staff (including UWA-funded research assistants and technical officers); administrative support; and other indirect research infrastructure and support services such as libraries, computer services, telecommunications, power and lighting, and building maintenance and cleaning. The UWA policy can be found at:www.research.uwa.edu.au/staff/appying-for-funding/budget/costs-policy

Recovery of research infrastructure costs can be built into the budget of research grants and consultancies, and the UWA policy above advises how this can be done either as the imputed cost of staff time or by including a flat rate against all the direct costs of the project. A larger proportion of the University’s research infrastructure costs are covered through the Commonwealth Government’s block grant allocations to the University.

The flow of Commonwealth research and research training block grants to UWA in 2010 included the Research Infrastructure Block Grant ($14.1 million), the Joint Research Engagement scheme ($16.8 million), the Sustainable Research Excellence scheme ($3.9 million) and the Research Training Scheme ($32.4 million). However, there are restrictions on the use of much of this funding.

Principles underlying these guidelines

These guidelines have been developed to ensure the sharing of infrastructure funding at UWA occurs in as simple and transparent a manner as possible. First and foremost, these guidelines acknowledge that the issue of infrastructure funding can be complex, particularly when the line between, for example, a School and a Centre, is not immediately evident. While it is recognised that absolute equity will be difficult to achieve, the aim of these guidelines is to have parties enter into negotiations in good faith, based on the principle that any arrangements will be demonstrably of mutual benefit.

The parties in the negotiation shall be the Faculty Dean(s)/ Head of the School(s), and the Director of the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre. The formal agreement shall be ratified by the UWA Research Committee.

Should agreement not be reached, the Research Committee will appoint a mediator to progress negotiations to a satisfactory conclusion.

Income sharing is to be apportioned according to the level of support required in terms of:

salary travel

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scholarships administration (secretarial, technical, IT etc) grants for consumables (research equipment, maintenance, furniture etc) contribution to the School’s teaching load

Multiple agreements may be in place if specific grants/projects warrant unique sharing arrangements. For example, particular projects may require more resources from the School or the UWA Research Institute or UWA Research Centre.

The arrangement shall be subject to review and renegotiation by the interested parties on a 12 monthly basis to ensure that it is responsive to changes in the status of the Institute/Centre and the nature of the grants concerned.

The following are suggested models for agreement which may be accepted as appropriate or used as a starting point for negotiation. The models are designed at the individual researcher level. It is hoped that this will provide flexibility when negotiating for a whole of Institute/Centre agreement, so that a variety of staffing arrangements can be taken into account.

Recommended Model 1 Researcher receives total salary from the School, or has a major teaching and/or clinical service role in the School, and the Centre is entirely within the School. Research support levels from School and Centre are similar. Infrastructure sharing – School 75% /Centre 25%.

Recommended Model 2 Researcher receives total salary from the School and the Institute/Centre is run outside the School. Infrastructure sharing – School 50% Institute/Centre 50%.

Recommended Model 3 Researcher receives 50% of salary from the School and 50% from the Institute/Centre and the Institute/Centre is run outside the School. Infrastructure sharing – School 25% Institute/Centre 75%.

Recommended Model 4 Researcher receives 100% of salary from the Institute/Centre and the position is administered by the School. Research is carried out totally in the Institute/Centre. Infrastructure sharing School 10% (in recognition of administrative load) Institute/Centre 90%.

Recommended Model 5 Researcher receives 100% of salary from the Institute/Centre and the position is administered by the Institute/Centre. Research is carried out totally in the Institute/Centre. Infrastructure is not shared, Institute/Centre 100%.

Recommended Model 6 Researcher’s salary is obtained elsewhere* i.e. neither from the School nor Institute/Centre and the position is administered by the School. Research is performed in the Institute/Centre. School receives 10% Institute/Centre 50% and the rest subject to negotiation between interested parties, which may include the salary provider.

