Exciton Science Key Performance Targets (KPIs)

This is an examination of total activities and outputs logged since the Centre’s internal tracking system became operational in 2018 (Figure 1).

The volume of Centre activities increased year on year from 2018 to 2020, consistent with expectations and reflecting progress from nascent stage to relative maturity in research collaboration and productivity.

COVID-19 restrictions on movement and laboratory access were not fully reflected in 2020, as work based on experiments conducted prior to the onset of the pandemic was able to be published within expected timeframes.

The impact of COVID-19 became more apparent from 2021 onwards. The majority of work initiated prior to the pandemic had now been published, but collaboration and experiments had been unable to take place in expected volumes due to restrictions on movement.

Domestic and international research collaborations, as well as collaborations with industry, were badly affected by the pandemic. This was due to border closures and tight restrictions on travel between and within cities in Australia.

Video meeting software enabled members to remain connected, but anecdotal evidence suggests this medium is less productive in terms of generating new ideas and building relationships than in-person events.

The significant drop in international engagement can be seen in Figure 2. From 2017 to 2019, Exciton Science received over 40 international visitors each year. This number dropped to five in 2020 and zero in 2021

The volume of members travelling to collaborate outside Australia also dropped significantly, with visits to international laboratories decreasing from 52 in 2019 to three in 2020. The Centre struggled to initiate new international collaborations in 2020 and 2021 due to travel restrictions.

Despite these obstacles, international collaboration was able to continue in a modified form. In 2021, 61 of 97 Centre publications were written in collaboration with international authors.

Although Australia’s borders were closed, Centre members were able to participate in 19 conferences held by our partners and collaborators overseas, from a total of 51 conference participations.

Events were significantly impacted by COVID-19. Our 2020 and 2021 annual workshops were cancelled. Online seminars offered a mechanism for members to discuss research while being unable to meet in person, and some outreach activities were able to take place virtually or remotely. However, engagement in these virtual formats appeared to diminish as the pandemic entered its second year. Exciton Science also had fewer opportunities to sponsor relevant conferences, which would ordinarily have formed part of the Centre’s approach to branding, promotion and profiling to research audiences.

The Centre is satisfied that the volume of research publications has remained steady from 2019 onwards, despite the impact of COVID-19. Without the limitations imposed by the pandemic, we would have expected our output to grow considerably beyond 2019 levels year on year.

The Centre expected to experience a reasonably high rate of personnel turnover in the middle years of its lifespan. Instead, due to COVID-19, many research fellows and PhD students had less opportunity to complete research projects and seek other positions or opportunities during the pandemic. Border closures prevented new international staff and students from joining or starting work within the Centre. In 2021, Exciton Science missed its target of 70 PhD students, with 64 enrolling across the year.