Research Australia’s submission to the Universities Accord Discussion paper responds to two key issues. The first relates to the career prospects and professional development of early and mid-career researchers. Research Australia proposes that this be a shared responsibility of research funders, universities, researcher managers and researchers. We also welcome further consideration of programs to support exposure to roles in industry and government during the completion of a higher degree by research.
The second relates to the funding for indirect research costs. We propose a new structure for the future funding of direct and indirect research costs and two distinct principles to guide the structure. We also propose that funding for national research infrastructure be included in these deliberations.
In each proposal we outline the case for how and why these issues should be addressed by an Accord between universities and the Commonwealth Government.
Research Australia’s submission is available here.