People, infrastructure and strategic partnerships will become increasingly important issues for The University of Queensland, according to UQ's new Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Siddle.
'The University of Queensland is doing very well in research and is one of the nation's research leaders, but it must continue to look to the future,' he said.
'Attracting and keeping the right people will be a key to the University's success. If one takes away all the other factors, the most important resource the University has is its staff.
'The University has to ensure it has leading edge infrastructure to enable for those staff to produce outstanding, internationally competitive research.
'One of the important people issues is how to best nurture people in their early careers to ensure they are developing and can mature in their research.'
Professor Siddle, who joins the University's senior executive, will represent the University's interests on a range of external organisations including Co-operative Research Centres (CRCs) and other major strategic partnerships. His other activities will include developing UQ's research profile, promoting the University's capability and co-ordinating large strategic funding submissions.
He is interested in building on institutional areas of research strength and said strategic research collaborations were essential.
'It is to the Vice-Chancellor's credit that the University has successfully re-fashioned its relationship with successive State Governments,' he said.
'The IMB is a great example of putting together partnerships with government and industry, and leveraging to achieve further funding. Collaborations are important because it's not always possible to put together large items of infrastructure as a single university, but it is possible as part of a collaboration with other universities and other groups.'
Professor Siddle, who re-joined UQ on August 27, will be responsible for the research only and infrastructure budgets and will include the UQ Graduate School in his brief and will work closely with the Office of Research and Postgraduate Studies.
A former Head of UQ's Psychology Department from 1991 to late 1993, he was subsequently appointed UQ Dean of Postgraduate Students. He became responsible for policy development for research higher degrees, and for administering the University's PhD program, with one of the highest rates of PhD completions in the country.
Since 1997 he has been the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Sydney, where he was responsible for the strategic development of research across all Departments and Schools, and for the allocation of the University's Research Infrastructure Block Grant and research only budget. The University of Sydney is currently one of the national leaders in the research quantum.
Professor Siddle is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, former Chair of the National Committee for Psychology (Academy of Science) and a past president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research. He has held senior appointments in the Australian Research Council.
A University of Queensland graduate (1966) with first-class honours in psychology, he has worked at Southampton University in the UK from 1971 to 1983, and during that period was a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Professor Siddle was at Macquarie University from 1983 to 1988, at the University of Tasmania in 1989/1990 where he was professor of psychology and Head of Department, then joined the University of Queensland in the same role.
His own research areas include cognitive and emotional factors in human conditioning and the application of conditioning principles to psychopathology.
Media: Further information, Jan King, UQ Communications 07 3365 1120.
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