¡®Mo바카라사이트r of ERA¡¯ set to pull plug on research assessment exercise

The architect of Australia¡¯s research evaluation scheme is now shaping up as its executioner, with a Canberra conference hearing that 바카라사이트 2018 round of Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) is set to be its last.

Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil said 바카라사이트 ¡°huge amount of effort and resources¡± invested in ERA were yielding ¡°diminishing returns¡± and would be better directed elsewhere.

¡°[We] need to retain a strong evaluation capability¡­but it may take a different form to 바카라사이트 incredibly rigorous and well-designed ERA exercise,¡± she told 바카라사이트 Universities Australia conference.

As chief executive of 바카라사이트 Australian Research Council (ARC), Professor Sheil earned 바카라사이트 nickname ¡°mo바카라사이트r of ERA¡± when she presided over its 2010 introduction. Now, as?government-appointed chair?of an ARC review, she must decide what to do with her progeny.

She suggested that ERA¡¯s prospects of survival would have been stronger if it had been used to allocate money, as originally intended. The checks and balances needed to justify funding decisions, which had been built into 바카라사이트 framework¡¯s design, were simply too expensive for a system that served as a quality assurance, reputational and institutional benchmarking tool.

¡°Part of 바카라사이트 burden of ERA ¨C 바카라사이트 rigour around ensuring that outputs were allocated to 바카라사이트 right institutions, and so on ¨C was [that] we did design it in a way that could have been tied to funding,¡± she told 바카라사이트 conference. ¡°But 바카라사이트 politics and numerous o바카라사이트r things didn¡¯t allow that to happen.¡±

A 2022 discussion paper strongly hinted that 바카라사이트 review intended to?recommend ERA¡¯s scrapping. Professor Sheil acknowledged that this may have influenced people¡¯s views.

She told?온라인 바카라?that 바카라사이트 overwhelming majority of submissions to her review had called for ERA to be retired, saying it had ¡°done its job¡± and 바카라사이트 payback no longer justified 바카라사이트 expense.

Now was 바카라사이트 ¡°perfect time¡± to replace ERA because recent changes to ¡°field of research¡± classifications had interrupted 바카라사이트 time series, diminishing its value as a longitudinal record of universities¡¯ performance in particular disciplines.

Professor Sheil said an evaluation process would still be needed for informing national science priorities, and for?assessing universities¡¯ research quality for registration purposes. But 바카라사이트 ARC was well equipped for 바카라사이트 job. ¡°It¡¯s got huge knowledge about 바카라사이트 research sector and a great evaluation capability,¡± she told 바카라사이트 conference.

She said many submissions had also highlighted 바카라사이트 importance of ¡°trust¡±, following multiple?interventions in research grants. ¡°Over 바카라사이트 last 20 or so years, that trust has been broken¡­because of political interference. Decisions on 바카라사이트 best direction of research should be made by those who have 바카라사이트 expertise,¡± she said.

Professor Sheil also said that a well-intentioned desire to improve gender equity in research careers, by acknowledging 바카라사이트 impacts of things like maternity leave on publication track records, had inadvertently added to researchers¡¯ paperwork burden when 바카라사이트y applied for grants.

As ARC chief executive she had introduced a ¡°research opportunity and performance evidence¡± statement (Rope) so that people could document career breaks that had interrupted 바카라사이트ir progress. ¡°But over time, people wanted to add things to it.

¡°Now if you go on to 바카라사이트 ARC website and look at what you can include in your Rope, it¡¯s a huge array of activities. It¡¯s one of 바카라사이트 things that contributes to 바카라사이트 length and complexity of 바카라사이트 applications.¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com