Faculty Research Committee Terms of Reference

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Faculty Research Committees (FRC) play a key role in research management at UoW, serving as the primary link between the University Research Committee (URC) and its various committees and the research and research training activities within the faculties. FRCs are pivotal in the dissemination and implementation of policies and procedures concerning research and higher degree research supervision and the selection mechanisms for URC research and postgraduate awards. Beyond this, FRCs may also act within faculties to promote and develop research excellence.

Membership

FRC membership will vary with each faculty, but should reflect the scope of research activities within the faculty, including representation of research strengths, as well as faculty strategic research areas. Further, because the FRC has carriage of policies and procedures supporting Higher Degree Research (HDR) students enrolled in the faculty, the committee should include appropriate representation of Postgraduate Coordinators (or Heads of Postgraduate Studies (HPS)) across the academic units within the faculty. Deputy Chairs of the URC and Chairs of URC Committees (e.g. Animal and Human Research Ethics, Biosafety, Postgraduate Research Policy, Thesis Examination, Intellectual Property) who are also members of a faculty should sit on that faculty’s FRC to ensure that the work of these URC arms feeds back to the faculties. Finally, faculties may determine the suitability of other members of such URC committees to become full FRC members or periodically invite them to report to the FRC on matters of faculty relevance.

It is not required that each of the roles above be filled by separate individuals; some individuals may fulfil more than one of the described roles (e.g. department heads are often the unit HPS, an Ethics Committee member may also be a Postgraduate Coordinator). The Deputy FRC Chair, appointed by the Chair, can be any member of the FRC. With the exception of the (HDR) student representative and the Manager of Innovation & Commercial Development (MICD), all members of the FRC should hold academic or research positions at UoW.

Thus, FRC membership should include:

Chair
Deputy Chair
Dean of Faculty (ex officio)
Research Strength Director(s) and/or Research Unit Leader(s)
Heads of Schools/Departments and/or Postgraduate Coordinators or HPS
HDR student representative (excluding staff members who are also HDR students)
Members of URC Committees
Faculty Manager of Innovation & Commercialisation (MIC)

Note that the HDR student and MIC will not participate in ranking of grant and scholarship applications.

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Key Roles:

Roles of the FRC Chair

The FRC Chair is appointed by the Dean of the Faculty, in consultation with the PVC(R). The Chair has responsibilities to both the URC and the FRC and is a member of both the University Research Standing Committee (URSC) and the URC itself. The Deputy Chair should serve in lieu of the Chair in all aspects of the position whenever the Chair is unavailable.

URC Responsibilities
The primary URC role of the FRC Chair is to provide the link between faculty’s research interests and URC business. This includes, but is not limited to: development of research policy and procedures, providing faculty input in the selection of URC research and postgraduate awards, providing faculty feedback on URC research issues, advising the PVC(R) on faculty research issues, and discussing issues concerning research practice and management at university level. Note that as a member of URSC in matters of ranking and allocation of scholarships and grants, the FRC Chair must act in accord with the best interest of the University as a whole, not solely as an advocate for the Faculty. To accomplish these ends, the FRC Chair attends and participates in URSC and URC meetings, informal meetings (e.g. FRC Chairs’ breakfast) and contributes to Working Parties as necessary.

Faculty Responsibilities
At the faculty level, the FRC Chair is responsible for interpreting and disseminating information from the Research and Innovation Division and URC policies and procedures and should lead in their faculty-based implementation. The Chair is responsible for setting agendas and holding regular meetings of the FRC to advance both URC and Faculty research management. As a member of the Faculty Executive Committee, the FRC Chair, with the Dean and key researchers in the faculty, should play a central role in producing the Faculty Research Plan and be proactive in its implementation and in monitoring its outcomes through the FRC. The Chair, with input from the FRC, has responsibility for reporting to the URC on research activity within the faculty and the use of the URC component of the Faculty research budget.

The FRC Chair should liaise with key researchers in the faculty and with their MICD to keep apprised of potential research and funding opportunities within the faculty. The Chair also serves as the faculty contact for the Research and Innovation Division and as such, receives a range of research-related announcements for distribution to faculty researchers.

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Roles of the Faculty Research Committee

Faculty Research Management and Development

The FRC is collectively responsible for the interpretation, dissemination and implementation of the research policies and procedures of the URC and its committees to members of the Faculty. The FRC has the responsibility to:

1. ensure that mechanisms for the support, mentoring and funding of Early Career Researchers are established (via the URC Faculty Research Grant and/or Research Strength support);
2. recommend ranking of faculty candidates for URC research and postgraduate awards;
3. review and implement the Faculty Research Plan;
4. further the promotion and development of research activities and research excellence within the faculty; and
5. serve as a forum for the discussion of ideas, issues and opportunities that concern research within the faculty.

The FRC may also have carriage of Faculty-based research initiatives (see below).

Support for Higher Degree Research Students

The FRC is responsible for the broad oversight of matters concerning postgraduate research students and ensuring that Faculty arrangements for HDR student supervision meet the requirements of the UoW Code of Practice, Supervision. This also includes the responsibility for disseminating and implementing policy and procedures developed by the URC Postgraduate Research Policy Committee. The FRC, through the Faculty Research Grants and/or URC Research Strength support, ensures the provision of research funds and adequate infrastructure for HDR students. Though the logistics of this may devolve to academic or research units, the FRC is responsible for reporting annually in the Faculty Research Report to the URC on HDR support.

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Additional FRC Faculty-based Research Initiatives

As noted above, FRC Chairs and FRC Committees are encouraged to expand their promotion of research excellence and management of research and HDR students within their faculty. Such activities should be identified and reported in the Faculty Research Plan. Although the URC does not provide blanket funds for such initiatives, faculties can request URC funding in the Faculty Research Grant application to partially support innovative activities. Examples of such faculty-based endeavours include grant editing services, mentoring and support for early career researchers, research performance awards, and faculty research grant schemes.

Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality of FRC and URC Committees

Because the members of FRCs and the URSC often discuss and are privy to confidential matters regarding ranking and the award of research grants and scholarships, it is essential that all members maintain confidentiality with respect to discussions and outcomes of URC and FRC meetings relating to individual applications. FRC Chairs may provide feedback to unsuccessful applicants once they have been advised of the outcomes by the Research and Innovation Division.

Members of URC and FRC Committees should not participate in ranking applications in which they have a direct interest (either as an applicant on grants or supervisor of an HDR Student). In such cases, the member should declare a conflict of interest and absent themselves during any discussion of the relevant application(s).

- April 2005