Excellence in Research for Australia - ERA 2012 outcomes

The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) results are imminent but there has been no official word on when the results will be announced. The "Towards Research Excellence Summit" is scheduled for Thursday and Friday this week in Melbourne with the CEO of the Australian Research Council (ARC), Prof. Aidan Byrne, speaking on Thursday morning; perhaps the results will be announced then. A Thursday announcement has also been mentioned in the AFR: article.

We are all waiting in anticipation to first, find out how well each Australian university performed, and, second to hear whether there is any word on the next round of ERA and whether research impact will form any part of the next assessment.

Excellence in Innovation - Research Impacting Our Nation's Future

"There are compelling stories that need to be told of research impact arising from research at Australian Universities"

The Australian Technology Network (ATN) and the Group of Eight (Go8) universities yesterday released an outcomes report from their Excellence in Innovation for Australia (EIA) - research impact trial. The EIA set out to measure the "innovation dividend" of research conducted by Australian universities and also to be a precursor to a possible companion piece to the current government's research quality assessment program; the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). The research impact trial showed that it is possible to assess the impact of research outcomes in the wider community, i.e. outside the university sector, and possible to describe a return on investment in terms of benefits to the "end-users" of the research outcomes. This also suggests that it is possible to ultimately link these measurable outcomes to federal funding (as is currently the case for the ERA). The report also details 24 stand-out case studies from the university sector which rated as having either considerable, very considerable or outstanding impact. Some of the fascinating case studies included:

VitroGro®ECM: modern wound care technology helping people with chronic wounds - from researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). VitroGro

A world first plastic automotive mirror – from fundamental research to commercial OEM product - from researchers at the University of South Australia (UniSA) Plastic mirror

The Report can be downloaded here: Excellence in Innovation - Research Impacting Our Nation's Future

NHMRC announce $652m in health research grants

The Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, today announced outcomes for the following grant schemes: Project Grants, Research Fellowships, Practitioner Fellowships, Career Development Fellowships, Early Career Fellowships, NHMRC-European Union Collaborative Research Grants, Partnership Project Grants, Mental Health Targeted Call for Research Grants, Independent Research Institutes Infrastructure Support Scheme (IRIISS) and Equipment Grants.

The announcement included more than 1100 grants worth a total of $652 million.

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants/outcomes-funding-rounds

Research Block Grants

The Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE) provide Australian universities with over $1.5 billion annually as block grants for research and research training. The grants are provided through a number of performance-based schemes. Research block grants (RBG) are allocated according to performance based formula and are independent of funding for specific research projects, programs, or fellowships.

The schemes are:

• Research Training Scheme (RTS)
• Joint Research Engagement (JRE)
• Research Infrastructure Block Grants(RIBG)
• Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE)

The return on investment per research performance measure (per research income dollar, per completion, per EFTSL and per publication point) are shown in the table below. The SRE also incorporates an excellence index, from the ERA initiative, and a transparent costing measure.

http://www.innovation.gov.au/Research/ResearchBlockGrants/Pages/default.aspx

QS World University Rankings

The QS world university rankings for 2012/2013 have been released. The three South Australian universities were ranked in the following order: Adelaide University 102; UniSA 293; and Flinders University 342.

The highest ranking Australian university was the Australian National University (ANU) at 24.

The university ranked number 1 in the world was Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

http://www.topuniversities.com/

BHP's Olympic Dam Expansion Plans Shelved

BHP Billiton have put the planned Olympic Dam mine expansion on the back burner today which will be a $30 billion blow to the South Australian economy. Olympic Dam is located in South Australia about 500 km north of Adelaide. While the change of plans will result in a short term loss I think that the good news is that the minerals in the ground are not going anywhere in the meantime. They will still be there when the economy picks up or when commodities prices rise or when mining processes improve to make the project that much more viable. Possibly it is like having money in the bank - every other state will have dug up all of their minerals and we will have our own stockpile for the future and can have our own mining boom while everyone else has finished theirs. In the mean time South Australia can continue to focus on world class medical and health research and value-added manufacturing.

Construction of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH)

Whenever I catch the train past the construction site of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) I always find it fascinating to watch the impressive collection of machinery and am always in awe of the sheer size of the site. The new RAH is scheduled for completion by 2016 and will have 800 beds. It is replacing the existing hospital which was built in 1840. An interesting addition to the hospital will be the co-located South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) resulting from the $200 million funding from the federal government back in 2009. SAHMRI has a vision to translate science into health and a mission to improve quality of life through medical research.

While all of this is very exciting and will no doubt have a real measurable impact through translating science into benefits to the community, socially and economically, there is also another story. This week a Victorian era 24-karat gold ear-ring set with rubies was discovered at the site. What an amazing find; and, we may well never know how the ear-ring came to be buried in a bottle under 3 meters of soil. this is not the only artifact unearthed at the site. Archaeologist, Dr Keryn Walshe of the south Australian museum has been documenting the unearthed treasures which have included crockery, soda bottles, glass beads, combs, pipes and even children's toys.

It will be a real boost to South Australia to have the new RAH and the new SAHMRI facility completed. It is a huge step in the right direction for Australia, and South Australia, in progressing from being the "lucky" country to the "smart" country; and, it also shows that not all benefits to a state have to come from the mining sector. No doubt the new hospital and medical research facility will still be going strong long after all the iron ore and uranium has been pulled out of the ground.