UCNISS/Research policy

Submission made to Faculty of Health Research Policy
In June 2010, Leigh Blackall made a submission to the Faculty of Health Research Strategy, with the following key submissions:

One point added to Goals: Grow open access publishing by Commons copyright licensing, using open standard formats, and disseminating through appropriate popular media channels (Ref: Leigh Blackall, Using the Popular Internet in Teaching and Research, and James Neill, Open Academia)

Two points added to Research Culture:
 * 1) To make research accessible, useful and reusable by publishing on appropriate popular channels, in open standard formats, and with Commons copyright licensing.
 * 2) To practice open and networked scholarship and academia

Two points added to signature research themes:
 * 1) Reward open academic practices that build the research profile of the individual and the University, and open possibilities for new research connections
 * 2) Popularise research outputs and scholarly activity through the use of popular internet channels.

One point added to national and international partnerships: Otago Polytechnic Institute of Sport and Adventure

Added to Recent Initiatives: The Faculty of Health has spear headed several initiatives to raise awareness and professional discourse around open academic practices using popular social internet. Staff in the Faculty have been leading consultation around the review of the University's Intellectual Property Policy, conducting workshops on open academic practices, and sitting on various committees in the effort to boost support for notions of open academic practices.

Added to Proposed Initiatives: Provide incentive and reward for open and networked research, publishing and scholarship.

UCNISS Research Policy Meeting
Following our preliminary meeting (July 2010) to discuss formal research directions within UCNISS here are some points from our discussion as a statement of intent about our research. Note these ideas were revisited on 31 May 2011. (A copy of a mind map from the 2011 discussions can be found here.)

We agreed at our meeting that UCNISS should adopt a strategic, supportive approach to research that enabled each member of staff to develop their own research interests.

This approach recognises that each of us has personal interests and that each of us has a different time budget for research. A strategic approach will enable us to share our interests and optimise the time we have available. We agreed that involvement in research was volitional and each person would make their own decisions about involvement in research.

We recognised:


 * 1) Personal research interests.
 * 2) Within UCNISS research clusters.
 * 3) Within the Faculty of Health research partnerships (particularly CeRAPH and Physiotherapy).
 * 4) Across Faculty research teams.
 * 5) Links with external groups in the sport and exercise industry (local, regional, national and international).

We discussed the identification of research themes that directed research students to higher degree research projects and we explored briefly how we might go about recruiting students for specific UCNISS research questions. I think there was a range of views about how we prioritise applications for scholarships to drive this focused research. I believe an open research strategy can address all the issues raised about bids for UC funded scholarships. As such we can become a collaborative, aware research team.

We discussed research clusters within UCNISS and agreed to identify clusters that would help define and drive our strategic approach to research. Two examples of research clusters are:
 * Exercise, Adaptation and Performance
 * Exercise, Health and Disease