Within Australia there is a growing interest in e-research and the use of cyberinfrastructure. There is also increasing recognition that the use of cyberinfrastructure is often inhibited, not by technical issues, but by so-called "soft" issues, such as those related to work practices, intellectual property issues, the nature of research…

The release of the "Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research 2007" by the Australian Government in 2007 was welcomed by Go8 (Group of Eight) institutions, particularly in relation to the improvements and broader scope of the matters covered by Part A of that Code. However, as foreshadowed by the Go8 during the consultation…

This paper presents an empirical investigation into how universities approach the need and means for motivating university researchers through their management practices. The role of work motivation for this group deserves attention because pressures from outside and within the universities are said to have made university research less of a…

In South Africa, dominant discourses on research development are characterised by a technical-rational approach combined with a focus on the individual. Working from the notion that research is best characterised by the notion of communities of practice, it is claimed that more attention must be given to the building of intellectually engaging…

To date, qualitative research into occupational groups and cultures within academia has been relatively scarce, with an almost exclusive concentration upon teaching staff within universities and colleges. This article seeks to address this lacuna and applies the interactionist concept of "identity work" in order to examine one specific…

Social workers in academic and agency settings have the opportunity to do funded research using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) R03 small grant mechanism designed for discrete, clearly defined projects that can be completed within a 1- to 2-year time period with limited funding. This article describes the R03 mechanism and provides a guide…

Our system of research self-regulation, designed to provide internal checks and balances for those who participate in research involving human subjects, is under considerable stress. Much of this crisis has been caused by what we call mission creep, in which the workload of IRBs has expanded beyond their ability to handle effectively. Mission…

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will travel to the polls for the 40th Canadian General Election--only two years since the 2006 election which brought the Conservative Government to power. In preparation for the election, the Educational Policy Institute (EPI) is publishing a series of election-related papers, including an overview of the top…

Academic freedom and the protection of human research subjects are central tenets of American universities. Academic freedom protects the rights of tenured professors to conduct autonomous research; human subject protection ensures that research causes as minimal a risk as possible to study participants. Although the two principles are mutually…

This research and policy brief draws on the experiences in five states, each of which has been the subject of a comprehensive arts education survey in recent years. The states are Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington. Distilled from the "lessons learned," the brief provides 20 principles designed to inform and…

All research intensive universities (RIU's) want to expand their scope of operations. Research performance is a key driver of institutional reputation which underpins a university's ability to generate revenues from all sources. Achieving an accelerating rate of growth of the virtuous cycle, in which increasing research performance enhances…

Measurable research outputs have become part of the overall research management structure within Australian universities over the past ten years. As such, policy makers and administrators alike have come to regard effective management structures and mechanisms as fundamental components of a research environment capable of generating desired…

This study adopted Jarzabkowski's (2005) qualitative, activity-based strategy as practice method to investigate leadership and management of interdisciplinary work. Interviews were conducted with 10 academics in Australia and the United Kingdom. Challenges raised by leaders of academic work can be grouped at various levels according to which…

Students enrolled in business and management assessed the research supervisory process less favorably when compared with their counterparts. In this article, the authors found that there was considerable dissatisfaction with the interaction and relationships that students had with their supervisors, especially within the business program. As a…

The author describes her 30 years of experience in the design and conduct of a series of large-scale randomized controlled studies in the field of public welfare. She describes how these studies came about, what lessons can be drawn about research methods, what was learned about the effectiveness of these programs (the National Supported Work…