A series of external research audits have consistently shown that the Institute provides an excellent research environment. These successes will be maintained and improved through a variety of actions in the Institute’s Strategic Plan.
As a result of this, the faculties have created research environments that cater to the needs of the cognate disciplines within each faculty. This means that research in different disciplines within the same department has an impact on the way research is organised, as well as the support provided to research students and the management of graduate research degree programmes.
There are many cross-institutional research collaborations at the University and research students are encouraged to participate in collaborative projects when appropriate in order to develop the skills required for participation in research of international excellence.
There are a number of externally-funded initiatives that provide doctoral training in the postgraduate research environment. For example, research degree programmes that combine a structured taught component with the research project are often cross-institutional.
What is an effective research environment?
It has been determined that a successful research environment is one that fosters the behaviours and practises expected in world-class research environments, while also fostering world-class research of the highest quality.
Competition in research
One of the functions of a scientific enterprise’s information, as we’ve seen, is to create competitive advantage. Science-based competitive advantage enhances the influence of researchers in their research environment as well as their strategic position in society.
It is for these reasons that we will briefly touch on this aspect of competition in relation to research results and the acquisition of scientific knowledge.
Competitiveness in the research environment is a well-known phenomenon, and it has been studied extensively. Being competitive pays off as well.
If accepted by the scientific community, research results made public as scientific information contribute to scientific understanding. As a second benefit, the research environment offers well-recognized rewards like scientific positions, tenure, and research projects; requests to review scientific papers and grant proposals; membership on editorial boards or programme committees of international conferences; invited talks at the international level; visiting fellowships; and consulting opportunities in both the research and societal environment. When it comes to acquiring strategic resources from the social environment, recognition and reputation are essential tools for researchers.
Contribution to research environment
What are the most important factors to consider when evaluating CRE? When asked, ‘How important were the following in your assessment of individual portfolio contributions to the research environment?’ you will be asked to rank a series of factors from “not important” all the way to “very important”. The degree of overlap between the two categories of prestige and CRE is an important factor.
Research Integrity
- It is important that researchers have clear policies, practises, and procedures in place.
- Researchers should have access to appropriate learning, training, and mentoring opportunities.
- Systematic implementation of research, research integrity (RI), and behaviour policies.
- Researchers are aware of the expectations placed on them in terms of standards and behaviour.
- Systems that identify potential problems at an early stage and provide support mechanisms.
- Equal treatment
Racial, ethnic, and sexual preferences have no bearing on the ability to conduct research. A researcher’s success is not affected by these factors. Because of this, people should not be put at a disadvantage because of who they are in a research environment. It is unacceptable to encourage competition in a way that disadvantages any identifiable group. Ideally, all students should be subjected to the same level of scrutiny and supervision. As well as complying with the law, researchers have a professional obligation to work to ensure equal access to their profession – particularly if their work is publicly funded.
- Professional practice
To conduct research responsibly, researchers should maintain research environments that adhere to accepted research practises and ethics. Students learn by doing as well as through formal instruction. Because of this, they assume that the practises they observe are appropriate ones, which is not unreasonable. They must maintain research environments that serve as good examples for students. In addition, they should refrain from unreasonable authorship demands, failing to honour agreements made with trainees, cutting corners in research, or engaging in other practises that are in conflict with accepted practises for responsible conduct of research.