News

Impact of ACU research and engagement recognised

Research excellence at ACU has been further recognised by the Australian Research Council (ARC) for its significant impact in advancing health, education and social outcomes for Australians.

The ARC announced the inaugural 2018 Engagement and Impact (EI) assessment on Friday 29 March.

The ARC introduced the EI assessment to examine how universities are translating their research into economic, environmental, social and other benefits. Three measures were used to assess engagement, impact and approach to impact.

Of the six Impact case studies ACU submitted, ACU received:

• a High in Public and Allied Health Sciences (FoR 11b), Education (FoR 13) and History and Archaeology (FoR 21)*
• a Medium in Studies in Human Society (FoR 16), Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (FoR 17) and Philosophy and Religious Studies (FoR 22)

For Approach to Impact ACU received:

• a High in Public and Allied Health Sciences (FoR 11b) and History and Archaeology (FoR 21)
• a Medium in Education (FoR 13), Studies in Human Society (FoR 16) and Philosophy and Religious Studies (FoR 22)

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Greg Craven said the results were an outstanding achievement for a relatively young research university, and built on the record of success in ERA announced earlier in the week.

“These results demonstrate the commitment of ACU researchers to working with our partners to ensure that our research has a meaningful impact on society.

“I am particularly delighted that our high impact case studies reflect this ongoing commitment to impact through empathy, with high scoring ACU research in the areas of nursing care, education, and support for those identified in the Forgotten Australians report.

“I would like to congratulate all our researchers for their efforts in achieving these scores, and in particular Professor Sandra Jones, Pro Vice-Chancellor Engagement, who has been driving the University’s Engagement Impact strategy. Starting from scratch with this new assessment introduced by ARC, Sandra has been the driving force encouraging our staff to consider the impact that their research has in our communities.

“These results are also further endorsement of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Wayne McKenna’s vision in developing ACU’s research strategy.”

 This is the first round of EI, and the assessment will be repeated every three years as a companion exercise to the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA).

* Reporting for EI is at the broad two-digit Field of Research (FoR) level, with the exception of FoR 11 which is separated into two sub-codes. Submissions are required for codes with more than 150 outputs in the ERA reference period. 

Engagement was assessed for the three-year period 2014-2016 and Impact for the six-year period 2011-2016.

Read full details of the ERA and EI results on the ARC website