• Section 1 - Establishment
• Section 2 - Functions and Responsibilities
• Section 3 - Membership
• Members’ attendance
• 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 Faculty Research Committee (FRC) is established under the Research Committee Terms of Reference.

Section 2 - Functions and Responsibilities

(2) The Faculty Research Committee will:

1. Promote and foster partnerships across the disciplines, facilitate growth in research activity and outputs, and provide support to researchers and higher degrees by research (HDR) candidates in the faculty;
2. Monitor and review research activities in or associated with the faculty;
3. Consider and review any research-related issue raised by the Chair or a member of the committee;
4. Consider and report on any matter referred by the Faculty Pro Vice-Chancellor, the Research Committee, the Human Research Ethics Committee, the Animal Ethics Committee, or a member of the University Senior Executive Team; and
5. Provide minutes and reports from Faculty Research Committee meetings to the University Research Committee.

Section 3 - Membership

(3) Membership of the Faculty Research Committee will comprise:

1. Faculty Associate Dean Research;
2. Representatives from each discipline within the faculty (nominated by the Chair);
3. Representatives from research entities within the faculty (nominated by the Directors);
4. Faculty HDR Coordinator/Manager;
5. Faculty Research Integrity Advisor/Coordinator;
6. One early career researcher (ECR) representative, nominated by the Chair; and
7. One HDR representative, nominated by the Chair.

(4) The Chair may co-opt individuals with particular knowledge and/or skills that the Chair believes would benefit the committee.

(5) Committee members should be actively engaged in or managing research within the faculty, and be able to attend the committee meetings regularly.

Members’ attendance

(6) Attendance by members will be monitored by the secretary. If a member has three consecutive unexplained absences from Faculty 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

(7) The Associate Dean Research will be the Chair of the committee.

Section 5 - Secretary

(8) The Chair will nominate a Secretary who will provide administrative support to the committee.

Section 6 - Terms of office

(9) Ex-officio members will be members of the committee for the term of appointment in their designated role.

(10) Nominated and co-opted members serve two-year terms, which may be renewed by the Chair.

(11) The HDR candidate member may serve while actively enrolled in an HDR course.

Section 7 - Quorum

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

(13) All members may nominate a stand-in, if they are unable to attend a meeting. The Chair or the Secretary should be notified at least one working day prior to the meeting.

(14) The Chair may exclude student member from confidential or sensitive parts of meetings which discuss matters affecting students or staff. Quorum will not be affected if student member is excluded from certain parts of the meeting.

Section 8 - Meetings

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

(16) Matters requiring a resolution or recommendation by the Committee are to be determined by simple majority. In the event of a tied vote the Chair will have a casting vote.

Member conduct

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

(18) As required, members must treat items of discussion with confidentiality.

Section 9 - Agenda

(19) The agenda is to be distributed with supporting documentation normally at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting date.

Section 10 - Minutes

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

(21) 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

(22) This Committee must provide minutes to the next meeting of the University Research Committee in a timely manner.

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 - Employees 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 Complaints and Grievance Policy and Procedure - Employees and Complaints Policy - 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.