Introducing the Research and Enterprise Plan 2022-2023

A message from Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor James McLaren:

The Vice-Chancellor’s Executive Board recently approved the Research and Enterprise Plan 2022-2023, marking an important development in the expansion of the university’s research-related activities.

In line with the ACU Strategic Plan 2020-2023 and grounded in the university’s mission, the Research and Enterprise Plan 2022-2023 seeks to achieve sustainable excellence in the development of future research capability, effective infrastructure and systems, fundamental research, the translation of research and, the application of research.

I encourage you to read the plan and to engage in the upcoming school, centre, institute and faculty meetings. These will provide opportunities to discuss how we can achieve the next stage of development in the university’s research and enterprise activity and enable ACU to achieve world-leading research with impact.

I’d like to highlight two key elements of the plan, one that is conceptual in nature and one that will have immediate practical application.

First, as a Catholic university we have a responsibility to address the challenges and issues of contemporary society. As part of this task, we will undertake a consultation on the development of ACU’s programmatic research themes. Building on our current discipline expertise and priorities we will identify broad, mission-based themes, which articulate the university’s commitment to creating a better future for humanity and which are readily understood by the wider community.

Second, supporting the expansion of research-related activity as part of the implementation phase, are several new schemes:

• PartnershipInvest - for industry-linked collaboration, consultancy, revenue diversification and commercialisation
• Translate4Impact - supporting research translation, including opportunities to embed end-users, practitioners and students in research projects
• Competitive Grant Start Up - increasing the number of high-quality competitive grant applications
• ACU Early Career Researcher Development - providing dedicated support for Early Career Researchers.

These schemes will significantly enhance the current funding provisions provided through the existing Research Study Program (RSP), Research Award for Women Academic Staff (RAWAS) and the Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme, which is now open for applications. Look out for details of the schemes in upcoming Staff Bulletin articles, Workplace announcements and on the website.

The team in the Office of the DVCRE look forward to working with you as we implement the Research and Enterprise Plan 2022-2023 to build the university’s new research eco-system together.

I conclude by noting that ACU continues to achieve outstanding results in international rankings. The most recent round of success is in the 2022 QS World University Rankings by Subject. ACU has been ranked for the first time in several disciplines (in Arts & Sciences and in Life Sciences & Medicine), improved our ranking in another discipline (Education) and has been ranked 26th in the world for theology, divinity and religious studies (and first in Australia).

All of these achievements and endeavours reflect our dedication to pursuing excellence, which is fundamental to our identity as a Catholic university – namely, an enduring commitment to the well-being of those in need.