Research at Bond University has grown significantly over the past nine years. The substantial increase in the majority of our volumetric research indicators demonstrates an increasing commitment to improving Bond’s research profile. It is anticipated that the greater emphasis Bond has recently placed on increasing its research presence will enable our growth in research indicators to continue on its upward trajectory.  

HERDC Indicators

Bond’s increased commitment to research and its efficient administration is reflected in the substantial increase in HERDC-reportable publications and income. The introduction of Research Master and a more rigorous reporting process is in part responsible for the significant jump in HERDC-reportable publications from 2008 to 2009. From 2009 to 2010, Bond also reported a 20% increase in publications, much of this is due to a substantially improved output from the Faculty of Law and to a lesser extent the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences and Health Sciences and Medicine. From 2010-2011 a slight decrease in the number of publications was recorded due to a change in the HERDC publication rules regarding reprints of books. The breakdown in weighted HERDC publications by Faculty for 2011 can be seen in figure two.

HERDC-reportable income, on average, has also continued to grow (figure three). The recent gain in income from 2010-2011 is due to an increase of $479,919, most of which is due to an increase in Category 1: Nationally Competitive Grants and large private funders. The proportion that Faculties received in 2011 is illustrated in figure four with the division into categories indicated in figure five.

Figure six shows the change in HERDC reportable income by category 2009 -2011. Our growth in Category 1, Nationally Competitive Grants has been a significant achievement for Bond. Category 1 consists only of income from those research schemes and programs listed on the 2012 Australian Competitive Grants Register (ACGR). The following research schemes contributed to the 2011 Category 1 increase.

• Professor Paul Glasziou won the highly competitive National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding for the Centre for Research Excellence, in partnership with the University of New South Wales. The research project is entitled ‘Centre for research excellence in E-health’ and worth $2, 499,870. This collaborative research project is aimed to improve the quality, safety and effectiveness of health services. The project will support the design, evaluation and use of e-health systems in 3 areas: monitoring e-health safety using incident monitoring, evaluating consumer e-health safety, and developing next generation evidence-based support tools.
• Professor Paul Glasziou is one of the Chief Investigators on another NHMRC collaborative research project under the Program Grants Scheme. The project is administered by the University of Sydney with Bond University receiving funds worth $1,693,850. This project, under the title ‘Screening and Test Evaluation Program (STEP)’ investigates medical tests for diagnosis, screening, and monitoring and how they are often poorly evaluated and poorly used. The elements of the program follow the sequence in which testing is often done: for screening (early detection), for diagnosis on which to base treatment decisions, and for monitoring the effects of treatment. A common approach throughout is the identification of the benefits and harms of testing and assessing their trade-off; how benefits weigh up against harms. This research is relevant to all partners in healthcare, (consumers, clinicians and policy-makers), who currently are being tested or using tests without being fully informed about the accuracy and effects of these tests.
• Professor Patrick Keyzer secured a $212,459 Linkage Project grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC). This project analyses Australian laws, policies and practices that control risk management in the fitness industry. The project aims to prevent adverse health outcomes and injuries, and the legal liability associated with those risks.
• Associate Professor Julia Henker received $375,000 from the ARC – Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for a project titled ‘Impeding the bubble: evidence from experimental asset markets’. The project employs an innovative experimental design to investigate factors that are intended to prevent financial asset price bubbles and crashes.

Higher Degree Research Students

Like the other research indicators, the number of Higher Degree Research (HDR) students has also increased over recent years (figure seven). The distribution of 2011 HDR completions by each Faculty is summarised in (figure eight). All domestic HDR students are on the Research Training Scheme and many international students were granted a 100% tuition fee waiver scholarship. In addition, to assist in living expenses many HDR students received a stipend.
To continue to attract and retain HDR students Bond will continue to explore and award a range of scholarships and stipends for students in any HDR programs.  Bond will also continue its focus on delivering quality training and workshops to support HDR students and supervisors.

2010 Excellence in Research for Australian assessment

During 2010 the Australian Government conducted the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative which assesses research quality within Australia's higher education institutions using a combination of indicators and expert review by committees comprising experienced, internationally-recognised experts.

The ERA results were released in 2011, with Bond University receiving ERA ratings for 24 Fields of Research (FoR). Bond had an excellent result with six fields of research being classified as ‘at or above world class’:

• Medical and Health Sciences
• Clinical Sciences
• Economics
• Commerce, Management, Tourism & Services
• Banking, Finance and Investment
• Business and Management

The table below summarises our performance in each of the FoR codes that were assessed.