Mid Term Review
Achievements
Preparations
Preparations for the ARC mid-term review began in earnest in November 2019, when the Centre staged a mock review held at RMIT University.
Exciton Science was assisted during this process by Professor Peter Taylor, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, which successfully underwent its own mid-term review in 2018.
Also involved were Anita Vecchies and Renae Carolin, who at that time were members of the Innovation and Commercialisation team at University of Melbourne Research.
Initially scheduled for August 2020, the Exciton Science review was delayed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This delay afforded the Centre additional preparation time, including an engaging training workshop delivered by Think Different AnyDay at UNSW Sydney in April 2021.
Upon learning that the review would take place in an online format, the Centre’s leadership made the decision to produce an innovative digital journey through Exciton Science.
This was intended as a mechanism to allow the ARC panelists and other interested parties to move through our world-class research locations and engage with members of the Centre beyond the small cohort involved in the online review interviews from the comfort and safety of their homes.
Exciton Science partnered with regular suppliers Idaho Design to produce the digital platform and Failed Productions to commission bespoke video content, including lab tours, research highlights packages and member interviews.
A further online mock review, with senior Centre personnel performing the role of ARC panelists, took place in the weeks leading up to the official review.
Developing the content
Exciton Science entered the mid-term review process determined to showcase our outstanding members and research excellence as effectively as possible. Consequently, the Centre prepared extensively for this important landmark.
Driven by a working group of senior researchers and operational personnel, we identified a representative sample of members to champion the organisation, from cohorts including the International Scientific Advisory Committee, Centre Advisory Board, early career researchers and postgraduate students.
Extensive work was undertaken by our dedicated administration staff at a Centre-wide and individual node level to collate and verify reporting data on all key performance indicators to support the submission.
The Centre’s Finance Manager worked closely with node administrators and counterparts at our node universities to ensure accurate financial records were prepared to support the submission.
To create our digital story telling platform, we developed an authoritative timeline of Exciton Science’s key milestones and achievements, from the initial funding announcement through the inception of the Centre and on to world-class research impact and the implementation of organisational best practice and progressive policies.
Over the course of several months in early 2021, Exciton Science’s Media, Communications and Outreach personnel worked closely with Failed Productions to interview our members, focusing on personal stories, reflections on their career within the Centre and highlighting their research excellence.
Failed Productions produced innovative lab tours of our facilities at University of Melbourne, UNSW Sydney and Monash University, offering access to the people, equipment and spaces where our transformative work takes place.
Extensive photography took place across our five nodes, equipping individual researchers with professional headshots to boost their career profile, and creating a catalogue of high-quality images to support the mid-term review digital journey and enhance the Centre’s media and communications output in the years ahead.
To support the digital production process, extensive editing and copy writing was required, focused on condensing our complex and highly technical research into narratives and themes more easily accessible for non-specialist audiences, including the ARC’s panel and the general public.
The end result is a rich, engaging journey through one of the world’s leading renewable energy, efficient lighting and nanotechnology research institutes, providing visitors with unique insight into the transformational work that takes place within Exciton Science: https://mtr2021.excitonscience.com/
The review
In May 2021 Exciton Science delivered its mid-term review submission to the Australian Research Council.
This was followed in June by a full day of group and individual online interviews and discussions featuring Centre personnel, held by a panel of independent experts representing the ARC.
The COVID-19 pandemic prevented the ARC panel from visiting a node of Exciton Science.
However, the panelists were provided with the opportunity to immerse themselves in our culture and achievements via an interactive digital journey through the Centre: https://mtr2021.excitonscience.com/
The report found that Exciton Science is achieving and regularly exceeding its stated objectives to:
- Undertake highly innovative and potentially transformational research;
- Link existing Australian research strengths and build critical mass;
- Develop relationships and build new networks with major national and international centres and research programmes;
- Build Australia’s human capacity in a range of research areas by attracting and retaining researchers of high international standing as well as the most promising research students;
- Provide high-quality postgraduate and postdoctoral training environments;
- Offer Australian researchers opportunities to work on large-scale problems over longer periods of time;
- And establish a centre of such repute that it will serve as a point of interaction among higher education institutions, governments, industry and the private sector.
Among its recommendations, the review panel advised the Centre to:
- Increase targets for joint publications between Centre nodes;
- Strengthen existing international and national collaborative relationships;
- Develop and implement strategies to increase uptake of training and professional development opportunities;
- Equip students and early career researchers with the necessary skills to work both in academia and other sectors;
- And establish more formal partnerships with industry and government.
The members of Exciton Science are grateful to the ARC panel for conducting a favourable review of the Centre, and we look forward to implementing their recommendations as we strive to continue our research excellence in the remaining years of the Centre’s operation.