Transcript Building and Presenting a Track Record

Building and Presenting
a Track Record
Macquarie Uni, 23 September 2010
Jennie Hudson, [email protected]
John Sutton, [email protected]
Colm Halbert, [email protected]
Jason Davis, [email protected]
(thanks too to Celia Harris)
Building and Presenting
a Track Record
Note
This copy of the slides from this presentation is for informal
support and information only and has no official force.
Please contact Colm Halbert ([email protected]) for
further advice on planning and preparing applications.
In the presentation we used examples from some individual
grants to illustrate these points about track record: these
specific texts have been removed in this version.
You can read copies of successful past ARC applications in
the University Research Office (C5C East, level 3): pop
in, it’s worth looking through a few different examples.
Overview
I. Narrower Focus
 Question F13 in ARC-D applications
 F13.5: most significant contributions
II. Broader Focus
 Building track record: academic
 Managing early career: planning
Overview
 There’s no magical solution for grant success
 Do the work anyway, whether you get the
grant or not: use the application process as a
chance to focus and get started
 Take your time, don’t rush in a weak proposal
 Be scrupulously and precisely honest and
exact, leave no room for assessors’ doubt,
explain everything that might look unusual
 But tell a convincing (truthful) story about each
aspect of your track record, structured in an
integrative fashion across the whole proposal
1. Question F13 in
ARC-D applications
NB Format/ genre changes in 2010 …
Overview of F13
F13.1 Career & opportunities in last 5 years
F13.2 Publications (last 5 years)
F13.3 Ten career-best publications
F13.4 Further impact & contributions (10 yrs)
F13.5 Most significant contributions to this field
F13.6 Fellowships only: your skills/ experience;
research environment; mobility & choice
1. Question F13 in
ARC-D applications
F13.1 Your career & opportunities for research
over the last 5 years
Format choices (c.500 words)
i) years since PhD
ii) research component of employment
iii) nature of academic post, & time in each role
iv) career interruptions
v) research mentoring and research facilities
vi) other relevant aspects of career or
opportunities for research
1. Question F13 in
ARC-D applications
F13.2 Publications since 2006
 notes
 indexing to grants (table at end of F13.2)
 add citation data here
F13.3 Ten career-best publications
 notes
Getting started on citations
(for help contact Jason Davis, [email protected])
1. Question F13 in
ARC-D applications
F13.4
Other evidence of impact and
contributions to the field over the last 10
years (c.1000 words!)
 Research outputs other than publications
 Evidence for quality of all research outputs,
and impact of research relative to opportunity
and discipline expectations.
 Include wide range of research evaluations (…)
 Other measures of impact
Example: 13.4 Further evidence of
impact and contributions to the field
over the last 10 years
Example #1
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Other Research Outputs
(1) competitive grants; (2) publications during and since my PhD;
(3) conference presentations; and (4) other professional activities.
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Evidence for the Quality of Research Outputs
(1) quality of publication outlets; (2) awards, and (3) esteem measures.
Example #2
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Research Funding
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Selected Keynotes/ Lectures
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Editorial & Service
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Professional Service
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Conference organization
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International and cross-disciplinary collaborations
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Awards, Outreach
Question F13 in
ARC-D applications
F13.5
A statement on your most
significant contributions to this
research field (c.500 words!)
The old instructions stated:
‘Taking no more than half an A4 page outline
your contribution to the relevant field, relative
to opportunity, focussing particularly on what
makes this contribution interesting and
unique.’ …
F13.5
Present track record and project
as structurally interlocking
Your unique contributions to the field
(F13.5) should merge with/ reflect:
 the project aims (section C);
 the project’s significance;
 the design and schedule;
 the justification of budget (E2).
Note: ARF/QEII fellowship applicants need to demonstrate
explicitly some independent contributions post PhD.
F13.5:
‘interesting and unique’
 Poor answers
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Merely list outputs
Describe what you’d like to do
Duplicate what’s in F13.4 (impact)
Fail to set contributions in context
 Good answers
 Are neatly structured, showing reflection
 Focus on what’s rare and unusual
 Link directly & explicitly to the project
Question F13 in
ARC-D applications
F13.6
For Fellowship applicants only
 the contribution you will make to the Project:
experience, skills and expertise
 the research environment, that is, the
facilities and support at your host
organisation, including the intellectual
environment to support your Fellowship; and
 Justify the choice of the proposed host
organisation if you intend to remain at your
current organisation.
Part 2: Building track record:
academic aspects
 Ways of remaining idiosyncratic
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Embrace your particular history
Take time … don’t panic
Work out what you do best
Caution is not necessarily rewarded
Follow intellectual instincts
Sift through lots of advice
Judicious use of models
Keep looking for wider connections
Building track record:
academic aspects
 Developing ‘Impact’
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Work in rhythms: stay visible
Make the systems work for your rhythms
Opportunities and burdens
Groups/ teams
Take advantage of local contingency, but
 don’t take local norms as gospel
 Websites and Self-archiving
Managing early career:
planning
 Balancing acts:
accident, pleasure, learning, contact
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teaching and research
supervision and research
admin and research
life and research
 Avoiding shame
 remember how it can be fun
 it’s ok to take some time
Early Career: Building a
track record
Successful mentors
International postdoc
Saying ‘Yes’ to every opportunity
Applying for awards
Regular conference travel
Building collaborations and networks
Applying for grant funding
Connecting with people at a similar career stage
Developing expertise/reputation: Editing; chairing
symposium.
 Direction?
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Building a track record and
parental leave.
 Learning to say ‘No’
 Periods of productivity leading up to
leave
 Flexibility to work from home
 Hiring excellent staff 
 Choosing students wisely
 Accepting that gaps are inevitable
and okay!
Building and Presenting
a Track Record
Macquarie Uni, 23 September 2010
Jennie Hudson, [email protected]
John Sutton, [email protected]
Colm Halbert, [email protected]
Jason Davis, [email protected]
(thanks too to Celia Harris)