Making Research Data Available in Australia

Addressing global environmental and societal challenges requires robust, interdisciplinary data ecosystems that support collaboration across geographic, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries. AuScope, Australia’s National Research Infrastructure (NRI) provider for the geoscience community, collaboratively tackles interdisciplinary grand challenges such as climate change, natural resource security, and natural hazards. AuScope is funded by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) and integrates tools, data, analytics, and services across Australian research and government agencies, in particular, partnering with organisations at the forefront of research data systems and infrastructure.Through collaborations with CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, state and territory geological surveys, universities, and other NCRIS facilities, including the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), and the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), AuScope is addressing the complexities of modern FAIR data management at scales ranging from small scale local installations to co-located High Performance Compute and Data (HPCD) Platforms. Key AuScope initiatives such as Geophysics 2030 Collections (https://ardc.edu.au/project/2030-geophysics-collections/), AusGeochem (https://ausgeochem.auscope.org.au/), the Modelling Atlas of The Earth (M@TE; https://mate.science), and the AuScope Data Repository (https://repository.data.auscope.org.au/) exemplify how the FAIR principles can be operationalised to support impactful research both within and beyond the geosciences and at multiple scales.Nationally, AuScope collaborates with other Earth and Environmental Research Infrastructure providers, working to transform Australia’s research capabilities through, for example, Coastal Research Infrastructure (CoastRI) and implementing the National Digital Research Infrastructure Strategy (NDRI). Globally, AuScope contributes to initiatives like OneGeochemistry, the CODATA-led WorldFAIR Plus project, EarthScope (US), EPOS, Geo-INQUIRE, and ChEESE (Europe), ensuring compatibility with international research infrastructures, data standards, and best practices while at the same time, aligning with Australia’s geoscience priorities. This presentation will highlight how AuScope is progressively operationalising the FAIR and TRUST principles across its investments by focusing on place-based research to foster interoperability, strategic collaboration, and Open Science practices. By aligning with the CARE principles as well as advancing collaborative data infrastructure, AuScope creates trusted, interoperable data ecosystems that empower researchers to effectively and efficiently address pressing interdisciplinary societal challenges at both a national and international scale.

In this paper, we compare the distributions of socially optimal public funding between private and public research sectors in cooperative and noncooperative R&D settings in the presence of externalities. We show that the proportion of public funding allocated to the private sector research always increases with the level of inter‐firm spillovers but decreases with the concentration of the industry. This share is smaller (larger) when firms cooperate in R&D than when they do not for high (low) spillovers. Moreover, increases in public knowledge externalities to the private sector due to a closer proximity (distance) between the two research sectors increase the share allocated to the public sector regardless of whether firms cooperate or not in R&D.

This study brings together public and private sector research on change management to highlight the important role of public servants as recipients of change, which is underemphasized in the public management literature. In doing so, we identify and operationalize factors of managing successful change—involved communication and change recipients’ beliefs. The effect of involved communication on developing employees’ readiness for change is explored. Data were collected from public sector research and development organizations in Pakistan. The results of the structural equation modeling support the positive role of involved communication in developing employees’ readiness for change. Employees’ organizational identification and change recipients’ beliefs also exhibit a significant mediating role in the above-stated relationship. This study significantly contributes to the existing literature of change management in the public sector by focusing on employees as key players in an organization’s change process. Practical implications and future research directions are also discussed.

This paper will describe the genesis and realisation of the Australian National Data Service (ANDS). It will commence by outlining the context within which ANDS was conceived, both in the international research and Australian research support domains. It will then describe the process that brought about the ANDS vision and the principles that informed the realisation of that vision. The paper will then outline each of the four ANDS programs (Developing Frameworks, Providing Utilities, Seeding the Commons, and Building Capabilities) while also discussing particular items of note about the approach ANDS is taking. The paper concludes by briefly examining related work in the UK and US.

Digital publishing is changing the way in which research, particularly in the humanities, is being undertaken and it offers a range of transformative possibilities and challenges to traditional disciplines and to the nature of the printed text. The technical manipulation of information and the construction of new content that can be customised, modified, disseminated, and accessed within a global, distributed network provide new opportunities for the humanities researcher. As a way of illustrating our argument, we discuss the Children's Literature Digital Resources (CLDR) project, with with we are involved, and explore a range of emerging new media and their impact on research in the humanities and education.

