Strengthen Cross-Disciplinary and Collaborative Research
[ Research Review 0307 ]
Central support for areas of strategic research importance was provided for the first time in 2006 through the Strategic Research Initiatives Fund (SRIF). The SRIF represents a major commitment of $12.5 million over three years to enable the University to become more competitive in bidding for regional, national and international funding with a particular focus on cross-disciplinary opportunities.
The initiative has proven immediately successful, with SRIF funding helping to secure the Australasian Research Centre for the Governance and Management of Urban Transport (GAMUT) (highlighted in the Research Centres Section) and the renewal for four years of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia. In addition, the SRIF has provided support to seven faculties for involvement in new cross-disciplinary initiatives. The SRIF supplements the Major Research Equipment Fund, another means by which the faculties are supported in their quest to remain research competitive through the provision of matching funds for major items of research equipment.
Independently of the SRIF, the University is also providing central support for the Nossal Institute for Global Health during the initial phases of its establishment.
In 2006 a Future Generation Research Fund was launched to complement the SRIF. This Fund is targeted specifically at recruiting world-class researchers (at professorial and post-doctoral levels) to lead the University in emerging and cross-disciplinary research areas and to act as a conduit for more intense collaboration across networks of academic departments, industry and other research institutions. The Fund will enhance significantly more modest existing University schemes supporting collaborative research with overseas and Australian partners. A cross-disciplinary Research Working Group (chaired by the Vice-Chancellor) was established to develop the criteria and processes for the use and administration of the Fund, leading to the appointment in the humanities of the first Future Generation Professor. A number of Future Generation Fellows will be appointed during 2007.
The Future Generation Fund also complements the ongoing University’s Eminent Scholars Incentive Fund, which supports the appointment of Nobel Laureates and Laureate Professors (distinguished professors from within the University) as a concerted means of providing leadership and building teams in world-class strategic research. The recruitment of Federation Fellows was exceptional in 2006 with the seven new appointments bringing the number of Federation Fellowships awarded for research at the University to 16.
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