Professor David Siddle, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

UQ is dedicated to providing an environment that allows its staff and students to reach their full potential. Our outstanding success in 2006 is testament to the strength of this commitment and our drive to create new knowledge and to transfer it to Australian industry and the broader society of which we are a part.

We strive for international standards of excellence across the full spectrum of research and research training, from fundamental work with a focus on discovery to applied research and innovation having direct commercial application. Our strategies recognise the need to build scale and focus, the benefits of interdisciplinary research and collaboration, and the importance of rewarding excellence. A key element is the recognition that in order to attract and retain the very best researchers, we must maintain a portfolio of world-class infrastructure.

Following the opening of the $105 million Queensland Bioscience Precinct in 2003 and the $60 million Sir James Foots Building in 2005, UQ is poised to see the third of its research institutes, the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), move into state-of-the-art, custom-built research facilities. The $70 million AIBN building, which will open in October 2006 at the University’s St Lucia campus, will bring together more than 350 high profile researchers working at the interface of bio and nanotechnology. Already boasting three ARC Federation Fellows and almost $30 million in support from Queensland Government Smart State schemes, the AIBN has assembled a critical mass of people and infrastructure at the centre of the challenge for new knowledge.

UQ’s momentum in driving major, strategic research initiatives has continued with the creation of the new Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR). The ISSR will bring together a number of important centres undertaking social science research and will be critical in positioning UQ as a leading university in the field. Importantly, it will link with developments in biological and physical sciences to produce an integrated approach to many of the problems that confront our society.

The Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), formed at UQ in late 2003, has already established itself as a centre of excellence in neuroscience research and is one of the two largest such centres in the Asia Pacific. The QBI building, a $64 million research facility dedicated to the study of molecular and computational neuroscience, will open in mid-2007. It will house more than 250 neuroscientists and an outstanding suite of specialist equipment, including a newly-awarded Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) facility. In 2006, QBI received an additional $10 million in infrastructure funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.

UQ’s longstanding commitment to innovation in magnetic resonance imaging was further enhanced in 2006 through the acquisition of a 900MHz high resolution NMR spectrometer, the most powerful, commercially available machine of its type in the world and the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere.  In another Australian first, a new 700MHz wide bore microimaging system will provide access to exquisitely detailed images of intact biological specimens for studies in neuroscience and neurodisease.

UQ has worked strategically with the State and Commonwealth governments, industry and The Atlantic Philanthropies to support the development of this impressive suite of research infrastructure and facilities, ensuring that our researchers work with the latest technologies in an environment that is truly world-class. These initiatives embody the strong commitment to excellence, innovation and strategic thinking that is a feature of the research environment at UQ. This environment is a clear platform for success that allows UQ to stay at the leading edge in an ever-evolving national and international research landscape.

Our current research performance is testament to this point, with a 21 percent increase in total research income expected to confirm our place in the top two universities in the nation. In 2006, more than $19 million in Commonwealth Research Infrastructure Block Grant funding flowed to UQ, which the University has directed to key enabling technologies that underlie areas of strength and priority. For example, a recent program of expansion and refurbishment and a revitalised management structure mean that UQ now has the best research animal facilities in the country.

These developments are critical to our efforts in biotechnology, biomedical and health research. Impressive growth in our Australian Competitive Grant Income (an increase of 22 percent) is a further reflection of our research breadth, depth and quality in a highly competitive national environment. In the commercialisation of research, our technology transfer model represents current best practice.

UQ research changes the world we live in. In 2006 Professor Ian Frazer was honoured as Australian of the Year for his pioneering work in the development of a vaccine against cervical cancer.  We are immensely proud of the achievements of Professor Frazer and his team, whose vaccine will save the lives of an estimated 275,000 women worldwide every year. Professor Frazer was also honoured with the inaugural Queensland Smart State Premier’s Fellowship.

The University continued to excel in the prestigious ARC Federation Fellowships scheme, with a further six awards in 2006 – almost 25 percent of the national total. Our new awardees, including high-profile international recruit Dr Paul Burn, will join 12 Federation Fellows already based at UQ. The University’s new Mid-Career Research Fellowships, offered for the first time in 2006, will attract and retain further talented staff to work in our faculties and institutes, fostering the next generation of internationally-competitive research leaders.

UQ is a destination of choice for international doctoral students, having the largest number of international PhD candidates of any university in Australia. The proportion of international students in our research student population has grown from about 15 percent to 20 percent in the last five years. There are international students in every school and institute at UQ. UQ research students begin their careers with a ready-made international research network. In that same five year period, approximately 500 graduate students have been funded by the UQ Graduate School to conduct cutting-edge research in overseas laboratories or libraries. UQ graduate students continue to present papers in large numbers at international conferences and frequently win prizes for the best presentation.

UQ takes pride in its research intensiveness and recognises the pursuit of excellence in research and research training as being central to its mission. 2006 has been another year of outstanding highlights for UQ and we hope you will share these with us in our 2006 Research Report.

Professor David Siddle
Deputy Vice-Chancellor(Research)

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