[csaa-forum] CHASS Newsletter June 2007
Toss Gascoigne
director at chass.org.au
Wed Jun 6 15:01:05 CST 2007
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CHASS NEWSLETTER JUNE 2007
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CHASS Newsletter Number 23, for June 2007.
1. REGISTERING FOR HOTH
2. NATIONAL RESEARCH PRIORITIES UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
3. BISHOP, BRANDIS, CARR AND KEELE: ALL SPEAKING
4. WHEN WILL THE COMMONWEALTH TAKE OVER THE UNIVERSITIES?
5. FEDERATION FELLOWS
6. COLLABORATION STUDY
7. THE CHASS BOARD AND THE SEARCH COMMITTEE
8. REVIEW OF RFCD AND SEO CODES
9. ARC COLLEGE OF EXPERTS
10. DIRECTORS' MEETING NOW SEPTEMER 3-4
11. CHASS: 119 FINANCIAL MEMBERS
12. TWO OPPORTUNITIES
1. REGISTERING FOR HOTH
Registrations close for "Humanities, Arts Social Sciences on the
Hill" at 5 pm on Friday 8 June.
We will advise all participants the names of the MP they will be
meeting early the following week. We will also send the MP the
names and brief cvs of the people going in to meet them.
2. NATIONAL RESEARCH PRIORITIES UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
The Chief Scientist has made progress on his report to the
Minister on the NRPs, and we understand the report is now with
Minister Julie Bishop. She is expected to make a public
response.
The Government established a National Research Priorities
Standing Committee early in 2005, and according to the
Government's Innovation Report 2005-06, it "meets at least once a
year to assess agencies' progress in implementing the NRPs and to
report to government. It will also develop medium to longer-term
policy concerning the NRPs, including a process for an
independent review of their impact, in 2006-07."
We look forward to participating in this review.
But there is a problem with the Standing Committee. The NRPs are
supposed to cover all disciplines, but of the eight Committee
members, seven come from the sciences and only one from the
humanities, arts and social sciences.
With this bias in the system, it is not surprising the NRPs are a
source of frustration to the HASS sector, and often regarded with
deep-rooted suspicion.
3. BISHOP, BRANDIS, CARR AND KEELE: ALL SPEAKING
Ministers Julie Bishop and George Brandis will be speaking (and
answering questions) at HOTH, at separate sessions at the
National Library and Parliament House.
Shadow Minister Kim Carr will speak at the Briefing Day at the
National Museum, along with Kathy Keele (newly appointed CEO of
the Australia Council) and Ralph Lattimore of the Productivity
Commission.
4. WHEN WILL THE COMMONWEALTH TAKE OVER THE UNIVERSITIES?
Professor Greg Craven is the featured HOTH speaker at the
National Press Club on Wednesday 20 June.
It's his view that the next decade will be a critical period for
the Australian Constitution, with both "excessive conservatism
and unwise experimentation posing serious difficulties".
"Australians today are faced by a diversity of confronting
constitutional realities: federalism abandoned by the
conservatives who created it; Parliament increasingly in
disrepute as an institution;a Governor General rendered virtually
invisible by the sheer size of the Prime Ministerial office; and
an embarrassing constitutional monarchy that nobody knows how to
dispatch."
What implications does this have for a mooted takeover of the
university system by the Commonwealth?
His talk will be broadcast live by ABC TV. All HOTH registrants
have a ticket, and other bookings can be made from the NPC
website: http://www.npc.org.au/
5. FEDERATION FELLOWS
CHASS attended the Minister's announcement of the Federation
Fellows for 2007. Five of them come from the HASS (slightly
above the historical average). There were 129 applications, and
the Selection Committee recommended 20 Fellows instead of the
normal 25, apparently on the grounds of quality.
Two are women; eight are renewals of existing Fellowships; and 17
are already located in Australia. Names of successful candidates
and the full selection report is available at:
http://www.arc.gov.au/ncgp/fedfellows/FF07_Selection_Rpt.htm
CHASS made a submission to the ARC earlier this year on the
Federation Fellows program. It expressed concern at the low rate
of appointment of researchers from the humanities, arts and
social sciences, and an even lower rate of female appointments;
and contained nine recommendations.
