Researcher Development

Federation University Australia is committed to research and researcher development. The researcher development programs at the Federation University focus on enabling our researchers to enhance their skills and maximise their potential.

All offerings are mapped to the Federation University Researcher Development Framework (Figure 1), which describes skills and capabilities in three areas:

  • Research Governance
  • Personal and Professional Effectiveness
  • Engagement and Impact

Each key area is then further broken down into capabilities to allow researchers to identify sessions in relation to their personal development needs.

Diagram displaying the Researcher Development Framework, which describes the skills and capabilities in the three areas

Figure 1. Federation University Researcher Development Framework

Researcher Development Program Overview

For a summary of the programs that will be offered in 2024, please see the Researcher Development Program Overview 2024 (PDF, 158kb). Additional sessions will be offered as they become available throughout the year. In addition to these programs, other researcher training sessions are also available through different university central services (Library, Graduate Research School, People and Culture). Please see the Research Training and Development Calendar for more details.

Please refer below for further information regarding these programs.

Mentoring Program is a semi structured program that combines informal mentoring sessions with formal engagement sessions. It aims to support high-potential early and mid career researchers at Federation University around their strategic career and leadership journey. It also provides current academic leaders the opportunity to develop their mentorship skills and to make a positive impact in the career of junior researchers.

Mentoring program pairs are asked to identify the parameters/intention of their mentoring relationship at the commencement of the program.  The Research Office provides material to guide this discussion, including suggested domains of focus. Mentors and mentees are asked to sign a ‘Mentoring Program Participant Agreement’ which outlines their roles and responsibilities in the program.

Audience
All Federation University academic staff (Level A-E)
Program start
March 2024
Program end
Dec 2024
Registration
EOI process managed by Researcher Development team

A common concern for researchers lies in developing the skills, profile and momentum to move from being a researcher to becoming a research leader – an expert, a skilled colleague and collaborator, a leader of teams, projects or programmes of research. Advancing your Research Career: Strategies for Research Leadership supports researchers in taking a reflective and strategic approach to developing and managing their research careers. Providing engaging, flexible and interactive training in the key capabilities that underpin successful research leadership, the programme will help to ensure that researchers’ career goals are well articulated and supported by a professional knowledge base.

Audience
Recommended for early and mid-career researchers, available to all staff and HDRs
Length
Approx. 6-8 hours (self paced modules)
Program start
Anytime
Registration
Self enrolment on Moodle or request Researcher Development team for enrolment

Campus Plus webinars has been specifically developed to assist with the Professional Development of Researchers and Research Management/Services professional staff. Series of 20 webinars is tailored to help researchers better understand the opportunities commercialisation can bring. The end goal is to help prepare staff to access and exploit additional sources of revenue for their institution.

Each webinar is one hour in length. Recording of the webinar available for anyone who is unable to get to the live event, or who wish to review in their own time.

Audience
All staff and HDRs. Individuals may register for sessions of interest, as per their disciplines, career stage or current projects.
Length
20 hours (20x1 hour webinars)
Program start
February 2023
Registration
Registration link provided via Fednews closer to each session

This program will provide guidance and assistance to researchers planning to submit nationally competitive grant applications, with focus on ARC Discovery Projects, DECRA and Linkage, as well as NHMRC Ideas and Investigator Grants. The Program will support other schemes based on opportunity and demand. Candidates will be provided with strategic professional development workshops with successful internal and external review to address various sections of the application, professional staff assistance for application related advice, budget planning and RMS support, and networking opportunities with a new community of prospective grantees.

Through the Expert Review Panel (ERP), applicants will also be provided an opportunity to receive feedback on their drafts from senior researchers, past ARC/NHMRC and other competitive grant winners from Federation University. Panel members will review and provide feedback on EOIs and provide their expertise and knowledge across various elements of the CGSP in order to improve the overall quality and competitiveness of our funding proposals.

The following workshops are scheduled as a part of CGSP 2024:

DateWorkshop
25 Jun 2024
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
CGSP Launch
3 Jul 2024
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Getting started with ARC application
18 Jul 2024
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Writing ARC Project Description
25 Jul 2024
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Writing ARC ROPE
1 Aug 2024
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Harvesting outputs into/ for RMS
8 Aug 2024
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Writing National Interest Test Statement
14 Aug 2024
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Budget
22 Aug 2024
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Assessors’ perspective

Applicants interested in submitting category 1 funding application are required to submit an Funding Expression of Interest (FEOI) Form to the Research Services team. Academic staff with a record of successfully winning nationally competitive grant funding are invited to submit an Expression of Interest to join the Expert Review Panel.

