Enabling growth

A message from Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Abid Khan:

As the year draws to a close I reflect on the message I shared at the start of the year in February, our call to becoming an increasingly outward-facing, relevant and interconnected university.

As our academic community continues to conduct its exceptional research and education activities while driving innovation in our stakeholder communities, our capacity to attract external income is critical to empowering our activities in support of our mission.

In the last two months, ACU has secured over half a million dollars in government, industry and philanthropic funding for research on safety for older Australians, early years learning, online mathematics, speech therapy and child mental health.

Our new Enterprise Clinic also continues to grow commercial opportunity. Two identified projects are completing the CSIRO On Prime program, developing academic skills in research translation and commercialisation. I encourage you to contact our Enterprise Clinic about other seed ideas.

Global and national performance rankings

ACU’s reputation as an impactful research leader, for example in the care economy, is supported by our performance in global and national rankings. The recent Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects placed ACU in the top 50 universities in the world for both nursing and education for the third consecutive year.

This month The Australian’s 2024 Research Magazine also recognised ACU researchers as leaders in: early childhood education; educational psychology and counselling; and, educational administration.

A broad array of ACU researchers also continue to be recognised by very high citation-based discipline research-quality rankings.

Our overall drop from the top 300 to the 401-500 in the 2024 Times Higher Education World Rankings band ranking demonstrates the need to lift other research and education indicators to form a multi-pillar approach in line with the sector and ACU's Vision 2033. These include indicators for international students, industry income and the ratio of doctorate students.

Launching the ACU Graduate Research School

In 2024, we officially launch the ACU Graduate Research School. The new Graduate Research School will drive the strategic direction and oversight of graduate research activities in support of all researchers and will form the connective tissue for industry and international partners.

Areas of immediate focus will include funding arrangements to support scholarships and internships with industry and government.

Research Awards

In line with ACU’s Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Framework, the Research Awards for Academic Staff following Parental Leave awards support our colleagues to re-establish their research profile following a period of approved parental leave.

Applications for funding in 2024 submitted via res.development@acu.edu.au will close on Monday 5 December.

Join the Research and Enterprise Updates Workplace group for the latest news from the portfolio and more funding opportunities.