Both the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) and its embedded technology diffusion exponentially progress and grow in terms of technical change and socioeconomic impact. The aim of this study was the evaluation of research and development efficiency in the public and private sectors in EU countries. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology, within which the slack-based model was applied, was used to achieve this aim. The Malmquist index (MI) was used to calculate changes in research and development efficiency during 2010/2013 and 2014/2017. The results present a decrease in total Research and Development (R&D) productivity in public and private sectors for an average of EU countries (28). However, Spain, Slovenia, and Portugal (in the public sector), and Ireland and Romania (in the private sector) revealed an increase of a total R&D productivity during 2010/2013 and 2014/2017 that was primarily influenced by an increase of technical efficiency (catch-up effect). Similarly, the results confirm the differences in R&D efficiency in private and public sectors in the European countries. The study’s results also provide a valuable platform for creators of national strategic and innovative investment and educational plans, and creators of relevant policies and create a platform for national and international benchmarking indicators.

The main objective of the study was to compare management disruptions and business growth in both public and private sector enterprises. It involved four public sectors and four private sector enterprises, which comprised 221 respondents from staff and management of the enterprises as the sample size for the study. A stratified sampling technique was adopted for the study. Validated structured questionnaires were used for data collection. The statistical techniques adopted for processing the data and testing the hypotheses for this study were comparing mean using independent samples t-test via the use of statistical package for social science (SPSS) software version 21. Descriptive statistics and frequency analysis was used to explain the tables of the various variables. The mean response was tested using a student t-test. The findings of the study revealed that personal values which is the first variable revealed that there is no significant difference in ethical leadership and business growth between the Public and Private enterprises (Sig = .728, P>0.05). Similarly, Social values which is the second variable showed that there is no significant difference in management disruptions and business growth between the Public and Privateenterprises (Sig =.238, P>0.05). Moral values which is the third variable showed that there is also no significant difference in management disruptions and business growth between the Public and Private enterprises (Sig =.007,P>0.05). The study concluded that the leadership of the public and private enterprise should have the ethical values, interpersonal qualities and capabilities to carry out the different tasks as needed by the organizations. Hence, the study recommended that the efforts in promoting management disruptions practices in public and private enterprises must start and be perceptible at the top of the organization.

Slides for a talk given on October the 5th, 2015, as part of the COMPASS Spring Seminar Series 2015 by Prof Mark Gahegan from the Centre for eResearchAbstract: Researchers need a variety of data services to support their work, from archives, to backups, through to data sharing and eventually data publishing. And it is very clear that our funding agencies will soon follow suit with those in the USA, EU, Australia and elsewhere and require researchers to make publicly funded research data available to others in most cases, though of course ensuring confidentiality of individuals where necessary. The talk will begin by describing some of these services, what we understand that researchers and funders need and how we go about ensuring such services are provided by our institutions. But this is just the beginning. In the burgeoning era of open (and sometimes data-led) research, new possibilities and challenges for how we describe, find, share and reuse data are waiting around every corner. Some of these may radically change how we conduct research, some could dramatically improve the effectiveness of the research sector at large. What we think of as data, and even as research, will change as a result.

PurposeState-owned enterprises (SOEs) are essential tools to further policy objectives across the world. However, in the past few decades, heated debates on the performance of SOEs vis-à-vis private sector enterprises have surfaced. In India, SOEs have long played an important role in the economy and only recently have undergone the trend of privatization. The purpose of this paper is to analyze existing research and to conclude whether private enterprises perform better than SOEs.Design/methodology/approachA review of available literature on performance comparisons of public and private sector enterprises is carried out, and differences between public and private enterprises are studied. Finally, theoretical propositions on the differences in objectives of public and private enterprises in the Indian context are enumerated. Three propositions are tested using data on Indian SOEs available in the public domain.FindingsPerformance comparisons of public and private enterprises have focused merely on technical productivity or financial aspects and have thus left out the wide scope of social, economic and political objectives of SOEs. Literature on the nature of SOEs indicates that there are certain fundamental differences in the objectives of public and private sector enterprises. Further, the basic theoretical assumptions tested have been found to be, prima facie, valid in the Indian context. The paper thus establishes a case for further research to develop a comprehensive technique for the comparison of public and private sector enterprises in the Indian context.Originality/valueExtant research on the subject of comparing public and private entries has limited itself to technoeconomic considerations and has not taken into account the different objectives/nature of these enterprises. The study established a case for diverging from the present discourse privatization and private sector supremacy. The same could have far-reaching consequences for policymakers, especially in developing countries.

