Redefining Research Capacity in a

Changing Higher Education Landscape

Sydney Southeast Asia Centre

Associate Professor Michele Ford

Some Reflections On The Social Sciences

OUTLINE

› Australian government support for collaboration

› Existing forms of collaboration with Indonesia

› Patterns within collaboration

› Barriers to collaboration

› Spaces for future collaboration

SUPPORT FOR INTERNATIONALISATION

› NHRMC has opened its schemes to topics of regional interest, which has greatly expanded possibilities for collaboration in Southeast Asia.

› ARC Discovery grant scheme now includes provisions for funding of collaborator visits to Australia (but still requires partners to make a significant cash or in-kind contribution – a significant barrier).

› The Australian Academy of Social Sciences has a small international program, which aims to facilitate international research linkages.

› There remains an important role for in-house schemes to promote collaboration and mobility run by universities strong internal support allows particular institutions to establish a point of difference.

WHY INDONESIA?

› There has been a strong push for greater internationalisation of Australian research sector since 2007.

› Australia is well placed to engage strategically in the research space in Indonesia

- Has a critical mass of Indonesia specialists and of disciplinary experts in areas of policy interest to Indonesia (governance, public health, environmental management, etc)

› The Australian government values its relationship with Indonesia

- Creates opportunities for researchers through the aid program, and through general policy engagement

- Generates ‘champions’ within government for Indonesia-related research and research collaboration with Indonesians

TARGETED GRANT SCHEMES

ARTI AIGRP ANRCAusAID AusAID Dept Education, Employment and

Workplace Relations (Aust); Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; ANU; Leiden University

Australian & top Indonesian academics trained and supervised Acehnese researchers, 3 stage program, with final stage involving a supervised research project

1. Grants for research collaboration between senior Australian & Indonesian researchers on governance issues

2. Grants for research collaboration between ECR Australian & Indonesian researchers on governance issues

3. Programs for young scholars

1. Workshop grants for Australian, Netherlands and Southeast Asian researchers, leading to an edited volume and a short statement of policy implications

2. PhD Overseas Travel Fellowships

3. Dutch for archival research

Significant impact on research capacity in Aceh based on rapid internationalisation

Hi-profile program, very senior stakeholders, encouraged Australians academics to collaborate with Indonesians

First large-scale targeted mobility program of this kind, rapid internationalisation pay-off for Southeast Asians & Australians

Short term (aid cycle) and relied a lot on mentors’ goodwill

Short term (aid cycle), too closely focused on immediate policy relevance, very expensive

Short term, requirement to involve Dutch researchers even if not strong in research area

WAYS AUSTRALIANS COLLABORATE

› Ad hoc collaborations (range of disciplines)

› Collaborations between Indonesian academics and their former supervisors (e.g. ANU economics, UCan HRM, CDU accounting)

› Collaborations between an Australian researcher and Indonesian professionals (e.g. USyd medical anthropology)

› Indonesia specific grants (many institutions, wide range of disciplines, area experts and others)

› Joint ARC grants (e.g. UWA/ANU/Newcastle anthropology/sociology)

› Institutional research partnerships (e.g. CDU management of marine environments)

› Embedded researchers (e.g. UQ psychology, USyd veterinary science)

PATTERNS OF COLLABORATION

› Collaboration between Australian and Indonesian academics occurs in a wide range of social sciences disciplines but the overall intensity is low.

› Interviews suggested that in many cases, Indonesian researchers were eager to collaborate more with Australian partners, but had difficulty establishing collaborative relationships.

› Collaborations are easier to establish:

- Where Australian disciplinary scholars have little country knowledge depend heavily on local partners for access to data

- Where quantitative research is involved

› Collaborations are harder to establish where they involve:

- Indonesia specialists in the qualitative social sciences

- Scholars interested primarily in theoretical questions

DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC CULTURE

› One of the reasons for this is that there are some important differences in academic culture, particularly within the critical social sciences:

- Emphasis on documentation versus interrogation

- Focus on getting the research done and moving on to the next project versus writing the research up in a way that engages with international debates

- Focus on publication in accessible venues in Indonesia (including newspapers) versus publication in international journals

› These differences affect collaborations in some disciplines more than in others. They have most impact in the critical social sciences.

STRUCTURAL BARRIERS

› Independent of discipline, there are a number of serious challenges to research collaboration with Indonesian scholars, some structural, some a product of differences in academic culture.

› Structural barriers:

- Onerous, and uncertain, process for obtaining research visas for Australian partners

- Red tape involved in gaining institutional permission/commitment

- Incentive structures within Indonesian and Australian universities encourage academics to prioritise different things

- Indonesia is not a high-status destination for collaborations

- Indonesian researchers generally do not have enough time to focus intensively on the collaborative research project, or do not accord the same importance to its outcomes

MOVING FORWARD

› International research collaborations are valued in both the Australian and Indonesian contexts.

› For Australian universities seeking to broaden their international profile, collaboration offers a way to internationalise the work of scholars from a broad range of disciplines (as opposed to only area studies experts).

› BUT for collaborations to be sustainable, each collaborator must gain some substantial benefit from his or her participation.

› The big question, then, is how do institutions (and governments) help researchers

- overcome initial barriers to collaboration; and

- sustain collaboration long enough to create meaningful intellectual partnerships?