- Faculty of Arts
- Faculty of Business and Law
- Faculty of Education
- Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences
- Faculty of Science & Technology
In 1999, the Faculty of Arts introduced
a range of new policies to increase staff research and levels of support
for higher degree by research candidates. These included teaching release
for staff to complete research publications, increased support to attend
conferences, assistance to prepare national competitive grant applications,
and additional financial and infrastructure support for research candidates.
An 'active researcher' index was developed to measure research activity
across a range of activities including research publications, success
in winning external research funding, and higher by degree research completions.
The Faculty also focussed on developing greater research concentration
around the research priority area, Citizenship and Globalisation.
Particularly noteworthy were: the activities of the Corporate Citizenship
Research Unit, which, under the leadership of Professor David Birch, gained
national profile through conferences and industry networking; the success
in applying for Strategic Partnerships with Industry - Research and
Training grants by the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights; and
Professor Bill Logan's international activities in the area of cultural
heritage and globalisation.
A number of academics were involved in the organisation of international
conferences. The most prominent were conferences organised around the
Faculty's research priority area of Citizenship and Globalisation:
- 'Civilising the State: Civil
Society, Policy and State Transformation', hosted by Deakin University
and organised by the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights;
- 'Corporate Responsibility
and Social Auditing: The New Bottom Line for Business and The Body Shop
Experience', organised by the Corporate Citizenship Research Unit;
- 'Achieving Social Coalition: Business and the Community - Beyond Corporate Philanthropy', organised by the Corporate Citizenship Research Unit and the Epoch Foundation, RMIT.
Visiting scholars to the Faculty
included Professor Claudia Nelson from Southwest Texas State University,
USA, Dr Chandra Balachandran from Bridgewater State College, USA and Professor
Sneja Gunew from the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Major publications by Faculty of Arts staff for 1999 included:
- When London Calls by
Stephen Alomes
- Menzies and the 'Great
World Struggle' by David Lowe
- Anxious Nation: Australia
and the Rise of Asia 1850-1939 by David Walker, and
- Liberal Islamic Ideas by Greg Barton.
The Faculty extended its list
of research partnerships with external institutions and agencies. Among
these were a contract with the Victorian Department of Human Services
for Social Work research, and an Australia Council funded tri-partnership
project between the School of Contemporary Arts, RMIT and 'Company in
Space' focussing on research of interactive dance work.
Joan Beaumont
Dean
Faculty of Business and Law
The
Faculty's research endeavours and output continued to develop in 1999.
Research publications in 1999 included sole or jointly authored books
by Garry Carnegie, Julie Cassidy, Philip Clarke, UNDISCLOSED, Stewart
Jones, Rick Krever, Gwen Norris, West Obst, Paul Oslington, David Smith,
Karen Wheelwright, Roy Wigg and Brian Williams.
The Faculty
succeeded in obtaining three Small ARC grants. These were awarded to Dr
Chris Doucouliagos and Mr Malcolm Abbott on the topic of An International
Comparison of the Efficiency and Productivity of Vocational Education
and Training Institutions; Professor Rick Krever on the topic of Directors'
Liability for Company Tax Obligations and Dr Keith Abbott on the topic
of Globalisation and Workplace Change: The Adoption and Operation of
High Involvement Work Systems in Multinational Companies.
Major conferences
organised by the Schools included the first Accounting History
International Conference that was held in Melbourne during 4-6 August
1999, and the Colloquium on the Taxation of Partnerships. The Accounting
History conference attracted 46 delegates from ten countries, and
the Colloquium had speakers from seven countries.
The "Louis Goldberg Collection" was opened by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor
Geoff Wilson on 2 June 1999. This unique collection is located at the
Geelong Waterfront Campus.
Faculty funding for research support was increased. Twelve staff were
granted Outside Studies Program leave for 1999 and conducted research
at host institutions overseas and in Australia. The Faculty supported
thirty-five staff travelling overseas to present papers at international
conferences. Further funds were provided for both experienced and early
career researchers for individual projects.
The Faculty was delighted to appoint
Dr Jonathan Batten as the School of Accounting's inaugural Professor of
Finance.
A number of doctoral degrees were successfully completed including the
first award of the recently established Doctor of Juridical Science degree.
Phillip Clarke
Dean
Faculty
of Education
The Faculty of Education has sustained its reputation
as a leader, both in educational research, and in the provision of innovative
and flexible higher degrees by research programs. The research performance
of the Faculty of Education is consistently ranked as amongst the very
top in Australia. 1999 saw the beginning of a new recruitment phase for
academic staff with a particular focus on research capabilities to give
an immediate boost to the Faculty's research performance and higher degree
by research supervision capacity.
During 1999 Faculty staff participated in several research projects funded
by the Australian Research Council, government departments and other agencies.
Some projects were in important areas of national and international concern,
such as science education, literacy education, and environmental education.
Together with other topics, the Faculty's research spanned a wide range
of education and training fields, thus reflecting the Faculty's breadth
of expertise.
