Conor King, Innovative Research Universities: The case for open and competitive research funding
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Transcript of Conor King, Innovative Research Universities: The case for open and competitive research funding
The Case for Open and Competitive Research Funding
9 December 2013 Conor King Executive Director
Australia needs a coherent research funding structure which seeks to…selectively fund research of the highest quality wherever it may be found and…concentrate research funding to build world-class research universities which have the capacity to compete at the highest international level.
Group of Eight, Policy Note Number 4 http://www.go8.edu.au/... Emphasis added
So,
What has been the impact of competitive research funding?
Do we need a significant change in approach?
Overview
1. How has research funding developed and with what impact?
– The Howard legacy
2. Why competition works
3. The productivity response
4. Australia linking to the world
5. The challenges ahead
HOW HAS RESEARCH FUNDING CHANGED AND WITH WHAT IMPACT?
Creating the research block grant structure: 2001 Research training scheme
• For research training, initially tied to students
Institutional Grants Scheme
• Open use to support research
• Became Joint Research Engagement
Research Infrastructure Block Grants
Plus scholarships and other smaller schemes
Back in 2000-2001..
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
2000-01
IGS-RTS RIBG ARC-NHMRC
60%
6%
34%
Health and Medical Research
1998: Wills Review
• Let to additional $614 million over 6 years for the NHMRC, doubling funding
2004: Grant Review
• $500 million over five years from 2006-07 for health and medical research
• $170 million for the Australia Fellowship scheme
Backing Australia’s Ability (2001)
• $736 million for ARC grants over five years, effectively doubling funding by 2005-06
• Research infrastructure $583 million for Research Infrastructure Block Grants and Systemic Infrastructure Initiative
• Continue R&D start program, $535 million over 5 years
• Reforming the R&D tax concession
• Expanding the Cooperative Research Centres Program, $227 million
Backing Australia’s Ability 2 (2004)
• Embed ARC and RIBG changes
• National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy with $542 million over five year
• $305 million over seven years for the CSIRO National Flagships Initiative
Labor 2007 -2013
• ERA
• Created SRE
• Extension to RIBG
• Extended research scholarships
• Future fellows
• Additional infrastructure projects
The balance switches..
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
2000-01 2004-05 2009-10 2014-15
IGS-RTS RIBG-SRE ARC-NHMRC
60%
6%
33% 37% 45%
13% 9% 10%
34%
45%
53%
55%
WHY COMPETITION WORKS
Funding is competitive and open
Both:
• Research block grants
• Driven by output based formulae
• National competitive grants
• Peer assessment, project by project
How Australian universities respond
• Universities compete, with productivity rising rapidly
• Find the routes that stimulate good research
• Who to work with
• Exploring international links
• But relative positions have not altered a lot
Hence share of Research Block Grant..
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
ATN
Go8
IRU
Ahead of world benchmarks
Top 500 universities are top 5%
• Like an ATAR of 95
AWRU
• from 13 in 2003 to 19 in 2013
• Top 100, two in 2003 to five in 2013
Benchmark
• On population Australia at 0.5% of world should have 2 to 3
• On GDP, Australia at 1% of world should have 5 to 6
Australia and the world rankings 19 Australian universities ranked in the ARWU Top 500
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
AUS NLD CAN GBR DEU USA ITA FRA JPN PRC
ARWU Top 500 Universities per million people
Concentration?
• Nature of competition
– Without the pressure the leaders would relax
– Not intended that some win out but that all do better
• Basis for selection?
• Why bother Australian universities at all?
• Break link with student size?
Low EFTSL Providers
• Charles Darwin
• Sunshine Coast
• Federation
• Southern Cross
• UNE
• Canberra
• CQU
• Southern Qld
• ANU
• Flinders
THE PRODUCTIVITY RESPONSE
Publications
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
300%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Australia IRU
Change on 2001 – Australia and the IRU
Source: SCOPUS
Publications Change on 2001 by Country
Source: SCOPUS
Research revenue – other sources
$0
$100
$200
$300
$400
$500
$600
$700
$800
$900
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Mill
ion
s
Category 2 Category 3
Research Income Private and Other Government sources (2001-2011)
Source: HERDC
Future researchers
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
PhD Completions 2001-2012
Source: Department of Education
LINKING TO INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH
The modern research environment
• Research increasingly requires the interaction of
considerable resources, which no single university or subset of universities can provide.
• Increasing number of institutions per academic paper
• Global endeavour
• Digital world makes researchers part of global networks
Global research
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Affiliations per Publication (IRU) – 2003-2012
Source: SCOPUS
Global research
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
% of Australian Publications with International Collaboration
Source: SCOPUS
THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
The questions ahead
1. Balance of university allocated and grant council allocated
• Both competitive
• Ensuring best research outcomes
2. Research benefit: Impact beyond the academy
• A balancing factor for the breadth of objectives for research
• A means to encourage an d reward based on achievements
Access to research grants..
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
2001 2005 2010
Competitive Grant Funding (Indexation Adjusted) per Researcher FTE
The questions ahead
3. The pressure on the grant councils
• The work involved for pure competitive assessment
• Hence, options about longer grants
• Reward the better known
• Back to basics: the random test of efficacy
The questions ahead
4. Research and growth in student places
• Pressure to focus on the established disciplines
• The economists dilemma
• Protection of known versus support for new
• Break link students to research base
The questions ahead
5. Infrastructure
• Bigger than any institution
• Requires shared use, with open access
Conclusions
• The competitive system has been productive
• Australia has a much stronger research sector
• Concentration an argument for an easy time for those selected