Director's Message
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue12 1–31 January 2021
Welcome back after the holidays! I’m feeling refreshed after the break and I hope you are too. A new year always brings a new hope and there are now some bright lights at the end of the dark tunnel we entered in 2020. However, the way the year has started suggests that resilience will still be required in 2021.
At ANU there certainly remains much to do to get the University out of the financial difficulties caused by the pandemic. As you are all aware, budgets have been significantly reduced across the University as one element of the ANU Recovery Plan and that is translating to staff reductions and other cuts to expenditure. RSAA has until now been relatively lightly touched by this process and, compared to some other Schools, we are suffering lesser cuts in 2021.
However, the College of Science Recovery Plan requires RSAA to reduce its expenditure, and so this week a proposed plan for staffing changes at RSAA will be shared with all staff as part of the second phase of the College of Science change management process (the proposal will also be accessible later this week from the CoS Change Management Process webpage). Following the release of the proposal there will be a two-week consultation period, after which the School, College and ANU Human Resource division will carefully consider all the feedback received from staff on the proposed changes before issuing the final change implementation plan.
We all want to see RSAA strong and successful, and that requires us to live within our reduced budget. But we also want the best for our colleagues, so we will be looking carefully at all options for keeping staff reductions to a minimum while achieving that necessary goal. If there are suggestions for ways to improve on the proposed plan I will be very pleased to hear them. As well as the formal feedback opportunities provided by the University, I will hold a public forum for all staff to discuss the implications of the proposed changes and potential alternatives, and I will keep my door open for private discussions if anyone wishes.
Change is always challenging and staff reductions are particularly difficult, especially in a tight-knit community like RSAA. We have much to be proud of in our School’s mission: RSAA researchers are doing science that is deepening our understanding of the universe using instruments and facilities that are designed, built and supported by RSAA engineers and technicians; RSAA teachers are sharing this knowledge with a new generation of students and with the public; and RSAA administration staff are keeping all these wheels turning smoothly. I believe that if we support each other through this change, RSAA will continue to perform its mission superbly and that we will end 2021 stronger than we are now.
Matthew
