Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA)

What is it?

Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) is a federal government initiative, developed by the ARC in cooperation with the NHMRC, to evaluate research quality within Australia's higher education institutions. It replaces the previous Research Quality Framework (RQF).

All research disciplines are evaluated using a combination of discipline-specific indicators and expert review by committees comprising experienced, internationally-recognised experts.

The first full ERA submission of all clusters took place in 2010. Our submission accounted for more than 10% of the national submission and included:

• 36 500 publications (2 050 of those were nominated for peer review)
• 39 800 publication FOR codes
• 5 650 grants (totaling $974M)
• 4 850 researchers (2 800 FTE)
• 9 550 researcher FOR codes
• 700 000 lines of XML

This followed on from a trial submission of two clusters in 2009 and a pilot submission in 2008.

The second round of ERA will take place in 2012.

ERA reference group

ERA is governed through the Research and Innovation Portfolio and the ERA Reference Group.

• Prof. Jill Trewhella – DVC Research
• Prof. Assaad Masri – ERA Coordinator
• Merril Bouckley – Director, Research Analytics & Data Strategy
• Adam Butler - ERA Liaison Officer