Research Activity Register

• Background/UWS Strategic Research Plan Context
• Criteria and Category of Registration Status Guide
• Definition of ECR
• Benefits to Researchers
• Review Cycle
• Application Form
• The Register
• Appeals
• Contacts

Background/UWS Strategic Research Plan Context

The Commonwealth White Paper, Knowledge and Innovation (1999) - DEST website imposed a number of reporting requirements on Australian universities. Embedded in those initiatives is the requirement for universities to establish formal criteria for the designation of Research Active Staff. Annual data is required for the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) Research and Research Training Management Report (RRTMR), available on the DEST website.

The UWS Register of Research Activity has been implemented accordingly. A benefit flowing from this is that UWS’s commitment to enhancing its research profile, as articulated in the strategic Research Plan (2004-2008) (PDF, 714Kb), can be measured.

UWS is proud of the productivity of its research-engaged staff and is committed to supporting both its productive and emerging researchers in a strategic manner. To assist with this aim, it is essential for the University to:

• recognise and reward researchers’ efforts
• identify where its active researchers are institutionally located
• know about researchers’ support and progress.

The UWS Register of Research Activity uses DEST recognised research activity measures: external research income, publications and research student completions. The UWS Research Committee monitors the threshold levels of activity for each of these measures annually in order to respond to the University’s improving research performance.

The UWS Research Committee recognises that the Register is a lagging indicator, and promotes the intent of the Register to be a tool only, not definitive, when used for other assessment purposes. Colleges and schools are encouraged to use the Register to complement knowledge of current research activity when assessing an individual’s performance and when negotiating individual workload agreements.

Research performance and productivity can fluctuate over different time scales according to disciplines. For example, a major humanities book might take several years of sustained research and scholarship to produce. In the sciences, multiple authorship is the norm with often three to four authors per refereed journal article. The use of a rolling three-year timeframe serves to moderate the effect of year-to-year fluctuations.

The Register is a ‘broad brush’ measure of audited research productivity and is indicative of research activity as articulated through a series of traditional performance measures.

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Criteria and Category of Registration Status Guide

The three measures of research performance employed by UWS and recognised by DEST are:

1. External research income
2. Research publications
3. Research degree completions.

Registration on the UWS Register of Research Activity typically entails performance on at least two DEST recognised measures in the triennium. For the triennium 2005-2007, the threshold levels are:

• $20 000 external research income (operating through a UWS research account)
• 2.00 weighted publication output
• 1 HDR weighted completion.

In addition, registration is applied to single modified thresholds for:

• High Publishers - a record of significant achievement in publications (more than 5 DEST points over the triennium)
• Early Career Researchers (ECR) - PhD awarded within five years prior to latest year in review triennium and having a minimum of 2.5 weighted publications
• Regard is also given to new staff with previous achievement at another institution.

The UWS Research Committee monitors the criteria annually.

The registration categories are:

• Qualifies: meets criteria (includes ‘High Publishers’ and recent employees who meet criteria with pre-UWS performance declared at another institution)
• Qualifies Early Career Researchers (ECR): meets modified criteria (see ECR definition below)
• Provisional: (a) meets one measure and is fractionally below a second measure for either publications or completions
• Open: does not meet two of the three thresholds in the triennium; automatically reassessed during each review.

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Definition of ECR

Early Career Researchers – PhD awarded within five years (as per ARC definition) prior to latest year in review triennium. There is a modified single threshold minimum of 2.5 weighted publications. There is no requirement to meet income or completion thresholds for the ECR category.

You are eligible for consideration under the ECR category for five years, starting from the first triennium that includes the year of your PhD. For example, if you are awarded your PhD in December 2003, you will be assessed under both the ‘normal’ and ‘ECR’ criteria for the trienniums:

• 2001-2003
• 2002-2004
• 2003-2005
• 2004-2006
• 2005-2007

As soon as the triennium includes a year outside of the five-year period (i.e. 2006-2008), your research performance is assessed under the normal criteria only.

