Building Sustainable Academic Research in a ‘Teaching and Learning’ Intensive Environment

Abstract

Academic research is increasingly interdisciplinary, inter-institutional and international. In this context, creating and maintaining the balance in the nexus between research, teaching and learning and industry interaction is central to the operation and reputation of a university-level institute. In seeking sustainability, the perennial contradiction between encouraging and expecting all academics to engage in research or some other scholarship and the need to support leading researchers working in internationally recognized research clusters must be resolved. Research reputations are built on peer-reviewed publications, citations, competitive funding achieved and postgraduate completions. The leading universities are not known for research excellence in more than a handful of niche disciplines, so creating a research-informed environment where many are carrying out research, a few are excelling, but all receive support, is an unavoidable challenge for a senior management team. Faculty structures are important components in meeting this challenge. Heads of Research and proactive Faculty Research Boards have critical roles to play. R&D centres benefit from belonging in or across faculties, but individual researchers must have scope to build teams that can grow to form centres of excellence or be part of research clusters with partners having complementary strengths. External rigorous and periodic reviews of research are important in placing research in national and international contexts and ensuring that focus and direction are maintained. Institutional research strategies are paramount and should set out how a research environment and infrastructure can be developed and how impediments to research activity are removed. Setting targets for key metrics that are demanding but achievable will expose shortcomings in any strategy or its application. Policies and actions for building and supporting research activity are described, along with the strategies and structures that frame them. Each higher education institute is unique, but some effective measures are universally applicable.