Research

Murdoch University has an impressive track record for high-quality research, especially in the areas of translational research. The University’s Strategic Plan 2012-2017 outlines an aspirational strategy to position Murdoch as a leading university in the East Asian region.

Murdoch will be a research-led university with a reputation for high-quality international research in selected areas of knowledge, engaging with significant social and scientific challenges of our time.

Research is an integral component of the University’s teaching and learning mission. The University plans to instil the principles of research-led teaching and evidence-based practice across all of the degree courses.

Outstanding research in key areas

Building research capacity is essential to enhance the University’s local and international reputation and ensure long-term sustainability. The University will enhance existing areas of research excellence, restore some areas that have stalled and actively pursue several new areas of research activity.

The University’s status as a high-quality research university was confirmed by the 2012 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) results, with 85 per cent of its assessed research fields rated as world standard or above. This performance is stronger in 2012 than it was in 2010. The number of fields rated “well above world standard” increased from five to seven, and the strengths in units rated as “above world standard” was retained.

The University’s research was ranked “well above world standard” in the areas of physical chemistry, crop and pasture production, resources engineering and extractive metallurgy, agricultural biotechnology, clinical sciences, immunology, and medical microbiology.

The University will use this expertise in medical and health science to facilitate knowledge and commercial partnerships arising from the intended growth of the precinct to the East of the University. The Murdoch Activity Centre, comprising the Fiona Stanley Hospital and the expanded St John of God Hospital plus a concentration of specialised medical practices and organisations, will generate synergies in biomedical research and other fields in which the University is keen to participate.

The University’s research centres and institutes were reviewed during the year with the aim of consolidating these centres to increase capacity and capability. Investigations to identify key research areas for strategic investment will continue in 2013.

A global university

The University was a core partner in the Plant Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre bid that received extension funding for six more years. Biosecurity has emerged as a major global issue. Harmful plant pests and diseases can impact on food safety, trade, market access, market development and ultimately the profitability and sustainability of plant industries.

In November, it was announced that the University will be administering a grant of almost $1 million from the National Health and Medical Research Council – European Union (NHMRC-EU) to build a database of rare diseases. This pooling of information, including clinical and genetic information, research and trial datasets from across Australia and the world, will give medical researchers more to work with in their investigations into conditions like Muscular Dystrophy, Cystic Fibrosis and Motor Neurone Disease. The project’s partners will include the University’s Centre for Comparative Genomics and the Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

Supporting research and development

The University’s research income for the year was $30,184,000. Funding bodies included the Australian Research Council, the Grain Research and Development Research Corporation, the Health Department of Western Australia, Fisheries WA, BHP Billiton, the Water Corporation, ESPN and the Cities of Rockingham, Mandurah and Cockburn.

To increase the number of competitive grant applications and their success rate, there was investment in the Research and Development Office in 2012. A greater level of support will be given to academic staff in preparation of proposals and applications. Post-award support for administration of research grants will be strengthened. Additional resources in 2013 will enable the Knowledge Transfer team to improve research outcomes and develop links with the Western Australian business community.

During the year, many University staff received recognition of their expertise through awards, speaking invitations and scholarships. Professor Bernard Dell’s contribution to sustainable forestry in China was acknowledged in September when he was the only foreign expert invited to speak at the 50th Anniversary of the Research Institute of Tropical Forestry. PhD student Fiona Anderson received national recognition for her investigation into meat quality at the prestigious Science and Innovation Awards for Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Physicist Dr Mark McHenry will undertake research in the United States after winning a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. He will spend six months with Sandia National Laboratories investigating how industries that are important across Western Australia can be more energy, carbon and water use efficient via the use of new technologies. Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Bolton was awarded the Australian Dictionary of Biography Medal, marking his 50 years of service to the reference guide.

Encouraging national and international collaborations

To support collaborations with world leading scholars and universities, the Sir Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professorship and Distinguished Collaborator schemes were established in 2012.

These programs are intended to raise the University’s profile among the global research community. Eight Adjunct Professors were appointed in 2012 along with 16 Distinguished Collaborators. The University aims to grow these programs in 2013.

The Sir Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professorial Scheme supported the collaboration of researchers who already understood each other’s work and sought to cement an ongoing relationship. It encouraged established researchers to include those more junior in their research endeavors so as to build depth and strength in research expertise across the University.

The Sir Walter Murdoch Distinguished Collaborator Scheme supported embryonic collaborations with the view that successful collaborations would develop into Sir Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professorial appointments. Some of the universities involved in the collaboration schemes were the University of Oxford, the University of Copenhagen, Pennsylvania State University, the National University of Singapore and Hokkaido University.

A new research centre, which will investigate media and communications management in Australia, China and across the Asia Pacific region, opened in June. The Asia Pacific Centre for Media Economics and Communications Management Research is a partnership between Murdoch and the Communication University of China in Beijing. The Centre will allow academics from both institutions to research media governance and policy, the management of media organisations, political and marketing communication and cross-cultural learning.

Another joint research centre, which aims to improve international competitiveness for Australian grain growers by mapping the entire wheat protein genome, opened in late 2012. The Australia-China Centre for Wheat Quality is a partnership between researchers from Murdoch and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Researchers will aim to duplicate the Human Genome Project for the 100,000 proteins found in wheat. Wheat proteins control attributes for disease resistance and climate adaptability as well as quality traits such as colour, texture and taste. Funding for the Centre was announced by the former Minister for Tertiary Education Senator Chris Evans and Chinese Vice-Minister of Science and Technology Mr Wang Zhigang in December.

In November Murdoch University hosted the 2012 Omics Australasia Symposium, which brought leading omics researchers, industry and government together to identify and collaboratively work on common goals. Omics refers to a field of study in biology ending in omics, such as genomics, proteomics or metabolomics. The symposium was managed and run by the University’s Separation Sciences and Metabolomics group and gave a number of Murdoch University academics the opportunity to network with peers from across the globe. Among the speakers was one of the world’s most popular and downloaded science presenters Dr Chris Smith, from Cambridge University, who is also known as The Naked Scientist.

A quality PhD environment

Creating a high-quality PhD and postdoctoral development environment is vital to increasing research capacity. The Graduate Research Education and Training program provided more than 575 hours of training for graduate research degree students. One of the largest programs of its type in Australia, it offers students free seminars in research skills, statistics, computing, ethics, copyright, academic writing and publishing, plus a range of other topics. It also hosts an award-winning series of programs on thesis writing.

Participation in the Murdoch University Postgraduate Student Association (MUPSA) Multidisciplinary Postgraduate Conference continued to grow with its third conference, run during the year, being the largest held. At the conference, students presented their research in a formal but friendly academic forum and senior postgraduates were trained in the process of peer review.