Research Active Policy
The revised National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes (October 2007) required
all principal research candidate supervisors to be research active. These requirements were
embedded in the revised Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). The revised Threshold
Standards of the Higher Education Standards Framework (2011) (TEQSA) specifically identify
the need for supervisors to be active only in the category of ‘Higher Education Provider’.
The draft Research Standard proposes:
4. The concept of ‘research-active’ staff is defined and complied with in the implementation of
research policy and practices.
The draft Research Training Standard proposes:
3. Each research student is supervised by a principal supervisor who is research active in the
relevant field of research, there is at least one associate supervisor with relevant research expertise
and continuity of relevant supervisory expertise is maintained throughout the candidature.
The draft Research Standard identified as reference points the Australian Code for the
Responsible Conduct of Research (Australian Government 2007) and Excellence in Research for
Australia.
The release of the Research Standard and the Research Training Standard are still pending.
. The National Protocols defined research activity as follows:
There are three broad types of research activity:
 Basic research is experimental and theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new
knowledge without a specific application in view. It consists of pure basic research which
is work undertaken to acquire new knowledge without looking for long term benefits
other than advancement of knowledge and strategic basic research which is work directed
into specific broad areas in the expectation of useful discoveries thus providing the broad
base of knowledge necessary for the solution of recognised practical problems.

Applied research is original work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge with a
specific application in view. It is undertaken either to determine possible uses for the
findings of basic research or to determine new ways of achieving some specific and
predetermined objectives.

Experimental development is systematic work, using existing knowledge gained from
research or practical experience that is directed to producing new materials, products or
devices, to installing new processes, systems and services, or to improving substantially
those already produced or installed.
It is important to note that only research doctorates and research masters are included as higher
degrees by research (HDR). Coursework masters and professional doctorates are excluded from
this definition.
The Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) (an agency of DEEWR) process
collects research publication data of books, book chapters, articles in refereed journals and
conference proceedings. Books are weighted at 5 points, and all other peer-reviewed publications
at 1. Book reviews are not counted. Institutions seeking university status would need to produce
evidence on publication trends for this indicator over the previous five years.
All approved supervisors, including those appointed by the ACT, must also be active in
scholarship. The definition of scholarship provided in the National Protocols is as follows:
Scholarship in relation to learning and teaching involves:
 demonstrating current subject knowledge and an ongoing intellectual engagement in
primary and allied disciplines and their theoretical underpinnings,


keeping abreast of the literature and new research, including by interaction with peers,
and using that knowledge to inform learning and teaching,
encouraging students to be critical, creative thinkers and enhancing teaching
understanding through interaction with students,

engaging in relevant professional practice where appropriate to the discipline,

being informed about the literature of learning and teaching in relevant disciplines and
being committed to the development of teaching practice, and

focusing on the learning outcomes of students.
In April 2009 the Research and Research Studies Committee revised its policy on supervisors
with some flow on effects regarding the application of the definition of research active to the
different categories of supervisor.
Following two rounds of the Excellence in Research for Australian (ERA) initiative Universities
in Australia have undertaken reviews of their definition of research active. Some are still
finalising their policies. The implication of the draft Research Standard and draft Research
Training Standard is that institutions will not be measured against a rigid definition of research
active. Rather, the emphasis by the regulator will be on demonstrating coherence of a policy and
benchmarking against similar institutions undertaking supervision of higher degree research
candidates.
Review of relevant literature from Universities and institutions related to the Council of Deans of
Theology reveals there is no consistency in the criteria used to determine research activity, or that
supervisors of Higher Degree by Research be research active. The following is a list of criteria
used by these groups to determine research activity:
a member of staff, salaried or honorary, who in the last 24 months has:
 supervised (either as principal supervisor or co-supervisor) a higher degree by research
student; and/or
 earned research income (as defined by the HERDC definition of research income); and/or
 produced any publications (as defined by the HERDC definition of publications).
A more nuanced definition distinguishes between experienced and early-career academics. This
institution’s research active policy requires all academics to produce up to five points in
publications recognised as research publications according to ERA (i.e. DEEWR) criteria over a
five year period, or part time equivalent. It requires experienced academics to achieve at least one
additional outcome from an extensive and wide ranging list of supervisory experiences,
examination experiences, and grant income. It also allows academics to seek research active
status under special circumstances. In addition to the common criteria early-career academics
may gain points towards research active status for a recently completed doctorate.
The principle underpinning this policy is to ensure that supervisors of HDR candidates within the
ACT are up to date in the scholarship of their field and are making a contributing to their field
through dissemination of their research. To this end any definition of research active should
encompass all those aspects of an academic’s work that contribute to his or her advancement in
scholarship and research. At this time it is not proposed to align assessment of research activity
with ERS’s five year cycle but to maintain the current three year cycle. It is also argued that an
unpublished research doctorate less than three years from conferral of the award meets the criteria
of contributing new knowledge in a field of study and should therefore count towards research
activity. The ACT neither distinguishes between research only and teaching positions, nor full
time and part time faculty, therefore it will not set different weightings for academic staff based
on these distinctions. All staff to qualify as research active will need to achieve the set weighting
Having considered University practice and that of similar theological institutions to the ACT, the
ACT will continue to determine research active status over a three year period. To qualify as
research active an academic staff member or honorary staff member must meet the minimum
weighting of three (3) over the three year period.
Criteria used to determine weighting are as follows; weighting in parentheses ( ):
1) Publications as defined and weighted by HERDC collection rules:
a) Book from a commercial publisher (5)
b) Article in a refereed journal (1)
c) Chapter in a book (1)
d) Chapter in proceedings of a conference (1)
e) Published translation with commentary of a scholarly text (3)
f) Performance or showing of a creative work as recognized and peer-reviewed within the
field of study / discipline (1)
2) Principal supervisor’s successful completion of a masters research degree candidate (2)
3) Principal supervisor’s successful completion of a doctoral research degree candidate (3)
4) Co-supervisor’s successful completion of a higher degree by research candidate: masters (1);
doctorate (2)
5) Examination of a higher degree by research thesis or masters project (1)
6) External research income of more than $10,000 (1)
7) External research grant form a scheme on the Australian Competitive Grants Register in
partnership with a colleague in a HESA 2003 Table A or Table B institution. (1)
8) Unpublished research doctoral thesis where conferral for the degree occurred no more than
three years previously (3)
9) Major piece of unpublished work publicly accessible and available for peer review (on case by
case basis) (1)
All supervisors of ACT HDR candidates must be entered on the ACT’s supervisor’s register. One
requirement for registration is that academic staff must be research active as defined above.
Further requirements for registration as a HDR supervisor are detailed in the ACT’s Supervisors’
Policy.
ORIGINAL
REF: RAB0711/10/6
AMENDED
REF: RAB0805/10/1
Mark Harding
Dean 2 May 2008
REF: RC0902-5.2
Graeme Chatfield
Associate Dean
17 April 2009
22 February 2013
RC1405-14.01d
Graeme Chatfield
RER: RC1302-10.02
Associate Dean
Graeme Chatfield
2 May 2014
Associate Dean