*Where all or part of the salary of the researcher is provided by a Teaching Hospital or the WA Health Department, these will be treated as salary provided by the School.

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Infrastructure pertaining to Postgraduate Students

The same principles shall apply to the apportioning of income for Postgraduate Students. The support for supervisor(s) will be taken into account and the relative contributions of the School and the Institute/Centre for the research undertaken by the candidate shall be considered. Where students enrol through Schools, but work within an Institute/Centre there will be a base amount (10%) provided to Schools to meet administrative costs and the rest of the income is shared according to the guidelines above.

Infrastructure pertaining to monies earned from publications

The same principles shall apply to the apportioning of infrastructure monies earned from publications. Faculties/Schools & Institutes/Centres will be required to claim their share of publications through the annual UWA Publication Collection. For a Centre operating within a School or Faculty without a separate business unit, the Faculty or School will provide the Centre with its share of infrastructure monies earned from publications.

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Appendix 7

Draft Principles for Enrolment of HDR Students in Centres

Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students are normally enrolled through schools. Centres and Research Institutes may apply for accreditation to enrol students directly and it will then be understood by the Board of the Graduate Research School, and the Graduate Research and Scholarships Office, that the enrolling Centre or Institute will comply with all the normal requirements and expectations of accountability of any school with respect to the support and management of HDR students.

In order to be accredited to enrol students directly, centres and research institutes must meet the following criteria:

the centre/institute is a wholly UWA entity staffed primarily by UWA personnel; the centre/institute nominates a Graduate Research Coordinator who is not the Centre

Director. The appointment of this nominee will be at the discretion of the Dean of the Graduate Research School;

the centre/institute commits to separating the roles of supervisor and Graduate Research Coordinator, for example with respect to student recruitment, student management and thesis examination;

staff in the centre/institute have an established and ongoing history of excellence in HDR supervision and research training management;

adjunct staff may take a role in supervision but the supervisory team must include UWA staff;

the centre/institute has sufficient critical mass to provide HDR students with a meaningful cohort experience and a rich research training environment that includes appropriate infrastructure and research funding support, development opportunities, access to seminar series and other standard provisions;

the centre/institute has the capacity to provide ongoing HDR supervision and support according to the agreed principles for this at UWA; and

the centre/institute commits to observing all the policies of the University with respect to research training.

Where appropriate for academic reasons, joint enrolment with a school can occur in the usual way, under the usual conditions.

Centres/institutes will be treated in the same way as schools with respect to scholarships. Where a faculty quota is in operation the scholarships, students in a centre/institute will compete from the quota of the relevant faculty or through negotiation with faculties.

Alan Dench and Sato Juniper06.05.11

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Attachment 1

Attachments

A consolidated list of Research Institutes and Centres

UWA Research Institutes

UWA Energy and Minerals Institute UWA Institute of Agriculture UWA Oceans Institute

UWA Affiliated Institutes

Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute Ear Science Institute Australia Lions Eye Institute Institute for Respiratory health Perth Orthopaedic Institute Telethon Institute for Child Health Research Western Australian Institute for Medical Research

Joint Venture Research Centres

Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence

Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter Studies Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Cognition and its Disorders Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (host) Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology (host) Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Vision Science

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Cooperative Research Centres

Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre Cooperative Research Centre for Asthma and Airways Cooperative Research Centre for Integrated Engineering Asset Management Cooperative Research Centre for Mining Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre (host) Mental Health Cooperative Research Centre Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre

National Research Facilities and Networks

AuScope Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility Australian National Fabrication Facility Bioplatforms Australia Integrated Marine Observing System Metabolomics Australia National Imaging Facility Population Health Research Network

Other National Joint Ventures

Australian Centre for Geomechanics

State Major Research Facilities

Centre for Food and Genomic Medicine International Centre for Radioastronomy Research Western Australian Marine Science Institution Western Australian Energy Research Alliance