The full submission is on our website: www.chass.org.au
The Independent Review Committee considering this matter is
scheduled to report before the end of June. Committee members
are Mr John Grace (former ARC Board and ex CEO of AMRAD);
Professor Deryck Schreuder (ex-UWS, UWA); and Dr Megan Clarke
(VP, BHP Billiton).
6. COLLABORATION STUDY
President Stuart Cunningham has discussed the recommendations of
CHASS' Collaboration Report with a series of organizations and
individuals, including:
Pat Farmer MP, Parliamentary Secretary, Education, Science and
Training
Professor Peter Hoj, (then) CEO of the ARC
Senator Kim Carr, Shadow Minister for Innovation and Research
Professor Warwick Anderson, CEO of NHMRC
Ms Leanne Harvey, Chair of the RQF Reference Committee, DEST
At the suggestion of Senator Judith Troeth, we have written to
Minister Julie Bishop asking her to refer the report to the
Senate Committee Employment, Workplace Relations and Education
Committee for consideration. Senator Troeth chairs this
Committee.
7. THE CHASS BOARD AND THE SEARCH COMMITTEE
The new Board will be elected at the AGM in September.
This meeting will consider a "recommended slate" of candidates
for election to the Board, as prepared by our Search Committee.
All Members and newsletter subscribers have been invited to
suggest names of possible candidates to the Search Committee, and
some outstanding people have been proposed.
The first meeting of the Committee is due to take place in June,
but there is still time for last-minute suggestions of suitable
candidates. We are interested in suggestions from outside the
tertiary sector, as well as from the universities.
8. REVIEW OF RFCD AND SEO CODES
Regular readers will recall the ABS is reviewing the RFCD codes
at the request of DEST, and that CHASS was invited to provide a
person for the small Reference Committee steering the project.
Since our last report, the ABS has sought expert volunteers in
all disciplines to "examine the existing codes for adequacy and
suggest new codes to capture existing and future research areas
which are not covered."
These reports will be considered at the next meeting of the
Reference Committee on 20 June. A draft of the proposed
revisions will be released in July for public comment, with the
revised RFCD and SEO codes being finalized by March 2008.
9. ARC COLLEGE OF EXPERTS
The College provides strategic advice to the ARC, and consists of
"experts of international standing".
The ARC is calling for nominations. Because membership requires
a considerable time commitment, nominations must be made by the
primary employer. A kit with information and the nomination form
is available at:
www.arc.gov.au/about_arc/expert.htm
10. DIRECTORS' MEETING NOW SEPTEMBER 3-4
The next CHASS workshop for the directors of university-based
centres of research and education will be held at RMIT, but the
date has been changed to Monday-Tuesday September 3-4.
11. CHASS: 119 FINANCIAL MEMBERS
CHASS now has 119 Financial Members: a mix of peak organizations,
universities, professional and learned societies and centres
within the tertiary sector.
All Members have been listed on our website, arranged by
subscription level in alphabetical order: www.chass.org.au
12. THREE OPPORTUNITIES
a. ARTERY AND EXPAND: THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL
Subscribe to Artery ("hardcopy topical news and updates") and
ExpAnd ("specialised education and the arts update, by email), by
contacting: comms at ozco.gov.au
b. NATIONAL SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION FORUM
"Improving Access to Australian Publicly Funded Research -
Advancing Knowledge and the Knowledge Economy" is at the Shine
Dome in Canberra on July 16 2007.
Registration places are limited. Details available at:
http://www.humanities.org.au/Events/NSCF/NSCF2007/NSCF2007.htm.
c. LONG-LIVED COLLECTIONS: THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIA'S RESEARCH
DATA
How will Australia's research infrastructure cope with the
challenge of managing the data that our researchers are
producing?
National Library of Australia, Tuesday, September 11, 2007. For
information and registration:
www.apsr.edu.au/long_lived_collections
Regards
Stuart Cunningham
President
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CHASS
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