Eidos

Congress 2007

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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, Queensland Chief Scientist, Peter Andrews, Professor Glyn Davis, University of Melbourne, Tim Fisher, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Professor Janet Greeley, James Cook University, Mr Greg Withers, Executive Director, Policy Co-ordination, Department of the Premier and Cabinet. The Congress will be facilitated by Eidos CEO, Professor Bruce Muirhead.

Congress Background - Congress 2005 Congress 2006
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The Eidos Congress represent the relevant Eidos Members research and policy interests. The Congress members are Faculty and Branch 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 Executive Advisory Council on the Eidos Research Agenda and Annual Competitive Grants Scheme - Further information

WHERE: Royal on the Park, Brisbane, Queensland

WHEN: Wednesday 23 May, 2007 8.00am start followed by an afternoon reception with invited Fed and State Ministers, ministerial staff and other public and private leaders (Parliament Sitting)

WHO: Eidos Congress Participant Members (see below) plus six invited active interdisciplinary/interfaculty researchers representing Participant Members, Eidos Research Fellows and two 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

23 May 2007

8.00am Coffee
8.30am Welcome to country
8.45am Professor Peter Andrews (Chief Scientist)
9.45am Professor Janet Greeley, Pro-Vice Chancellor, James Cook University and Member, Eidos Execeutive Advisory Committee and Professor Bruce Muirhead, CEO, Eidos
10.30am Morning Tea
11.00am Workshop One
12.30pm Lunch with Tim Fisher, Former Deputy Prime Minister
2.00pm Workshop Two: Mr Greg Withers, Executive Director, Department of Premier and Cabinet; Walter Robb, Eidos Chief Statistician.
3.30pm Workshop Three: Research Impact (Jan Massey), Communication (Hawker Britton), International (Professor Colin Power) and Legals (FAL Legals)
4.30pm Reception: Minister Rod Welford, Education, Training and the Arts

24 May, 2007

7.30am Breakfast: Professor Glyn Davis
9.00am Policy and Research Dialogue (Invitation only) Eidos Board members, the Eidos Executive Advisory Committee and will meet with Prof. Glyn Davis and Senior Queensland government public servants in a closed session unstructured dialogue on policy and research related topics 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. Invitation only.
10.30am-12.00pm Research Congress Members Annual Meeting

The current members of the Eidos Research Congress are:

Associate Professor Elizabeth Warren, 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 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.