Audience
Academic staff (Level A-E)
Length
Approx. 10-15 hours
Program start
June 2024
Registration
EOI process managed by Research Services

ECR network aims to provide ECRs with opportunities to expand networks, share knowledge and access support during the early phase of research career. ECRs include all researchers (casuals, fixed term and permanent staff) up to and including Level B, who completed their PhD 5-7 years ago. This excludes career interruptions such as non-research employment, part-time status, personal leave (for example carers or maternity leave).

Audience
Early Career Researchers
Program start
February 2024
Registration

The Research Impact: Creating Meaning and Value course will support researchers in:

  • Defining what research impact is and why it’s important to individual researchers, groups and at institutional level.
  • Planning for impact throughout a whole research project, from beginning to end – considering knowledge exchange, Theory of Change, stakeholder analysis, risk mitigation and collaboration.
  • How to evidence impact and why it’s important. Thinking about accountability, responsible innovation, how to work with qualitative and quantitative data and capturing evidence.
  • Developing a dissemination and engagement strategy - and identifying the difference between them. Developing skills for dissemination including writing for impact, using social media effectively, public and community engagement and promotion.
  • Monitoring and evaluating impact throughout the research lifecycle: tracking progress, managing impact, evaluation methods and analysis.
Audience
All staff and HDRs
Length
Approx. 6-8 hours (self paced modules)
Program start
Anytime
Registration

The ECR Seed Funding program aims to provide opportunities for Early Career Researchers (and mid-career researchers with career interruption), without a strong history of applying for external competitive research funding opportunities, to develop the skills in building research teams, writing grant proposals, undertaking funded research and successfully delivering research outcomes.

Each grant supports project costs up to a maximum of $10,000 for an initial duration of 7 months (June to December).

Applications are now closed.

Successful applicants - Reporting

Successful grant applicants are required to submit a final report, outlining the grant outcomes and achievements, within one month of project completion.

Please download and complete the ECR Seed Funding - Final Report (docx. 152kb).

Final report due no later than 28th February 2025.

Submit the Final Report, via email, to researcher.development@federation.edu.au.

All Australian researchers are required to be familiar with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research (2018). To promote and support responsible research practices, Federation University provides Research Integrity training. The training consists of a comprehensive overview of how researchers can meet their responsibilities, setting out the key principles and practices of good research conduct, and guiding learners through the lifecycle of a research project. The training details are provided in the table below.

Audience
All staff and students
Length
Approx. 8-10 hours (self paced modules)
Program start
Anytime
Registration
Self enrolment on Moodle

The Researcher Development Series includes all the additional courses, seminars and workshops facilitated by the Researcher Development office as needs are identified. These may include staff presentations or sessions delivered by external experts.

Audience
All staff. Individuals may register for sessions of interest, as per their disciplines, career stage or professional development needs.
Program Length
Sessions organised through out the year.
Registration
Registration link provided via Fednews closer to each session

Competitive Grant Support Program 2024

Are you thinking of an ARC funding application this year or in near future or are you simply curious to learn more about ARC grants?

The Federation University Competitive Grant Support Program (CGSP) aimed at supporting category 1 funding applications is now underway.  For more information, or to register interest in participating and be put on the workshop mailing list, please email researcher.development@federation.edu.au.

International Conference for Early Academics and Researchers, New Zealand, December 2024

ICEAR, The International Conference for Early Academics and Researchers (https://www.icearconference.com/), is a new conference by ECRs for ECRs in Auckland this December.

ICEAR is an opportunity to put your career in focus. Sessions will encourage you to reflect on the actions you can take now to establish yourself in a career that will sustain you. Through presentations, workshops, conversations, and provocations, the conference themes explore:

* Interdisciplinary collaboration
* Research Impact
* Entrepreneurial research
* Networking/community-building
* Platforming underrepresented knowledge-systems

This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity for postgraduate and early-career researchers to network with global peers from across disciplines at a large-scale, 3-day catered conference.

This program includes a mentorship program and 2 day writing retreat to provide time and a supportive environment for researchers to undertake writing for publication.

Audience
All researchers
Length
2.5 days
Program start
Mid year
Registration
EOI process managed by Library

This program offers training in the core principles and practices of doctoral supervision to equip new and more experienced supervisors to support doctoral candidates’ development into independent researchers.

Audience
All staff
Length
Approx. 8 hours (self paced modules)
Program start
Anytime
Registration
Epigeum or contact Graduate Research Office

Contact Us

Please visit our Research Services Contact us webpage for further information on how to get in touch.

For further information or participation in the programs, please contact an appropriate Research Services staff member, or email researcher.development@federation.edu.au.

We would love to hear your thoughts on the current skills development offerings. We appreciate your time in providing feedback on Researcher Development Programs.