Social Science Space

After years of concerns about the ARC – about political interference and low success rates – the review is a welcome step. But will it tackle the big issues?

Writing from Australia, which has one of the highest rates of casual employment in the world, the authors look at how employers’ quest for flexibility harms the so-called ‘casual’ workforce.

In an open letter, 63 Australian Research Council laureate fellows complain vigorously to the minister and to the chief executive of the ARC about a recent instance of political interference in the funding of basic research.

What are the three biggest challenges Australia faces in the next five to ten years? What role will the social sciences play in resolving these challenges? The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia asked these questions in a discussion paper earlier this year. The backdrop to this review is cuts to social science disciplines around the country, with teaching taking priority over research.

Academic freedom is widely championed as the foundation of a good university. It is seen as vital in speaking “truth to […]

Academic book publishing is under threat. Global university rankings and competition for funding and international student enrolments are reshaping the […]

As part of the Impact at UTS podcast series, staff at University of Technology Sydney spoke to researchers about how they navigate collaboration, engagement – with communities, industry and government – and impact.

Over the years, Australia has had a confused relationship with the impact agenda, with much of this grounded in the vagaries of government. When the idea of a national exercise to evaluate research was first touted in the form of the Research Quality Framework, the focus was to be on both quality and…

Australia has been sampling a variety of tests for measuring research impact for more than a decade, but has yet to settle on whether the ‘impact agenda’ is here to stay.

This is an edited version of a speech given by Glyn Davis, distinguished professor of political science at the Crawford School of Public Policy at Australian National University, at a summit to explore issues of academic freedom and autonomy hosted by the Australian National University.

Starting in 2018, Australian universities will be required to prove their research provides concrete benefits for taxpayers and the government, who fund it.

Evidence shows that the Australian government’s ‘nudge unit’ may be the wrong way to address major problems like inequality, argue Andrew Frain and Randal Tame.