PRESIDENT'S UPDATE September - October 2021
Somehow another 12 months has come and gone, and we have reached the pre-Annual Conference edition of Up in ARMS! Our virtual Conference scheduled to commence on the 3rd of November provides an exciting opportunity to learn about new topics, to hear presentations from some of the research management trailblazers within and outside the Society, to celebrate the achievements of the past year, and to share discussions with colleagues from across the sector and the region.
This is, of course, just one of the ways in which ARMS strives to provide opportunities to members to support their development and learning. The various Chapters and Special Interest Groups continue to be active and facilitate environments for interested members to share and to learn.
If you haven’t done so recently, I encourage you to visit the ARMS website to ensure that you are linked to those groups from which you want to receive specific information about upcoming sessions.
As this is my final introduction to the newsletter, I would be remiss if I didn’t convey that it has been an absolute privilege to serve on the Board of ARMS and an honour to have had the opportunity to take on the President's role. It has also been a whole lot of fun! Much of this has come with working alongside fantastic Board members, the exceptional Executive Office team, and all who contribute to the vast and varied work of the society to support its members. Thank you all.
I want to specifically acknowledge the other retiring Board members: Maxine Bryant, Steve Hannan and Connie Killey. Their intellect, advice, and guidance have contributed greatly to the strong position that the Society now finds itself.
When I formally step-down from this role at the AGM it will be with mixed emotions. Chief amongst these will be satisfaction with the huge strides that have been achieved due to the actions of the many people involved with ARMS over the past three years, and confidence that the society will continue to thrive and develop under the stewardship of new President Dr Tania Bezzobs with the continuing and incoming Board members, and, of course, the ever-impressive dynamism of ARMS’ COO, Maria Zollo. I look forward to seeing (and contributing albeit in different ways) to the future evolution of our society.
Dr Ross McLennan
ARMS President
WHAT'S UP in ARMS?
Update from the ARMS Board
Conferences and Events
The ARMS Virtual Conference will be held 3-5 November 2021. See article below for full details.
Planning for the ARMS 2022 Conference will be commencing shortly. Are you interested in contributing to the program of activity for this event? See call for Program Committee members below:
Annual General Meeting
Reminder that the Annual General Meeting of ARMS will be held on Wednesday the 3rd of November (directly after day # 1 of the virtual conference) from 5.00 – 5.30 PM AEDT. Papers will be available for download from the ARMS website from the 27th of October 2021.
Announcement of new Board members
Join us at the upcoming Annual General Meeting of ARMS where the incoming Board will be formally announced.
Education and Professional Development
Research Integrity Advisor (RIA) Training module
A final draft of the ARMS/AAMRI RIA Training Module has been completed and was submitted to the ARMS Accreditation Council for final endorsement on the 27th of August. Dr Hochman, ARMS Business Consultant is currently working with the Instructional Designer to transition content online. It is anticipated that this process will be completed approximately within the next 4 weeks. Details will be disseminated to all members once the module is live.
Costing and Pricing Masterclass:
The Costing and Pricing Masterclass of Research Masterclass was delivered initially on the 20th and 23rd of August, the 28th and 29th of September and a final offering on the 15th and 18th of October. The masterclass will be open again to ARMS members in 2022. Interested in helping to deliver content for this program? An open call for ARMS Training Fellows will be made shortly. Contact the ARMS Accreditation Program Administrator, Dana Watts, arms.adminofficer@flinders.edu.au to find out more.
Fundamentals of Project Management Masterclass:
The Fundamentals of Project Management Masterclass was approved by the Accreditation Council at its meeting of 28 May 2021. The masterclass was initially delivered on the 27th and 30th of August and is scheduled for delivery on the 27th and 29th of October. The masterclass will be open again to ARMS members in 2022. Interested in helping to deliver content for this program? An open call for ARMS Training Fellows will be made shortly. Contact the ARMS Accreditation Program Administrator, Dana Watts, arms.adminofficer@flinders.edu.au to find out more.
The ARMS/CAUL Working Party on Open Research
The ARMS/CAUL Working Party have over the past 18 months been working on the development of an Open Research Toolkit. It is anticipated that a launch of the Open Research Toolkit is scheduled for the week of the 8th of November. Further details will be disseminated to ARMS members shortly.
Transition of Foundation Level Accreditation Modules 1.1 Singapore, New Zealand and 1.2 Singapore and New Zealand
Foundation Level Accreditation Module 1.2 NZ (Legislation as it affects research) has now been reviewed and amendments endorsed by the Accreditation Council. The revised Body of Knowledge has been sent to an Instructional Designer who is is transitioning content online.
