Part 2: Key Centres and Special Research Centres

Special Research Centres (SRCs) and Key Centres (KCs) are a type of research institute that is unique to Australia. Both have a dedicated research budget and set of research goals. Additionally, KCs have an obligation in training and educating, usually at senior undergraduate and postgraduate level. SRCs tend to be focused on an individual research problem requiring a lot of work, whereas KCs tend to be associated with an industry and the range of problems it faces. Here, we talk to two research centre directors about their experiences.

Professor Ary Hoffmann is the director of the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research (CESAR) at La Trobe University. Monash and Melbourne universities are also participants in this SRC. The aim of CESAR is to understand how organisms adapt to stress using experimental model systems, and to disseminate this information to industry and the community.

Professor Hoffmann received his BSc (Hons) from Monash University in 1980 and his PhD from La Trobe University in 1984. He worked at the University of California at Davis before coming to La Trobe University in 1986. In 1987 he won both the Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution and the Young Investigator Award from the American Naturalists Society. In 1998 he was appointed to a personal chair. His research interests are in the areas of evolutionary biology and pest control with a particular emphasis on how organisms deal with environmental stresses. He has published extensively on evolutionary responses of Drosophila and other organisms to environmental changes, the evolution of Wolbachia infections and their hosts, genetic improvement of Trichogramma wasps for biological control and the population biology of pest species of mites.

Professor Michael Humphreys is the director of the Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology based at the University of Queensland. The other participating institutions are the Universities of South Australia, New South Wales, Sydney, and Newcastle, along with Swinburne University of Technology, and Macquarie University. The KC aims to improve human performance and the design of technological systems, focusing on information technology, workplace safety and human-movement studies.

Professor Humphreys received his BA from Reed College in 1964 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1970. He taught at the University of British Columbia and Northwestern University before coming to the University of Queensland in 1979. In 1991 he was appointed to a personal chair and elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. From 1994 to 1996 he served as the Head of the Department of Psychology. His research interests are in the areas of human memory and performance. He has published extensively on basic issues in human memory and in the areas of learning disabilities and the effects of motivation on human performance. Much of his recent work has focussed on memory errors.

What are the main differences between research centres and university research groups?

AH: I guess there are 3 main differences. The first one is size - a research centre is usually larger which enables you to undertake a lot of collaboration, which is the second main difference. The funding is also much longer term than the usual 3 year ARC [Australian Research Council] cycle - with an SRC you can actually get funding for 9 years. It provides both a critical mass of people and stability in funding.

MH: The commitment of the staff to the centre is also quite different. That sometimes takes the form of people deferring their own projects in the interests of tackling some of the big problems faced by the centre. The commitment of the staff also determines the success of the centre, which will determine what will happen at the end of the funding period.

What are the advantages for scientists working in research centres?

MH: There are often better levels of research infrastructure, in the form of equipment, technical staff and broader expertise. Teaching loads are often less in a KC than in a university department, allowing a greater focus on research. The existence of the centre may also help in obtaining research support from non-traditional sources such as industry.

AH: The stability of an SRC means you can take risks in your research program and take a long-term perspective. You have the opportunity to do some really good blue-sky research. You can also make use of a range of expertise that wouldn't otherwise be available. From my perspective, being part of an SRC is the only way that you can tackle the big problems these days - otherwise you're just plugging in holes.

What happens to the research group once the funding period for the centre finishes?

MH: A KC's funding dries up after 6 years, and I think we'd all like to know the answer to that question. The guidelines for the applications of KCs clearly state that the centre should be self-supporting by the end of the funding period - that means teaching, consultancies and contract research. In the current climate where there's not a lot of research funding around and not a lot of support from industry, the further existence of KCs is going to be precarious. It's not going to be an easy job to survive after the 6 years, but I think it is possible.

AH: An SRC has 9 years of funding, provided you pass the three and six year reviews. While you have SRC status you try to develop lots of interaction with industry so that you can attain a degree of self-funding. Of course a centre like ours does a large amount of public good research as well, and we would expect to be able to get continued ARC funding for that work in the future.

Is a focus on inter-disciplinary research?

AH: Very much so. That's part of a successful SRC application. Like most research centres, we have people from a wide variety of backgrounds. It makes for a very exciting atmosphere as everyone has different experiences and expertise that they can bring to the common problem.

MH: Yes there is. Much of what we do is described as cognitive science, which is a combination of psychology and computer science. And a lot of what we do is about transferring research ideas to industry. That's where a lot of the interesting new problems are, so that’s a focus of a lot of new research groups.

How are the research goals of research centres determined?

AH: Basically, the goals are set to some extent by the original application to the ARC, but we also modify the goals to an extent in consultation with the Advisory Board [external overseers]. The Management Committee and Advisory Board work in conjunction with individual scientists to develop the research strategy.

MH: In a lot of ways we are still working that out. A lot of that is in the initial application, but as some of those are achieved or become less important, a variety of discussions steer the research being performed.

Collaboration is an important part of working in research centres; in what way has being in a research centre changed your approach to research?

MH: I don't think it has changed my approach to research as I have had a very long history of collaboration over the years. Perhaps the major change for me is that I am more in a position of facilitating other peoples' research rather than doing my own. Fundamentally, research centres don't change the way people do research; they just make it a lot easier.

AH: We've only been established now for 10 months, but it has already been quite exciting. It means that I can go and talk to a number of people that I wouldn't have ready access to otherwise. You also have many more people working on the one problem and that generates some powerful synergies. I think it has also helped me refocus in terms of finding the best way of tackling problems.

Does being based across a number of different universities present a challenge?

MH: We involve seven different universities, and it certainly creates a travel bill as we fly people around the country to get together. At some times it can be quite hard to coordinate so many people, but it also provides us with a great deal of strength with a range of skills.

AH: Our centre is split across three different universities, all based in Melbourne. There aren't any real problems for us operating at that scale because we have regular meetings and exchanges of students, postdocs and other research staff. We also have a regular seminar series that rotates and we are developing guest lectures in undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

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