Other Joint Venture Research Centres

Advanced Timber Concepts Centre – JVA with Forest Products Commission SymbioticA, Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts (funded by WA DCA to June 2011, also

established as a UWA Centre) Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health Urban Design Centre of Western Australia Centre for Labour Market Research (Uni Canberra also involved)

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Centre for Exploration Targeting

State Centres of Excellence

Australian International Gravitational Research Centre Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems Centre of Excellence for Climate Change Woodland and Forest Health Centre of Excellence for Ecohydrology Centre of Excellence for 3D Mineral Mapping Nanoscale Characterisation Centre of Western Australia State Centre of Excellence for Computational Systems Biology State Centre of Excellence for Plant Metabolomics SKA Radio Astronomy Science and Engineering Centre of Excellence The John de Laeter Centre – Isotope Research for the Earth and Environment Western Australian Geothermal Centre of Excellence

UWA Research Centres

Australian Global Studies Research Centre Callaway Centre (Research in Music and Music Education) Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health Centre for Advanced Consumer Research Centre for Asthma, Allergy and Respiratory Research (as part of the Institute for

Respiratory health) Centre for Atomic, Molecular and Surface Physics Centre for Child and Adolescent Related Disorders Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry Centre for Comparative Analysis of Biomolecular Networks (CABiN) Centre for Energy Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy Centre for Evolutionary Biology Centre for Forensic Science Centre for Genetic Epidemiology and Biostatistics Centre for Geographical Analysis and Regional Development Centre for Health Services Research Centre for Integrated Human Studies Centre for Land Rehabilitation Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture Centre for Marine Futures Centre for Mathematics of Symmetry and Computation Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis Centre for Mining, Energy and Natural Resources Law Centre for Musculoskeletal Studies Centre for Muslim States and Societies

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Centre for Neonatal Research and Education (CNRE) Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders (as part of ANRI) Centre for Ophthalmology and Visual Science, (as part of Lions Eye Institute) Centre for Orthopaedic Research (Not a formal UWA Centre) Centre for Petroleum Geoscience and CO2 Sequestration Centre for Research, Policy and Practice for Vulnerable Children and Families Centre for Rock Art Studies Centre for Rural and Remote Oral Health Centre for Software Practice Centre for Strategic Nano-Fabrication Centre for the Built Environment and Health Centre for the Study of Social Change Centre for Water Research Centre for Western Australian History Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management Child Study Centre Clinical Training and Evaluation Centre Crime Research Centre Ear Sciences Centre (as part of Ear Science Institute Australia) Eureka Archaeological Research and Consulting Centre International Centre for Plant Breeding Education Research Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training UWA Centre for Child Health Research (as part of the Telethon Institute of Child Health

Research) UWA Centre for Medical Research (as part of the Western Australian Institute for Medical

Research) UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies West Australian Biogeochemistry Centre Westerly Centre Western Australian Centre for Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Microsystems

UWA Outreach and Training Institutes and Centres

Confucius Institute Institute of Advanced Studies Clinical Training Facility Rural Clinical School of Western Australia UWA Centre for Applied Statistics Interactive Virtual Environments Centre (IVEC) WASP

Attachment 2

List of Submissions to the ReviewAuthor / Contact Person Location

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1 Ian Baker, Manager Financial Planning Financial Services

2 David Smith, Dean Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

3 Leigh Simmons, Director Centre for Evolutionary Biology

4 Gina Ravenscroft, Research Associate WA Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR)

5 Matthew KnuimanElizabeth Geelhoed Peta Tilbrook

School of Population Health

6 Ian Puddy, Dean and George Yeoh, Associate Dean (Research)

Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

7 Terence Daintith, Visiting Professor Faculty of Law and Centre for Mining, Energy and Natural Resources Law

8 Charlie Bond, Professorial Fellow School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences

9 Hans Lambers, Head School of Plant Biology

10 Diane Arnott, Manager Centre for Strategic Nano-Fabrication

11 Peta Tilbrook, School Manager School of Population Health

12 Geoscience DirectorsPeter Cawood, W/ProfessorDavid Lumley, DirectorCam McCuaig, Director Malcolm McCulloch, Premier’s Research FellowKlaus Regenauer-Lieb, Director

