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Research Office Newsletter

1 July 2009

Links

News

RO 2009 Calendar

From the Director of the Research Office

2009 Research Development Forum Dates

From the Office of Sponsored Research

2009 Research Office

Lunchtime Seminar Dates

From the Office of Research Excellence

From the Director of the Research Office

 

From the Acting- Director of the Research Office

 

I attended a meeting in Adelaide recently where Professor Margaret Sheil, CEO of the Australian Research Council, talked about the future direction of ARC grants, including aspects where she felt ARC needed to re-shape some of its thinking.  She felt that there was a need to feed in previous information on grants more effectively, that there was a need to deal better with early career researchers, and a need to more clearly identify innovative research. 

 

Professor Sheil intimated that ARC will start to rethink the Linkage rounds, bearing in mind the recognition that shortening the waiting time is one of the priorities.  Her preferment was not to run Discovery and Future Fellowships at the same time and she feels that ARC still needs to determine the best time for Futures.  Research administrators will be pleased to know that recent concerns re the use of incorrect font have been resolved.

 

A new CIO, Professor Mike Mitchelmore, has been appointed at ARC.

 

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From the Office of Sponsored Research

 

Australian Laureate Fellowships

 

The ARC announced last week the outcomes of the Australian Laureate Fellowships of which ANU were awarded two.  These prestigious awards were received by Professor Jagadish and Professor Schmidt, both of the College of Physical Sciences.

 

Further reading

http://news.anu.edu.au/?p=1325

 

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ARC Rejoinders

 

The DP10 rejoinder process is currently under way and the rejoinders will close at 6pm on the 6th July.  For more information please refer to http://www.anu.edu.au/ro/OSR/Funding/funding_ARC_rejoinders.php

 

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NHMRC Assessor Reports

 

The Project Grant Spokespersons Report and Independent Assessments process is currently being rolled out by the NHMRC.  Unlike the ARC rejoinder process the NHMRC stagger their delivery of these reports, however, all applicants must submit their response within seven working days of the date the assessments are sent by the NHMRC.

 

For more information

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants/apply/projects/round_progress.htm

 

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ANU Linkage Pilot Scheme 2009

 

The Vice-Chancellor is offering another round of the Linkage Pilot projects scheme, 2009 ANU Linkage Pilot Project Fund.

 

This internal fund seeks to identify ANU researchers who are able to demonstrate a potentially viable pilot project involving one or more industry partners which can then be developed to apply for ARC Linkage Project funding within the next year.

 

Mentoring support will be available, both for the researchers and their local area administrators, to ensure that the budding applications have the greatest internal support possible for success with the ARC.

 

The guiding principles for the applicants will be:

 

1. To develop collaborative research alliances with organisations outside the University;

2. To encourage innovative research;

3. To enhance the ANU’s industry-oriented research, and our ability to provide a fertile training ground for future researchers and industry leaders.

 

Funding Guidelines and application form are available at :

Round opens Monday 29 June 2009 and closes 31 July 2009

 

For further information regarding the Scheme, please see : http://www.anu.edu.au/ro/OSR/

 

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New Funding Opportunities

 

Release of NASA Research Announcement: Research Opportunities in Combustion Science

 

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters released NASA Research Announcement (NRA) NNH09ZTT001N, entitled, "Research Opportunities in Combustion Science" on May 18, 2009. 

 

Proposals are called by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Advanced Capabilities Division for the following four categories:

  1. fundamental studies of material flammability as a function of gravity, flow and orientation,
  2. investigations of the relevance of existing flammability test methods for low and partial gravity environments,
  3. development and validation of test approaches for assessment of material flammability under microgravity and partial gravity conditions,
  4. quantification of low-gravity gaseous and particulate products of combustion for materials used in the habitable volume of spacecraft developed in the Constellation program. 

This call is for ground-based research that may eventually lead to research on the International Space Station (ISS).

 

The full text of the offer is available on the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com under menu listing "Open Solicitations."  Potential applicants are urged to access this site well in advance of the proposal due date to familiarize themselves with its structure and to register in the system.  Proposals, due on August 18, 2009, must be submitted by an authorized official of the proposing organization via NASA's proposal data system; NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) (http://nspires.nasaprs.com).

 

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Call for Applications - ARMS' Excellence Award - 2009

 

ARMS offers awards for outstanding contributions that have enhanced the profession of research management and administration, and reflect our strategic directions and organisational values of promoting the research enterprise and enhancing the interface between research and its management.

 

The winner of the Award is selected by the Executive Committee and announced at the annual Conference.  In addition, the winner is recognised by the presentation of a certificate acknowledging their achievement, a feature article in the Up in ARMS newsletter and a $1,000 payment to their employer to be used for the ARMS members’ professional development.  Applications are assessed against the selection criteria available on the ARMS website.

 

If you are interested in nominating an ARMS’ member for this prestigious Award, the application and all supporting statements and documentation must be lodged with the Secretary, Australasian Research Management Society by 31 July 2009.

 

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From the Office of Research Excellence

 

ERA Announcement – Submission of PCE Pilot

 

The Research Office has completed the submission of eligible data for the Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences (PCE) data for the pilot Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Initiative. 

 

The following data has been submitted:

 

  1. 3010 staff and affiliates
  2. 7 books
  3. 235 book chapters
  4. 683 conference publications
  5. 4715 journal articles (4578 with a Scopus id, 3706 in A* or A journals)
  6. 4 distinct patents (2005-2007)
  7. 308 distinct grants in CAT 1 HERDC income, total $60,814,897 (2005-2007)
  8. $18,060,776 reported for CAT 2-4 HERDC income (2005-2007)
  9. $2,253,938 commercialisation income (2005-2007)

 

The Research Office appreciates the assistance of all the researchers involved.  Feedback from the ARC is expected in November 2009.

 

Research office staff and Humanities and the Creative Arts (HCA) Panels are currently working on the HCA submission which will commence on 3 August 2009.  If you have any questions regarding the HCA submission please feel free to contact Beverley Pane by telephone on #54182 or email at Beverley.Payne@anu.edu.au.

 

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ARIES Training

 

The next ARIES Grants Module – Basic Data Entry training session is scheduled for Wednesday July 15, at 9:30am in the IT Training Room, ground floor Chancelry Building 10A.  The course will cover the use of ARIES for tracking grant applications, finding out how much funding has been awarded and checking the General Ledger account code.  The course number is RO 001.

 

The next ARIES Report Writer – Grants Module training session is scheduled for Wednesday July 29, at 9:30am in the IT Training Room, ground floor Chancelry Building 10A.  This course will teach how to use ARIES to generate management reports on Grants and Consultancies.  The course number is RO 002.

 

Register by going to the ANU staff page, logging into HORUS and following the links to Training, or by following this link directly to HORUS: https://esapps.anu.edu.au/sscsprod/psp/sscsprod/?cmd=login.

 

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Other Announcements and Opportunities

 

New ANU Website

 

There is a project currently underway that is working to transform the ANU home page and a few pages that are a level beneath the home page (1st and 2nd level portals).  The plan is that the new web pages will be released with the start of the second semester, on 20 July 2009.  ANU Staff have been invited to complete 2 survey's for feedback and also as an introduction to get a feel for the web pages.  Below are links to the two surveys:

 

Staff Survey Part 1: ANU Homepage <http://anu.optimalworkshop.com/chalkmark/survey/HomeStaff> (14 questions)

Staff Survey Part 2: Other Pages <http://anu.optimalworkshop.com/chalkmark/survey/Staff> (23 questions)

 

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Please contact Research Office  (ext 50099) for further information.