Foundation Level Accreditation Modules 1.2 Singapore and 1.1 NZ (National Research and Innovation System) have been marked up and formatted by the ARMS Business Consultant for transitioning into Moodle. These are currently with the Instructional Designer and are awaiting conversion. The final Body of Knowledge for Module 1.1 Singapore has been endorsed by the Accreditation Council, with content transitioning into Moodle shortly.
Upcoming PD Sessions @ Zoom
Upcoming Chapter or SIG Events
- 29 November 2021 - Research Impact SIG Networking Session - Registrations opening soon.
RESEARCH ADMINISTRATOR DAY COMPETTITION 2021
#RESEARCHADMINISTRATORDAY
AND THE WINNER OF THE 2021 RESEARCH ADMINISTRATORS' DAY COMPETITONS IS (drum roll here) . . .
ARMS is pleased to announce the recipient of this years' Research Administrators' Day Competition is... RMIT University. Congratulations on celebrating this special day virtually and in emphasising what Research Management Professionals found rewarding about their roles. The recipient will be receiving a gift card to the value of AUD$100 to be used for a social gathering to celebrate for when it is safe to do so.
This year the ARMS Executive office received four very creative and different entries. They often were based on humour with many also highlighting the important role played by Research Management Professionals in the research endeavour.
We thank those that have submitted entries, specifically
RMIT University - who is this year's competition recipient
Charles Darwin University
The University of Queensland
The University of Melbourne
Research and Innovation Portfolio - RMIT University
Submitted by: Roberta Matia, Diana Robertson, Joanne Harris, Cara McGrain and Tania Tambiah
The Research and Innovation Portfolio celebrated their day by recognising the excellent work and service of research administrators as well as playing a fun round of 'Who's Who?'
Office of Research and Innovation Charles Darwin University
Submitted by: Hayley Germaine
This group successfully combined morning tea, across multiple regions with serious research to predict the winner of the 2021 AFL Grand Final.
The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine
Submitted by: Noni Creasey
A hosted lunch, fine Brisbane weather and group discussion about types of networks they can tap into, including ARMS, highlighted this celebratory event.
The University of Melbourne Rapport Network
Submitted by: Jason Rutgers
CHAPTER & SIG UPDATES/EVENTS
WESTERN AUSTRALIA CHAPTER UPDATE
On the 9th of September, the WA Chapter co-hosted a ‘Grant Connections’ session in collaboration with Innovation Central Perth and the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources Entrepreneur's Programme!
This session brought together Academic Researchers, Small-Medium Businesses, and Innovation Support Professionals to network and learn about the Accelerating Commercialisation Grant.
Natasha Teakle and Greg Riebe provided businesses, entrepreneurs, researchers and research management professionals with expert advice on opportunities for funding to help get a novel product, process or service to market.
Ash Roberts, Co-Convenor WA Chapter
RESEARCH FINANCE MANAGERS SIG UPDATE
Since the last meeting of the Research Finance Managers SIG, the group have worked in the background on 2 particular items. Mary Lambert has been liaising with the ARC on the shared grant template. The ARC have reviewed the document and are really pleased to be working with ARMS on this. We are currently looking at a platform to (hopefully) host the form online, so that we are not emailing around PDF’s or excel files to each other. Obviously with everything that is happening in our sector, these activities have slowed, but they are still moving along.
With my SIG Convener hat on, I approached Sandra Freshwater and the NHMRC team, along with the fabulous ARMS Exec Office staff, to organise a post award finance workshop, and I am pleased to advise that this will be run on the 1st of November. The ARMS office will send out details, and a big thank you to Lisa Beckham from the ARMS team in setting everything up for the workshop. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
Our SIG is about engaging with, and connecting those working in Research Finance. We know that the growing trend is for the finance associated with research to sit in the CFO portfolio, and that is certainly the case at Deakin, and at Monash, and I am passionate to make sure that we don’t silo, but we all work together to ensure a seamless experience for the researchers. We are very keen to have a representative from each university on our group, so please get in touch if you don’t already have a representative.
Connie Killey, Convenor from Deakin University
LATEST NEWS & MEMBER UPDATES
2ND NATIONAL HREC CONFERENCE
Human Research Ethics Committee Members across Australia are invited to attend a FREE virtual Human Research Ethics Conference on 01-03 December 2021. The purpose of the HREC Conference is to provide valuable, theme discussions on areas related to HREC members along with training sessions. Participation in the Conference will fulfil the annual training requirements for HREC members.