The 1999 publication
and conference presentation performance has been sustained at a high level.
The breadth of these scholarly and professional contributions is another
indicator of the Faculty's range of expertise and involvement in many
areas of the education and training professions.
The new Faculty Research Groups assisted in the growth of the Faculty's
research performance in 1999. New staff have been encouraged to join Faculty
Research Groups and this has led to some new ideas for projects and new
research applications. These groups have fostered an active research seminar
program that has supported both staff and research students in their research
endeavours.
In the research training area the Faculty has maintained a high level
of new enrolments and graduations. The Doctor of Education (EdD), a structured
research professional doctorate, has continued to show strong growth.
The Faculty has continued to improve its support for postgraduate research
students in 1999 by providing a new level of conference support for those
students presenting refereed papers at conferences.
Terry Evans
Director of Research
Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences
The Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences is committed to excellence
in research and research training. In 1999, the Faculty's research capabilities
and focus were strengthened and refined by the forging of key partnerships,
the appointment of additional research staff in conjunction with industry,
and success in attracting increasing levels of research income.
The research priorities of the Faculty have focused on
- Acute and critical care nursing
- Assistive technology for people
with disabilities
- Cellular metabolism in health
and disease
- Chronic illness and nursing
- Clinical and forensic psychology
- Health psychology
- Nutrition and physical activity
in health
- Social and cultural determinants of health.
The Faculty's premier research
group is the Metabolic Research Unit, led by Professor Greg Collier, in
the School of Health Sciences. This group continues to attract significant
industry funding from Autogen Ltd to support the discovery of genes involved
in the development of diabetes ($1.9 million income for 1999).
The establishment of new and exciting research partnerships has greatly
increased the Faculty's research capabilities and our community participation.
The School of Psychology's partnerships with the Australian Drug Foundation,
Arthritis Foundation of Victoria and the Multiple Sclerosis Society have
resulted in the appointment of three senior research fellows during 1999.
The School of Nursing established two new joint research fellow positions
with Box Hill and Bethlehem Hospitals, complementing the existing three
partnership appointments. These and other partnerships underpin the Faculty's
research in professional practice.
The staff in the Faculty had many grant successes. Associate Professor Mari Botti won the University's first National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant in Nursing at Deakin University. Other significant successes include the Mona Menzies Postdoctoral Research grant to Dr Sally Wellard, a Multiple Sclerosis Society grant to Professor Marita McCabe, and a MultiWeb Disability Communication Access Grant from the Commonwealth Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts, awarded to a team led by Ms Janet Owens. Professor Mark Hargreaves received an Australian Research Council Large Grant for his work on the regulation of metabolism during exercise, Professor Sandra Gifford was awarded an NHMRC grant for research into Hepatitis C and Dr Shona Bass won a Dairy Research and Development Corporation grant.
Lawrence St Leger
Dean
Faculty
of Science and Technology
In 1999 the Faculty of Science
and Technology continued to focus its research strengths through the identified
research priority areas. The Faculty is involved in six of the University's
strategic research priority areas.
During 1999 the Faculty continued an upward trend in research performance,
obtaining grants from major research funding bodies and in widening the
range of sources providing research funds. The Faculty continued to be
successful in obtaining national competitive grants including the Australian
Research Council (ARC) Large Grants, Small Grants, and Strategic Partnerships
with Industry - Research and Training Grants. In addition, significant
funding was received through research grants 
from
the National Health and Medical Research Council, Agriculture, Fisheries
and Forestry Australia, the Land and Water Resources Research and Development
Corporation, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (via the Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research), other Commonwealth, State
and Local Government sources and a variety of industry sources, both in
Australia and overseas. An ARC Research Fellowship and a Department of
Industry, Science and Resources Research and Development Start Program
grant were also awarded to projects within the Faculty.
In 1999 the University became a member of a Co-operative Research Centre
(CRC), the CRC for Advanced Solidification Technology Materials Manufacturing
(known as CASTmm). This partnership involves staff from the School of
Engineering and Technology.
The Faculty was a major contributor to Deakin's success in being joint
winner of University of the Year in 1999, for Outstanding Education
and Training Partnerships. All Schools have established links with
complementary industries. The School of Engineering and Technology has
the most highly developed and varied set of partnerships in the Faculty.
The partnerships have commenced in a variety of ways including approaches
for assistance with applied research and innovation requests from companies.
Several of the Faculty's partnerships have started with industry funded
research scholarships. These have increased through the Faculty's success
in Strategic Partnerships with Industry - Research and Training
grants. (Eleven successful bids were made in 1999.) The Faculty has one
of four state government funded Innovation Coordinators to facilitate
commercialization of research and to assist in the fostering of industry
links.
The Faculty's professional doctorate program, the Doctor of Technology,
continued to attract increasing enrolments, answering the need for stimulating,
relevant professional development at the highest levels for industry.
Professor Richard Russell
Dean