Northern Institute May Seminar

 Abstract

This seminar will present the findings of two ongoing research evaluation projects using open resources, specifically OpenAlex (see below). My primary project is a feasibility study exploring the limits of OpenAlex data to replicate the costly and basically secret Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). Since OpenAlex offers many ways to extend ERA, my secondary project is a "distant reading" of higher education research aspects through open evaluation data analysis for around thirty leading higher education research journals.

Although it has limits and uncertainties, open research evaluation can be a very low-cost replacement of the ARC's ERA framework while providing a timely report of greater value to the broad Australian community. My presentation about the distant reading of higher education research will focus on a snapshot of Australian higher education researchers' careers, themes and networks who have published at least one article in the journal Higher Education Research and Development. 

_{Background from https://openalex.org/ "Inspired by the ancient Library of Alexandria, OpenAlex is an index of hundreds of millions of interconnected entities across the global research system. We're 100% free and open source, and offer access via a web interface, API, and database snapshot."}

Presenter

Professor Lawrence Cram AM 
Northern Institute Adjunct & Emeritus Professor Australian National University
Former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Charles Darwin University. 

Professor Cram's research career encompassed the fields of engineering, mathematics, astronomy, physics, computing and higher education policy. He is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Research Training (DVC-RRT) for CDU. He held similar positions at the Australian National University and the University of Sydney and worked for three years as Executive Director of the Australian Research Council. Professor Cram has extensive experience in public-sector research management, public policy and research consultancy.

In 2021, he was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to tertiary education, astronomy, and astrophysics.