The HREC Organising Committee are pleased to announce the speakers for their 3-day virtual conference!
Angelene Falk
Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
Professor Ian Kerridge
Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, School of Public Health, & Northern Clinical School
Professor Ian Freckelton
AO, QC; Editor, Journal of Law & Medicine; Barrister-at-Law, Castan Chambers, Melbourne
Professor Dianne Nicol
Professor of Law, University of Tasmania
For more information about the conference, speakers & registrations, head to their website here.
THE AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL (ARC)
The Australian Research Council (ARC) is a non-corporate Commonwealth entity, established under the Australian Research Council Act 2001. The ARC’s purpose is to grow knowledge and innovation for the benefit of the Australian community through funding the highest quality research, assessing the quality, engagement and impact of research and providing advice on research matters.
Through the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), ARC provides grants for research and research training in all discipline areas, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as the humanities, arts and social sciences. Clinical and other medical research is primarily supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council. The NCGP comprises two programs—Discovery and Linkage—under which the ARC funds a range of complementary schemes that provide funding for basic and applied research, research training, research collaboration and infrastructure. Funding under the NCGP is awarded on the basis of a competitive peer review process involving Australian and international assessors. The ARC also administers two evaluation frameworks to assess the quality, engagement and impact of Australian research.
The ARC also administers two evaluation frameworks to assess the quality, engagement and impact of Australian research. Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) is Australia’s national research evaluation framework. It is a comprehensive quality evaluation of all research produced in Australian universities against international benchmarks. The Engagement and Impact (EI) assessment considers the engagement of university researchers with end-users, and how universities are translating their research into economic, social, environmental, cultural and other benefits.
The ERA 2018 National report and EI 2018 National report are available on the ARC data portal.
CALL FOR CONFERENCE 2022 PROGRAM & ORGANISING COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
EXTENDED TO 29 OCTOBER
Expressions of Interest are currently being sought for members to serve on the Organising and Program Committees for the 2022 ARMS Conference which will held in the later half of 2022. The format of this event is still to be decided.
Volunteer members from across the broad geographical remit of ARMS are encouraged to apply to ensure representation from across the broad remit of ARMS.
If you have the commitment and drive to make a contribution to ARMS and are able to participate as a volunteer in committee meetings and related activities, we’d love to hear from you!!
All Committee meetings will be via Zoom and held monthly initially and will increase closer to the conference.
Applications are sought from volunteer members who are committed to making the 2022 conference the best yet!
Please note membership on the Committees will be capped.
Please complete the attached EOI and send to arms.adminofficer@flinders.edu.au by 29 October 2021 .
ARMS VIRTUAL CONFERENCE 2021:
03 - 05 NOVEMBER
Disrupting the Status Quo: Challenging the Research and Innovation Culture
Have you checked out the fantastic speakers and exhibitors that this years 3D conference has lined up? You can read their session details and bio's via our conference website!
Keep up to date on our social media platforms and weekly wrap ups.
Don't forget to register, this conference is one NOT to be missed.
NHMRC POST AWARD (FINANCE) WORKSHOP
Join NHMRC for a 2 hour, finance workshop on Monday, 01 November!
Presented by Julie Glover, Sandra Freshwater, and Gerry Doherty.
This workshop will consist of two (2) components.
Part 1: NHMRC Post award finance
Part 1 of the workshop will provide an overview of the key principles and expectations of Administering Institution in managing grant funding under the Funding Agreement, the role of the Chief Financial Officer and the Finance Officer and expenditure of grant funds and NHMRC Direct Research Cost Guidelines interpretation.
Part 2: A high level walk through of Sapphire
Part 2 of the workshop will provide an overview of NHMRCs new grants management system Sapphire and post award functionality being deployed.
For more information and to register click here.
FROM THE ARMS EXECUTIVE OFFICE
ARMS acknowledges the generous support of our corporate partners:
ARMS EXECTUTIVE OFFICE CONTACTS
Maria Zollo
Chief Operating Officer
Phone: +61 8 8201 2525
Brett Dobson
Management Accountant
Phone: +61 8 8201 2610
Lisa Beckham
Conference & Major Events Coordinator
Phone: +61 8 8201 2911
Dana Watts
Accreditation Program Administrator
Phone: +61 8 8201 5592
Kaeisha Kilmister
Events & Administration Assistant
Phone: +61 8 8201 5592
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