Research Office awarded for best practice

The USQ Office of Research and Higher Degrees (ORHD) has been put on the international map after winning an Australian Research Management Society (ARMS) Award for Excellence.

The Leading Change Team Award, presented at the annual ARMS conference in New Zealand last month (September), was in recognition of the practices of the ORHD team in embedding research administration in a regional university.

'We were extremely proud to win this award, as this is the first time we have won and we were up against a number of other universities in Australasia,' ORHD director, Dr Ren Yi said.

'This award has helped us put USQ research on the map.'

ORHD Team members recognised for the award were: Dr Ren Yi, Jill Albion, Ashley Steele, Shaunaugh Brady, Annmaree Jackson, Wendy Murphy, Abby Pilcher, Jodie Parke, Vijaya Gururajan and Stephen White.

In another coup for USQ, Dr Ren Yi was elected as the new president of ARMS.

'This is the first time in the history of the society that a representative from a regional university has become the president-elect,' Dr Yi said.

'I’m quite proud to be promoting USQ. This is also a chance for me to further develop the USQ Research Office and learn from my peers.'

Dr Yi said as 2010 was the Year of Research, he hoped to continue raising the profile of the ORHD.