The importance of research for your university and your career

The core mission of a university is to create knowledge (through research) and disseminate knowledge (through teaching). Both academics and universities are, accordingly, judged on the quality and impact of their research. For an individual academic, promotion at his or her own university is largely determined by research productivity. For staff seeking to move to another university, nationally or internationally, a strong research record becomes even more critical, since the new university can easily judge the quality of research outputs, but has much less information about a candidate’s teaching effectiveness.

For universities, quality is often judged (eg, in global and national league tables) by the average citations per academic, by the number of PhD completions or by the external research income generated. For public universities, their government grants are increasingly linked to their research output, which is measured by a regular national research assessment exercise. The quality of research papers, as reflected by the acceptance rates and impact factors of the peer-reviewed journals in which they are published, is being increasingly evaluated alongside the societal impact of the work, as evidenced by advances in technology or impact on public policy.

For anyone seeking to build a successful academic career and support the development of their own institution, it is critical to develop a clearly focused research agenda which can be sustained over time, with the aim of contributing to knowledge and society and establishing the academic as an intellectual leader in a definable field. Publishing in a scattergun way in predatory journals and presenting at worthless predatory conferences is a waste of energy and money and undermines the credibility of an academic with his or her peers.

1. Professor Nigel Healey
22 February 2019
1
The Importance of Research for
your University and your Career

2. Overview
Research should be fun
and fulfilling
Research matters to
universities –including
FNU
Research matters for
your career as an
academic
Some hard-earned tips:
Focus on becoming an
expert in something
that matters
Use the tools of trade
Avoid predatory con-
artists

3. Research should be
fun and fulfilling…
…not a treadmill
3

4. The world is full of interesting research
questions…
•Why do students
miss lectures?
•Do students who
miss lectures
have lower
attainment than
those who
attend?
4

5. …and different research questions
require different methodologies
•Why do students miss lectures?
•Qualitative methodology: ask them why?
(interviews, focus groups, discourse analysis)
•Do students who miss lectures have lower
attainment than those who attend?
•Quantitative methodology: compare attenders and
non-attenders, adjust for all other explanatory
variables
5

6. •There is great satisfaction in rigorously determining the answer to an important research question
•…ie, proving the answer to the satisfaction of a journal’s referees
6

7. Why do English universities reallyfranchise
degrees to overseas providers?

8. Research
matters to
universities
–including
FNUResearch can:
Be a public good –
companies won’t do
“blue skies” research
Positively impact
society, live and
improve lives
Inspire teaching
excellence
The mission of a university is to create
(research) and disseminate (teach)
knowledge

9. Reversing the pandemic
of Non-Communicable
Diseases
9

10. Reversing the
pandemic of
Non-
Communicable
Diseases
10
Can changes in primary
education affect obesity in later
life? (teacher training)
Do sugar taxes reduce obesity?
(behavioural economics)
Can food technology reduce the
salt and sugar in processed
foods without affecting taste?
Can changes in workplace policy
sustainably increase exercise
rates?

11. Research
matters to
universities:
reputation =
students and
faculty
11

12. Research
matters to
universities:
resources
12

13. Research matters for your career as an
academic
•Academia is a global jobs market
•Universities seek faculty that enhance their
reputation and income
•Good teaching is important –but hard to assess and
culturally-specific
•Good research attracts students, reputation, resources
and other faculty –and is easy to assess
13

14. Lecturer/Senior
Lecturer, UNSW
Business School
14

15. Promotion @ FNU (1)
15

16. Promotion @ FNU (2)
16

17. Promotion @ FNU (3)
17

18. Some hard-earned tips: #1
18
Focus on becoming an
expert in something that
matters
•to you
•to other academics
•to society
…and in which
you have a
relative
advantage due to:
•talent
•personal experience
•geography
•access (language,
networks, etc)

19. Where to focus…?
•The science of climate
change?
•Or the impact of
climate change on
coral reefs in Pacific
Islands?
19

20. Some hard-
earned tips: #2
•Use the tools of trade
•Google scholar
•ORCID
•Scimago, Publons
(Web of Science)
•Academia.edu,
ResearchGate,
Mendeley
20

21. Google scholar (1)
21

22. Google scholar (2)
22

23. 23
ORCID

24. Scimago
24

25. Publons.com
25

26. Academia.edu (1)
26

27. Academia.edu (2)
27

28. ResearchGate
28

29. Some hard-earned tips: #3
•Avoid predatory con-artists
29

30. 30

31. Education “Journal”
31

32. How going to
a predatory
conference
works
32

33. Step 1
•Find a predatory conference. It will be run by an organization or association with no scientific affiliation, have no contact telephone or address, accept a wide range of papers and (usually) be based in an expensive hotel somewhere nice to go. I chose the International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology in Dallas, 25-28 June 2018 (http://www.aasci.org/conference/env/2018/index.html).
•It is a popular conference title. There is also an International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology in Prague, 20-22 June (http://www.icest.org/)and Kiev 19-23 September (https://www.icoest.eu)and a nice one in Rhodes in September 2019 (https://cest2019.gnest.org).

34. Step 2
Quickly cook up an abstract –no prior
knowledge needed.
I Googled ‘Environment Management
and Policy’ and cut and paste the
‘About Us’ section from a commercial
environment company.
I deleted the company’s name and
added a few bogus references. The
abstract is clearly rubbish and makes
no reference to any research at all.
It took 3-4 minutes from start to finish.

35. Step 3
•On 15 June, I emailed the
abstract to the International
Conference on Environment Science and Technology.

37. Step 4
•On 20 June, I received an acceptance
letter / letter of invitation for the
International Conference on Environment Science and Technology,
which starts on 25 June in Dallas, USA.
•The conference is organized by the impressive sounding American Academy
of Sciences (not the National Academy
of Sciences or the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences). The American
Academy of Sciences exists only on its
own website (http://www.aasci.org).

38. American
Academy of
Sciences
38

40. Step 5
I apply to my university for
US$865 registration fee,
flights to/from Dallas, a week
in the Hilton Houston North
Hotel and the optional tour of
NASA.
US$5,000 should just about
cover it.

41. Step 6
•I add ‘Environment Policy and Management’, International
Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, Dallas,
25-29 June 2018 to my CV and apply for promotion.

42. Conclusions
42
Research
should be fun
and fulfilling
Research
matters to
universities –
including FNU
Research
matters for
your career as
an academic
•Focus on becoming an expert in
something that matters
•Use the tools of trade
•Avoid predatory con-artists
Some hard-
earned tips: