Eidos

Congress 2008

This years congress will be held at Parliament House in Brisbane on 19 March followed by the public breakfast with Ken Smith on 20 March 2008.

The Eidos Research Congress members represent the Eidos Networks research and policy interests. Research Congress members are Faculty Executive representatives who lead an annual meeting for network participants to review projects carried out during the year and provide recommendations and advice to the Eidos Executive Advisory Council on the Eidos Research Agenda.

Eidos Congress 2008 will include an interactive research review of projects conducted in the last year and an agenda setting session on day 1 followed in the afternoon by a series of concurrent roundtables involving invited guests, including the Hon Rod Welford MP, Minister for Education, Training and the Arts, network members, invited industry, government and community representatives and Eidos Board members.

Researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and politicians sharing knowledge, aspirations and concerns. Face-to-face meetings amongst researchers, parliamentarians, the educational media, international guests and senior departmental officers including Minister Rod Welford and Ken Smith, Director-General, Department of the Premier and Cabinet. The Congress will be facilitated by Eidos CEO, Professor Bruce Muirhead.

WHERE: Parliament House, Brisbane, Queensland

WHEN: 19 & 20 March, 2008

WHO: Eidos Congress Participant Members (see below) plus invited active interdisciplinary/interfaculty researchers representing Participant Members, Eidos Research Fellows and public and/or private leaders as guests (eg. existing Linkage partner or future partner) committed to both practical, applied, policy relevant research and research cooperation and collaboration opportunities including:

Creating greater impact on policy and practice through supporting coordinated bodies of work, rather than a scatter of atomised, free-standing projects.
Increasing the collaborative and creative capacity and impact of researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. (particularly following recent CHASS Reports including the full report
Positioning the partners at the forefront in creating good public policy - locally, nationally and globally.

Seeking to bring new voices and mentor a new generation of researchers and policy-makers, for example through an active program of internships, winter schools and emerging researcher and policy-maker conferences.

Research and policy teams analysing social and economic change, which we connect to innovation and learning in organisations.

Helping our members and clients forecast, lead, and respond to emerging challenges.

Giving high priority to effective dissemination and works closely with the research teams to ensure that the findings are of value to policy-makers and practitioners.

Using media, public events, seminars, workshops, and publications to communicate our ideas.

The six-eight invited participants from each Participant Member should be representative of the following five areas (based on National and State Research Priorities):

LIFE:

WIRED: new communications, technologies and education and social policy;

COMMUNITY: learning, labour and community;

GREEN: sustainable education systems and education for sustainability;

SAFE: strengthening the nations social and economic fabric.

Remember, when aggregated up, our top 15 researchers in each program have collectively undertaken about $100M in national and international research and evaluation consultancies over the past five years. The Research Congress provides an opportunity to review and extend this strategy.

Agenda

19 March 2008

8.30 am Coffee & Tea on arrival
9.00 am Welcome to Country
9.05 am Welcome by Professor Bruce Muirhead, (Eidos CEO)
9.10 am Research Congress
10.30 am Morning Tea
11.00 am Research Congress

12.30 pm Lunch with Minister Rod Welford (by invitation only)

The afternoon will see a series of Roundtables including:

1 PM - 2.30 PM EMERGE 2008

1 PM - 4 PM Building the Eidos Business in Collaboration (by invitation)

2PM - 3.30 PM Elders Think Tank

3.30 - 4.30 PM Sustainable Education Systems

20 March, 2008

7.30am Public Breakfast: Mr Ken Smith, Director-General, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Royal on the Park Hotel, Brisbane

9.00am Policy and Research Dialogue (Invitation only) Eidos Board members, the Eidos Executive Advisory Committee and invited guests will meet with Mr Ken Smith and Senior Queensland government officers in an 'invitation only' unstructured dialogue on Human Capital : Productivity and Wellbeig : Investing in People including:

the role of evidence in policy development and strategies for strengthening relationships between academia and the public service to deliver more research informed policy and more policy relevant research.

The current members of the Eidos Research Congress are:

Professor John O'Goormsn, Associate Dean (Research, Research Training, and Partnerships), Australian Catholic University
Professor Richard Smith, Executive, Dean, Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Education, Central Queensland University
Professor Nola Alloway, Dean and Head of Education, James Cook University
Professor Erica McWilliam, Assistant Dean Research and Carrick Fellow, Queensland University of Technology
Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith, Dean of Education, Griffith University.
Associate Professor Nita Tennerman, Dean, University of Southern Queensland
Professor and Director Tania Aspland, Faculty of Science, Health & Education, University of the Sunshine Coast

Developing and promoting innovative and cross-sector projects and bids for funding, in particular for projects of national significance

Eidos + Congress is an annual event bringing together researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and politicians to share knowledge, aspirations and concerns. The Congress also invites participation from internationally-recognised organisations. The event is modelled on the successful "Science Meets Parliament" project.

Congress involves workshops for participants to develop strategies for communicating with parliamentarians, government agencies and the media. It also consists of face-to-face meetings amongst researchers, parliamentarians, the educational media, international guests and senior departmental officers.

Benefits

Contribution towards Eidos goals and targets
Eidos + Congress makes a significant contribution to achieving Goal 2 targets, particularly in focusing educational research on important political concerns and helping to provide opportunities for State-level funding to be directed at research. The event also contributes to Goal 1 targets by facilitating opportunities for collaboration across agencies.

Benefits for partners
University-based researchers gain opportunities to directly promote their capabilities to government members and international agencies. They also develop skills in marketing their capabilities to decision-makers. It is expected that the Congress will lead directly to the establishment of important collaborative projects.

What Eidos will do

Eidos provides the organisation, hosting and facilitation for the Congress including:

Venue and event management

Marketing

Lobbying for support directly to Cabinet members and parliamentarians

Developing a database of researchers interests, aligning these with those of government members and facilitating introductions

Providing training for researchers in lobbying with Government

What partners will contribute

Partners are expected to:

Identify researchers from all levels for attendance at the Congress

Provide briefings for participants about the organisation's expectations of the event

Support debriefing and feedback to Eidos as part of the event's evaluation.

Evaluation

Congress is evaluated in terms of:

It's contribution to the Strategic Plan targets

Level of support from partners and members of government

Number and value of collaborative projects

Media analysis of the event’s performance.