ARC Cultural Research Network > Activities

Workshops Two and Three: Grant Development

Monday 28 September, 2009
Macquarie University, Sydney
Convenor: Justine Lloyd

Friday 30 October, 2009
Sydney University
Convenors: Penny O’Donnell, Gerard Goggin

Rationale
These two workshops build on the successful publication-mentoring experience generated through The Listening Project in 2008 by focusing on the translation of our listening research interests into competitive research grant applications. The submission of at least two ARC Discovery grant applications in 2010 will provide the means to consolidate and extend research initiated under the auspices of the 2009 CRN-funded Listening Project, draw on the resources of the CRN’s network of experts, and provide material for a co-authored manuscript.

The workshop will focus on different aspects of successful ARC grant applications (research team/track record, budget, significance and innovation, approach, national benefit and outcomes). It will combine discussion of further development of our listening research interests with mentoring on the characteristics of strong Discovery applications, The knowledge base of research on listening and media practice is somewhat fragmented, with different lines of investigation emerging from an eclectic range of disciplinary sites and interests, including cultural studies, political philosophy, critical multiculturalism studies, and journalism research. We wish to extend our early work on the ‘politics of listening’, listening technologies, and strategies for building society’s listening capacity by developing a more substantive theoretical and methodological framing of the theme of listening and media practice that deals with questions of media power, agency and justice. This workshop will significantly advance the application development process by facilitating intense, collective attention to refining our research aims and outcomes, In doing so, it will extend the legacy of the CRN. Our capacity for listening research owes much to the early momentum gained from initial CRN seed funding and strong CRN support for the project.

Structure
Two full day workshops in two halves. Participants will be asked to prepare and circulate beforehand a sample of work-in-progress for discussion and response by participants.

Workshop aims

Identify and discuss listening research interests that can be translated effectively into at least two feasible research projects that attract competitive funding.
Develop constructive alignment between these two research projects and priority goals in the National Research Priorities.
Identify and discuss research outcomes that result in economic, environmental and/or social benefits for Australia and meet new ERA
guidelines on quality and impact.
Discuss specific aspects of successful ARC grant applications, including research team/track record, budget, significance and
innovation, approach, and national benefit.

Workshop outcomes

At least two ARC Discovery grant applications to be submitted in 2010

report

These workshops provided a unique and valuable opportunity for feedback, in which experienced CRN readers and others made time available to attend to the detail of the ARC Discovery Grant Application that is one of the medium-term outcomes of The Listening Project. The workshops, convened by Justine Lloyd (CRN, Macquarie), brought together participants from seven different universities and three different states – providing a diversity of respondents and level of personal engagement that simply would not have been possible without CRN funding and support. Exemplary readers, who contributed written, verbal and/or one-to-one feedback included Graeme Turner (CRN, UQ), Gerard Goggin (CRN, UNSW), Kate Crawford (CRN, UNSW) , Ramaswami Harindranath (CRN, UMelb), Amanda Wise (CRN, CRSI), Prof Michael Pusey (UNSW, CRSI), Christine Boman, Kathryn Millard (Macquarie), Shaun Wilson (Macquarie) and Gillian Vogl (CRSI).

The Listening Project grant application develops from productive discussions during the 2008 themed workshops on listening as well as the research agenda articulated in the special issue on ‘Listening: New ways of engaging with media and culture’. Readers highlighted that one of the strengths of the application was evidence of ongoing collaboration, enabled by the CRNs support of The Listening Project since 2007. In the first workshop session, constructive feedback was provided regarding how to further develop the overall architecture of the project, clarify the methodologies section and communicate the conceptual framework to a non-specialist audience. Many readers also generously made themselves available for one-to-one feedback, during the second session, to provide
specialized advice on specific sections of the application.

For the project conveners, Tanja Dreher (CRN, UTS), Justine Lloyd (CRN, Macquarie), Penny O’Donnell (USyd) and Cate Thill (CRN, UNDA), the opportunity to demonstrate research leadership at the ECR and middle-career research stage is a significant and ongoing outcome of The Listening Project, which the grant development phase extends and consolidates. The conveners are extremely grateful for ongoing CRN support and to participants in the workshops for sustained, generous and creative engagement.

Report to the ARC’s Cultural Research Network, prepared by Cate Thill and Jan Idle, November 2009