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Benefits to Researchers

The achievements of staff on the UWS Register of Research Activity are recognised by:

• periodic special interest advice via email group
• priority access to UWS internal research funding schemes
• priority access to higher degree research supervisory opportunities
• monitoring of their research commitments to assist schools to build such productivity into workload agreements, and
• their achievements being promoted to external communities and agencies.

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Review Cycle

The review process for the Register of Research Activity is thorough and comprehensive. Each iteration of the Register is retrospective, owing to the drawn-out process of collecting and registering research data with DEST. The UWS Research Committee reviews research activity on a rolling triennium basis (current Register is based on 2004-2006 performance data, the next will be based on 2005-2007 data).

Annual Review and Revision of Register: Timeline

September - November
The appeal process commences. Appeals are considered by UWS Research Committee and outcome advised by letter. The revised Register is published on the web.

December - June
Minimal activity on the Register during this period. Priority is given to the next round of collection and submission of DEST research performance data.

June (late)
DEST research performance data for the previous calendar year are reported to DEST for audit.

July
Preparation of performance data for next triennium review:

• as eligible income is split equally among all UWS investigators, the names of all UWS chief investigators are added to the audited income report (DEST does not require these)
• for each registrant, composite data on the DEST accepted research income, research publications, and research completions of supervised students are added to the register to complete triennium record.

August
New registrants (either new UWS staff, or those not previously recording research outputs) are added to the Register.

Each registrant’s updated research activity for the review triennium is tested against the UWS research activity threshold.

September (early)
Data is presented to the UWS Research Committee. Individual historical and UWS contextual information is also provided. The Committee determines outcomes for registrants.

September (late)
Registrants are advised by letter of their category of research activity registered, and the grounds and process of appeal if relevant.

Provisional Register is published on web.

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Application Form

Staff who are new to UWS and thus not represented in the data held by Research Services are invited to complete an application form (MS Word, 112Kb) for their non-UWS research achievements to be reviewed.

Although the Register is based on DEST audited data held by Research Services, new UWS staff whose research outputs have been generated at another institution will be awarded ‘Qualifies’ registration if thresholds are met on the basis of these self-declared outputs research.

Application forms can be forwarded to Research Services at any time. However, they will be assessed only during the review or appeal phases of the Register cycle.

Existing UWS staff need not apply for registration. The Office of Research Services has the formal DEST data relating to the registered achievements of individual staff. If research activity has not been registered through Research Services, the University will not have received related research performance funding from DEST. Normally these unregistered achievements will not be taken into account in reviewing a researcher’s registration on the Register (with the exception of new staff). The inclusion of any unregistered data will be at the discretion and judgement of the UWS Research Committee (see FAQ above).

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The Register

Status on the current Register has been finalised for the 2004-2006 triennium. It is summarised in the excel spreadsheets available below.

• College of Arts Register of Research Activity (MS Excel, 110Kb)
• College of Business Register of Research Activity (MS Excel, 49Kb)
• College of Health and Science Register of Research Activity (MS Excel, 74Kb)
• Divisional Register of Research Activity (MS Excel, 28Kb)

Contact Mr Mark Geloven, Research Services Data Officer regarding historic records.

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Appeals

Should you wish to appeal your registration status, you should discuss this matter with your Associate Dean (Research). Appeals may be lodged on the grounds that:

• You were not employed by UWS for the entire period of the reviewed triennium. You may register research outputs from another institution by completing an application form.
• You were recently awarded a PhD (within the last 5 years). You can request your activity to be reassessed under the modified thresholds applicable to the Early Career Researcher category. You will need to complete the first page of the application form.
• Your surname changed during the review period and the data held by Research Services requires amalgamation. You will need to contact your college or divisional contact and provide both your previous and current names.

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Contacts

To discuss your research activity record please contact your college's Associate Dean (Research).

• Arts: Professor Michael Atherton
• Business: Professor Bobby Banerjee
• Health and Science: Associate Professor Shelley Burgin
• Divisions: Dr Jane Hobson

For general matters regarding the Register please contact Mr Mark Geloven, Research Services Data Officer.

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