Attracting research funding is part of the job at most universities. As such, you need to allocate some of your working time to do that job. But how much time is needed for writing applications? In 2009, Karen Mow estimated that Australian academics spent, on average, 30–40 days per year writing research council grant applications (Mow, […] … learn more→

Archivists assist users like historians, genealogists, students or citizens in locating, accessing and interpreting archives. Archival reference services have long been seen as services that mediate understanding and dialogue between archivists, users and archives to make documentary objects more accessible and usable. Recent years have seen the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in heritage institutions like libraries, archives, museums and galleries. Researchers […] … learn more→

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed many industries by enabling machines to perform tasks that traditionally require human intelligence. The research community is just one of the groups exploring the benefits of AI in analysing content, organising data and more. However, as with any new technology, there are ethical considerations we must consider […] … learn more→

For many funding agencies, your readers will usually fit into one of two categories: The reviewer is usually a subject specialist. They are being asked to comment on the substance of your proposed research. The panellist usually has a significant profile in the field. They won’t necessarily have a knowledge of your area. Your proposal, […] … learn more→

The word ‘epistemic’ comes from the Greek for ‘relating to knowledge’. Knowledge is usually thought and spoken of as something neutral, but the way knowledge is used is often far from neutral. Knowledge and its use – or misuse – can contribute to justice or injustice, freedom or subjugation, violence or peace. The concepts of epistemic […] … learn more→

Research plays a pivotal role in society. Through research, we gain new understandings, test theories and make discoveries. It also has a huge economic value. In 2021, the CSIRO found every A$1 of research and development investment in Australia creates an average of $3.50 in economy-wide benefits. But how do we know if individual research projects being […] … learn more→

An essential element of a grant application is your description of yourself. How people describe themselves differs markedly across cultures and depends on their audience. You won’t know exactly who will read your application and there will be different audiences through the application process, but you may be able to understand their cultural biases in […] … learn more→

Time is one of those things that most of us take for granted. We spend our lives portioning it into work-time, family-time and me-time. Rarely do we sit and think about how and why we choreograph our lives through this strange medium. A lot of people only appreciate time when they have an experience that […] … learn more→

Funders can seem a little like the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. For four centuries, supplicants approached the Oracle, seeking wisdom and hoping for prophecies of good fortune. No one was entirely sure how she arrived at her decision. All were slightly fearful. None looked too closely or too directly at her. But all […] … learn more→

There’s a lot of information out there about the differences between working as a researcher in an academic context compared with an industry one. However, most of these articles (like this recent one) tend to focus on the ‘hard’ sciences and offer insights into the differences between working as a scientist in a university versus […] … learn more→