Fair Go for Newcomers: Support Needed for Emerging Research Disciplines

CAPA is very pleased with the twenty-third recommendation of the Senate Committee report, Universities in Crisis, that DETYA review the criteria for the Research Training Scheme (RTS) so that research in emerging disciplines can be supported as areas where major contributions to innovation can be made.

"This recommendation of the Committee constitutes the important recognition that the Coalition's recently introduced funding formula for postgraduate research, the RTS, is likely to impede the creativity and diversity of research work undertaken by postgraduate students in Australia," CAPA President John Byron said today.

Under the RTS, universities' allocations are based on research performance against a "broad quality verification framework' and a formula weighted towards those institutions with a strong research profile.

"The RTS is heavily weighted towards institutions and disciplines with an already strong research profile," Mr Byron explained.

"While this is all well and good for people working in those institutions and disciplines, it does not bode well for those who are not," he continued.

"Yet many of these researchers are at the cutting edge of research innovation. Often their projects cut across disciplinary boundaries. But as a result, they are disadvantaged by the Coalition's funding formula because emerging or new research disciplines do not fit neatly into the criteria for identifying areas of disciplinary excellence. They are therefore less likely to gain support under the RTS scheme," CAPA Vice-President Angela Pratt said.

"The introduction of the RTS is typical of the short-sighted nature of the Coalition's ideas for research and innovation," she continued.

"The stated aim of the scheme was to build critical mass and excellence in existing areas of strength. But, as the Committee has clearly recognised, the effect will likely be to impede, if not shut down altogether, work that is being done in new research disciplines.

"This is nothing short of foolish, since this research work is crucial to Australia's innovation capacity, and therefore to our future prosperity as a nation. We are pleased that the Committee has seen fit to redress this imbalance in the current funding arrangements for postgraduate research," Ms Pratt concluded.