School Manager's Update

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue39 1–30 April 2023

HERDC
Soon we will be entering HERDC reporting season again.  This stands for Higher Education Research Data Collection, and the purpose is to quantify and classify the School’s previous year research related income.  

This data has various uses, firstly it reports to the government on ANU’s research performance, along with that of other Higher Education Providers (HEPs). The government then in part uses this data to allocate the Research Block Grant (RBG) payment to the HEPs, with the intention that it is used to fund activities and expenses that are not directly funded by research grants such as: infrastructure, utilities, administration etc.   

Secondly, historically ANU has then used the HERDC data to distribute part of the RBG funding to schools for their recurrent operations. This would make up a substantial part of the recurrent operations budget, similar to the one I presented in the School meeting a few weeks back – putting many people to sleep.

While this income stream to ANU still exists, 2020 (pre covid) was the last time this funding directly flowed to the School on an as earnt basis. It made up 3.07M of the 7.6M budget at that point in time. 
We are hoping that in a future budget model, this income steam will once again flow to us on a as earnt/performance basis.

The annual reporting process will start within the next few weeks, and in certain cases, we will be reaching out to School staff to confirm contract information against the rather complex HERDC eligibility rule. This can be a rather frantic process, which is why we ask RSAA staff to follow the official channels, such as working with the COS Research Management team, CPA Tool etc, throughout the grant application and awards process. 

Housekeeping

I would like to reminder everyone to keep their offices and work areas clean, free from rubbish or dirty dishes (I can be a repeat offender in this area). We want to keep our environment pleasant, safe, clean and pest free. Please consider this, as we will conduct a site inspection in the coming weeks. 

Personal update  

For those who do not know, if all goes well, I am due to become a father in a few weeks. I will be on leave for 3 weeks (early May) as I try to grasp my new skills in fatherhood. During this time, Sindu will be covering the School Manager duties.
Naively, I hope to remain in touch with RSAA during this time, because fatherhood cannot be that difficult right? 
In any case, please use MGR.RSAA@anu.edu.au during this time, so that Sindu can keep items moving along.  

Thank you all and talk soon.

Mat Matzacher