• Section 1 - Establishment
• Section 2 - Functions and Responsibilities
• Operations
• Section 3 - Membership
• Members Attendances
• Section 4 - Chair
• Section 5 - Secretary
• Section 6 - Terms of Office
• Section 7 - Quorum
• Section 8 - Meetings
• Member Conduct
• Section 9 - Agenda
• Section 10 - Minutes
• Section 11 - Reporting
• Section 12 - Conflicts of Interest
• Section 13 - Non-compliance

Section 1 - Establishment

(1) The Research Committee (RC) is established under the Academic Board Terms of Reference. It replaces the Research Training Committee and the Research and Innovation Committee.

Section 2 - Functions and Responsibilities

(2) The Research Committee will:

1. promote and foster excellence and impact in research, including emerging areas of research, at or above world standard at the University;
2. promote and foster postgraduate research courses and research training at the University. Research training at CDU includes Early Career Researchers;
3. oversee the quality assurance of all matters relating to research, postgraduate research courses and research training, and advise the Academic Board about the quality of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) and research training outcomes. These reports must provide insights into the outcomes of specific cohorts of HDR candidates including First Nations candidates, discipline, home faculty, gender, international students, and students with a disability;
4. monitor, review and make recommendations to the Academic Board in regard to all governance documents related to the requirements for an institutional policy framework for research and research training as specified in the Higher Education Standards Framework (HESF) (2021) Standard 4 Research and Research Training;
5. monitor, review and make recommendations to the Academic Board on matters relating to:
   1. the award of internal grant funding;
   2. incentive schemes and allocation of research funds such as the institutional block grant;
   3. the awarding of scholarships and stipends to HDR candidates;
   4. the merit ranking of applicants for stipends and nominations for external awards; and
   5. scholarships for HDR candidates and graduates;
6. establish and monitor institutional benchmarks for quality and outcomes for research, including funding, publications, citations and measures of esteem, impact and engagement, and initiate action to address any systemic issues;
7. monitor regular reports of quality and outcomes for research and report on these to Academic Board;
8. ensure processes are in place for the accurate and complete recording and reporting of research outputs and the safe storage of data;
9. consider the reports from the Human Research Ethics Committee and CDU Animal Ethics Committee as they relate to ethics and monitor compliance with relevant codes and procedures;
10. receive, consider and report on instances of HDR student and academic research misconduct, grievances, complaints and appeals and initiate action to address systemic issues relating to research and research training;
11. identify and report on research risks;
12. receive, consider and report on research matters relating to commercialisation and intellectual property;
13. oversee large strategic research partnerships and collaborations;
14. oversee reporting on strategies for research communications;
15. review and recommend to the Academic Board the formation of new research units, centres and research institutes;
16. determine and set research performance metrics and expectations for Research Active and Research Focused members of staff;
17. foster and support a robust culture of scholarship and a supportive research environment within the University;
18. liaise with the Academic Programs Committee (APC) about research elements within coursework awards;
19. establish institutional benchmarks for quality and outcomes for HDR candidates, research training and research supervision;
20. meet annually as a Course Review Committee with supplemented membership, and provide a report to the Academic Board that meets all of the regulatory requirements;
21. oversee comprehensive course reviews of HDR courses at least every seven years, supported by internal monitoring of quality and outcomes;
22. consider and report on feedback from HDR candidates and supervisors; and
23. consider and report on research training and development for academic staff, with particular reference to Early Career Researchers.

Operations

(3) The Research Committee will:

1. develop an annual reporting schedule aligned to Academic Board requirements;
2. establish working parties, receive their reports, and determine and/or recommend actions within the functions of the Research Committee in response to such reports;
3. establish a working party to consider and approve HDR candidates’ scholarship and candidature extension applications, and fee waiver requests;
4. establish Research Committees at Colleges;
5. provide minutes and reports from Research Committee meetings to Academic Board and the broader University;
6. review its own performance against its Terms of Reference at least annually; and
7. consider and report on any matter referred by Academic Board or the Vice-Chancellor.

