Publications
The Office of Research and Development have several publications associated with research activity at Curtin University of Technology. These include:
- The Research Management Plan 2006 - 2008
- R&D Newsletter - which highlights initiatives, upcoming events, and more!
- R&D Research Magazine - R&D Now
Research Performance Index (RPI)
The Research Performance Index (RPI) is an initiative run annually to reward researchers for research excellence and scholarship. The RPI scheme allocates funds based on both performance inputs (external research grants) and outputs (publications, successful postgraduate research supervision etc) in the preceding year.
The RPI is open to Curtin researchers who have made a quantifiable research contribution as part of an existing, or newly formed, RPI Group.
More information on the RPI scheme can be found by clicking on the link on the left hand menu.
The RPI Updates are a publication from the Office of R&D to keep you up to date with progress regarding the RPI.
- 21 February 2008 - Research income, new staff, tips and hints
- 18 January 2008 - Introducing the RPI, changes for 2008, key dates & contacts
The link to Curtin Expectations - 2006 RPI Performance can be found here.
Research Quality Assessment - Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA)
On 21st December 2007, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon. Kim Carr announced that the Federal Government was ceasing the Research Quality Framework (RQF). He also indicated that the Rudd Government was committed to a new streamlined, internationally recognised research quality assessment process, using metrics or other agreed quality measures appropriate to each research discipline.
On 26th February 2008, Senator Carr announced the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. The ERA is to be developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) in conjunction with the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. The planning will be overseen by the new ARC Advisory Council, and an issues paper is expected to be released after the 5th March.
Research quality will be assessed using a combination of metrics (where applicable) and expert review by committees.
Internationally recognised experts will evaluate activity within eight discipline clusters which include the ARC clusters and several clusters covering health and medical research which will be informed by experts from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Cluster reports will detail, by institution and by discipline, those areas that are internationally competitive, together with emerging areas where there is opportunity for development and investment.
Initially the focus will be on disciplines where metrics are most widely accepted (e.g. the physical and biological sciences). In parallel, consultation will occur with other disciplines to determine appropriate metrics. The Minister notes that "some measures will be appropriate to all disciplines and that for all disciplines expert review of the metrics is essential."
