End-User Engagement Guide

The Australian Government Department of Education requires Charles Sturt University to report on how our HDR candidates are engaging with research end-users.  This follows the recommendations of the ACOLA Review of Australia's Research Training System which highlighted the need for greater university-industry collaboration in Higher Degree by Research training.

Charles Sturt will be collecting this data from HDR candidates twice each year as part of the biannual progress reports completed by candidates.

Reporting period

Candidates are asked to report on end-user engagement activities they have undertaken in the last six months.

Definitions

What is a 'research end-user'?

A research end-user is defined as an individual, community or organisation outside of academia that will directly use or benefit from the output, outcome or results of the research. This may include businesses, governments, non-governmental organisations, communities and community organisations.

Research end-users are not:

• Other higher education providers (universities)
• Organisations that are affiliates, controlled entities or subsidiaries (such as Research Institutes) of a higher education provider
• Equivalents (international or domestic) of the above exclusions

What is a research internship?

A research internship is a temporary paid or unpaid position (of at least 30 days) with a government, business, community, or organisation outside of academia where you have undertaken research and development related to your core research program. Research visits to other universities or institutes are not considered research internships.

Jointly supervised by a research end-user

You are jointly supervised by a research end-user if you have at least one supervisor from a research end-user organisation on your supervisory team. These supervision arrangements must be endorsed by Charles Sturt and the research end-user supervisor must be actively engaged in your research.

Jointly funded or fully funded by a research end-user

You are jointly funded or fully funded by a research end-user if a research end-user contributes financially to the cost of your course of study or to other costs such as a stipend for general living costs. The financial contribution must be awarded specifically to you rather than as part of funding for a general research project that you may be involved with.

Formal training on end-user engagement

Formal training on end-user engagement is defined as any formal training recognised by Charles Sturt that focusses on preparing a candidate for work with a research end-user. This includes intellectual property, management/leadership, collaboration, entrepreneurship, and research commercialisation. Training can be administered by a research end-user organisation or by Charles Sturt.

Other commercialisation and engagement activities

Other commercialisation and engagement activities is defined as an arrangement with a research end-user that enables experiential learning related to your HDR. This includes practicums or performances, R&D consultancy work, R&D commercialisation work, entrepreneurship, community engagement/outreach, and research extension work either with or for a research end-user. These activities can be paid or unpaid, and no minimum amount of learning days applies. The activities exclude research internships unless they are shorter than 30 days, and exclude joint funding arrangements.