Section 3 - Membership

(4) Membership of the Research Committee will comprise:

1. Chair: Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation;
2. Deputy Chair: Director Research;
3. Deputy Chair: Dean of Graduate Studies;
4. Deputy Vice-Chancellor First Nations Leadership;
5. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic;
6. Associate Deans (Research) or College HDR Coordinators;
7. Director Menzies School of Health Research;
8. Associate Director for Research Menzies School of Health Research;
9. Directors of Research Institutes;
10. Director Library Services;
11. Chair Human Research Ethics Committee;
12. Chair Animal Ethics Committee;
13. Two Research academics;
14. One Early Career Researcher; and
15. Two HDR candidates.

(5) The Chair may appoint individuals with particular knowledge and/or skills that the Chair believes would benefit the Research Committee or for equity purposes.

(6) Ex officio members may nominate a standing nominee.

(7) Researchers mentioned in (n), (o), and (p) will be appointed by the Chair after calling for expressions of interest from Research cohorts.

(8) The initial appointees mentioned in (n), (o), and (p) may be drawn from the previous Research and Innovation Committee and the Research Training Committee members without an expressions of interest process.

Members Attendances

(9) Attendance by members will be monitored by the Secretary. If a member has three consecutive unexplained absences from Research Committee meetings the Chair will discuss with the Vice-President Governance and University Secretary their future participation as a member of the committee.

Section 4 - Chair

(10) The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation will be Chair of the Research Committee.

Section 5 - Secretary

(11) The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation (or nominee) will act as secretary to the Research Committee.

Section 6 - Terms of Office

(12) HDR candidate members may serve while actively enrolled for a Higher Degree by Research. The term of any candidate can be no more than four calendar years in total.

(13) Researcher academics and early career researchers may serve a two-year term from the date of appointment and are eligible for reappointment by the Chair without an expressions of interest process.

Section 7 - Quorum

(14) At a meeting of the Research Committee a quorum is constituted as 50% plus one members of the Committee.

Section 8 - Meetings

(15) The Research Committee will meet at least four (4) times per year, and the Chair may call additional meetings if necessary.

Member Conduct

(16) Professional conduct of members is expected at all times. The Chair may call members to order as required.

(17) Items of discussion must be treated with confidentiality as appropriate by members.

Section 9 - Agenda

(18) The agenda is to be distributed with supporting documentation normally at least three (3) days prior to the meeting date.

Section 10 - Minutes

(19) Meeting minutes and action items will be made available within two weeks of the meeting.

(20) The minutes will detail the item under discussion, the main points of the discussion, the resolution reached and the primary reasons for reaching that determination.

Section 11 - Reporting

(21) The minutes and action items from the Research Committee will be provided to the next meeting of the Academic Board.

(22) Information relating to matters under consideration and issues resolved will be disseminated to the University.

Section 12 - Conflicts of Interest

(23) Where a member has an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest regarding an agenda item, they must declare this to the Chair at the commencement of discussion of the item, and be prepared to excuse themselves from the discussion, or the room, if required, as per the terms of the Conflicts of Interest Policy.

Section 13 - Non-compliance

(24) Non-compliance with Governance Documents is considered a breach of the Code of Conduct – Staff or the Code of Conduct – Students, as applicable, and is treated seriously by the University. Reports of concerns about non-compliance will be managed in accordance with the applicable disciplinary procedures outlined in the Charles Darwin University and Union Enterprise Agreement 2022 and the Code of Conduct – Students.

(25) Complaints may be raised in accordance with the Code of Conduct – Staff and Code of Conduct - Students.

(26) All staff members have an individual responsibility to raise any suspicion, allegation or report of fraud or corruption in accordance with the Fraud and Corruption Control Policy and Whistleblower Reporting (Improper Conduct) Procedure.