Objective. This study reviewed the current health research and development environment in the Philippines with respect to the engagement between the public and private sectors. The overall objective was to identify the role of the private sector in health research and identify barriers and opportunities for successful public-private health research partnerships.
 Methods. Key informant interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview tool. Secondary data such as annual reports and project funding documents from the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development were also analyzed.
 Results. The roles of the private sector when engaging with the public sector for research and development were identified as generators, funders, and adopters of research. Information gathered showed that there were several institutional and practice barriers to the successful collaboration of the public and private sectors, however there were also lessons learned from the successes of cases such as the Axis-Knee System, Sambong, and Lagundi technologies.
 Conclusion. The collaboration and partnership of the public and private sectors can be mutually beneficial. Government initiative to increase the ease of collaboration with the private sector in health research was found to be a necessary step to stimulate a productive health research environment.

The workshop brings together differing perspectives on what makes research data possible. How data is made represents an on‐going negotiation between a number of elements. It reflects, firstly, the nature of disciplines and the complex way this is linked to cultures of research data and data sharing. Secondly, data is made across the complex temporalities within different practices of its management. Thirdly, it increasingly reflects the influences of data policies: working at the international and national, down to institutional level. Fourthly, it is also shaped by the renegotiation of professional interests and relationships such as between librarians, computing services, archivists and research administrators. And, fifthly, data is being shaped within models of education and training of current and new information professionals. The panel seeks to bring together a diverse range of participants to explore appropriate theories and methodologies for work in this field, using a conversation cafe format, and based on discussions around the five elements.

Editorial: Australian Chemistry under the Spotlight

PurposeTo examine the way the Government accounting and capital charging system allows for depreciation. Like the private sector, it is designed as an accounting measure of the consumption of assets. Unlike the private sector, it has no tax implications. Beyond accounting for asset consumption it does not seem to be a particularly useful tool of asset management. This professional paper examines the role of depreciation in the public sector, notes some shortcomings and asks whether its role could usefully be developed.Design/methodology/approachIt examines the existing professional standards and guidelines within which public sector property managers work and looks at a selection of the literature on depreciation generally with a view to shedding light on public sector asset management.FindingsCurrently the utility of the measures of depreciation for asset managers is limited. With extra work and research, economic measures of depreciation could be devised which might provide a broad measure of the consumption of assets or the deterioration of larger portfolios of property that can be valued on a market basis.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research should focus on the stability of the model when other portfolios are used and for different periods of the real estate cycle. It would also be fruitful to dig deeper in the relation between capital expenses and property values.Practical implicationsWith further work measures of economic depreciation may be designed to provide broad indicators of the deterioration of large public sector portfolios of assets such as offices or housing.Originality/valueOf interest to asset managers, public sector finance managers and researchers in this sphere who have to deal with the long‐term investment in non‐specialised public sector property portfolios.

Greek science: hope in crisis

In economic terms research, development, and innovation encompasses the development and application of scientific and technological achievements that improve products and services or production processes, as well as the organizational conditions in which they are produced. These achievements increase productivity, and thus affect economic growth and development. Lately, innovation and information technology have become an important instrument for advancing and meeting the needs of public interest. Some country’s achievements and potentials in this area are directly related to financial investments, the number of researchers, the results and quality of research, research infrastructure and so on. The most developed countries, such as the US, Japan and China, are also the most innovative, their allocations for research and development lead over the world. Knowledge-based economies prevail in those countries, with significant allocation by business sector in research and development. Although it lags slightly behind, European Union also seeks to improve these areas. Conversely, Bosnia and Herzegovina has only allocated 0.2% of gross domestic product for research and development over the last five years. The aim of this article is to research and show the trends of these investments in the EU and in selected countries in the world and region, as well as the comparation of other appropriate indicators. Under an analysis of the achievements of earlier research, point to opportunities to improve the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.