School of Earth and EnvironmentCentre for Petroleum GeoscienceExploration Targeting, Centre for (CET)Oceans InstituteGeothermal Centre of Excellence

13 Bruce Thompson, Director Facilities Management

14 Peter Davies (on behalf of CENRM) Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management

15 Susanna Wills-Johnson Public Affairs

16 Denise, Chalmers / Jacqueline Flowers Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning

17 Gary Kendrick, Acting Director Oceans Institute

18 Charlie Bond, Professorial Fellow (on behalf of FLPS Research Committee)

Faculty of Life and Physical Sciences

19 Andrew Smith, Winthrop Professor Dentistry

20, 20a Lyn Abbott, Head School of Earth and Environment21 Billie Giles-Corti, Director Centre for the Built Environment and Health

22 David Farquhar-Smith, IT Policy Officer Information Technology Services

23 Justine McDermott, Associate Director Records and Archives

24 Karen Haines, Professor Western Australian Supercomputer Program (WASP)

25 Kadambot Siddique, Director Institute of Agriculture

26 Bob Farrelly, Director Human Resources

27 Peter Davies, Director Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management

28 Renu Sharma, General Manager International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)

29 Gaye McMath, Executive Director Finance and Resources (incorporates HR submission)

30 Ian Dadour, Director Centre for Forensic Science

31 Mark Tibbett, Director Centre for Land Rehabilitation

32 Rob McCormack, Director Planning Services

33 Stephen Powles, Director WAHRI

34 Annie Macnab, Administration Manager (and Equity and Diversity Advisor)

University Library

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35 Ian McArthur, Head School of Physics

36 Ian Small, Director ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology

37 David Pannell, ARC Federation Fellow Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy

38 Justine McDermott Follow up interview to original submissions

38a Peta Tilbrook Follow up interview to original submissions

38b Lynn Abbott Follow up interview to original submissions

38c Renu Sharma Follow up interview to original submissions

39 David Mackey, Managing Director Lions Eye Institute

40 Matthew Tilbrook, Business Manager National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases (NCARD)

41 Kim Heitman, Director Legal Services

42 Campbell Thomson, Director Research Services

43 Lorna Robertson, Manager Research Assessment Unit

44 Scott Logan, Director Financial Services

45 Gary Kendrick, Acting Director UWA Oceans Institute

46 Jim Whelan, Winthrop Professor ARC Centre of Excellence Plant Energy Biology,

47 Krishna Sen, Dean & Philip Mead Associate Dean (Research)

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

48 Hans Lambers, Head (subsequent to previous submission)

School of Plant Biology

49 Leigh Simmons, Director (subsequent to previous submission)

Centre for Evolutionary Biology

50 Cameron Platell, Winthrop Professor School of Surgery

51 Michael Wise, Professor School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences

52 Evan Jones, Chair Advisory Board of Centre for Built Environment and Health

53 Geoff Stewart, Head School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences

54 Kevin P. Singer, Head Centre for Musculoskeletal Studies

55 Colin Raston, Director; Swaminathan Iyer, Deputy Director & Diane Arnott, Manager

Centre for Strategic Nano-Fabrication

56 Andy Sierakowski, Director Office of Industry and Innovation

57 Kristy Le May, Directorate Manager Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR)

58 Tineke Van der Eecken, Executive Officer Institute for Respiratory health

59 59a Tony O’Donnell, Dean Faculties of Science

60 Ian Puddey, Dean Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and health Sciences

61 Nigel Laing, Professor Centre for Medical Research/ WA Institute for Medical Research

62 Louise Barton, Associate Professor School of Plant Biology63 Samina Yasmeen, Professor & Susan Young,

Chair Social Work and Social PolicyCentre for Muslim States and Societies; Centre Vulnerable Children and Families

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